Chicago Bears fans are ecstatic about the developments that took place this offseason. The one and only reason for this feeling is the addition of Justin Fields. Alright, fans are also pretty pumped about the fact that Teven Jenkins was also selected seeing many had a first-round grade on him. Now there is a hiccup though as fans want to see Justin Fields, but are being told they will see Andy Dalton.
Fans will likely need to play the long game here when it comes to Fields. Andy Dalton has been talked up as the Week 1 quarterback from the beginning and nothing seems to have changed. I have been on record stating I believe Dalton will start at least the first four games and the soonest we see Justin Fields is Week 5 versus the Raiders. This could be a tough spot to start the rookie too if we are being honest. He’d be making his first start on the road in Las Vegas.
Two of the first four games of the season come against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns. Clearly, Dalton is familiar with both teams. One is the team that drafted him and he called home from 2011 until 2019. The other team was in the same division and he played against them twice a year for many years. Now, obviously, plenty has changed with both teams over a two-year span, but enough familiarity exists to lean on Dalton over Justin Fields — especially early.
Recent history tells us Justin Fields should start for the Chicago Bears by Week 9
If you are worried that Matt Nagy will not give Justin Fields a chance to play this year, history tells us otherwise. Stacey Dales was speaking on NFL Network about the camp battle we should expect starting next week. She does not believe that there will be a competition and believes that Dalton will be the starter as Matt Nagy has stated on multiple occasions. Dales dropped a little nugget though that should give Chicago Bears fans who want to see Fields this year a little hope.
Did somebody wanna talk #Bears QBs? While veteran Andy Dalton has been declared the starter, Justin Fields has put together a pretty nice rookie off-season thus far… Report! #NFLNow @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/LRynWiMlyY
— StaceyDales (@StaceyDales) July 20, 2021
Dales talked about how over the last five seasons, 18 quarterbacks were selected in the first round. Of those 18 quarterbacks, 14 of them started at least one game by Week 9. That would be interesting though with the Chicago Bears’ bye week coming Week 10. With 77.78% of the first-round quarterbacks seeing action before Week 9, Justin Fields has a good chance at following what recent history has already shown us.