The Chicago Bears need Justin Fields to start seeing reps with the first team
The first reason is fairly obvious, but it still needs to be said. Before we get into that, let me start off by saying, I have not been advocating for Justin Fields to start as soon as Week 1. I thought it would be better to bring him along a little more slowly. My guess was that the soonest we’d see Fields start a regular-season game would be Week 5. My opinion has changed and so should Matt Nagy’s opinion.
We have seen some clips here and there of fans sharing videos of Justin Fields from training camp. We have heard tidbits of information from insiders, but only what they are allowed to tell us based on the rules set forth by the Chicago Bears. Well, now the cat is out of the bag after watching Justin Fields play versus the Miami Dolphins on Saturday.
This is not an overreaction by any means. One very good performance against second-string and third-string players is not enough for us to vault Fields into the Hall of Fame. No, but what Justin Fields needs now for his development is more reps with the first-string offense along with reps versus the first-team defense. According to Justin Fields, the game moved relatively slow for him, he needs better competition now.
Justin Fields on the speed of the NFL game: “It was actually kind of slow to me to be honest.”
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) August 14, 2021
If playing against the weaker competition is slow, then Fields needs to see better competition now and not at the end of the year or even in 2022. This is a different situation than what Matt Nagy saw in Kansas City with Patrick Mahomes. I no longer want to see what Andy Dalton can do with this offense. If Nagy can’t see what I see yet, that’s a scary thought, but at the very least, Dalton better play a full half versus the Bills because maybe then Nagy will see Dalton is not the answer.