Chicago Bears: Who should start at QB according to Steve Young and Warren Moon
If Justin Fields starts and fails, Matt Nagy’s head coaching career could be over
If Nagy fails with both Justin Fields and Trubisky, he will be fired and most likely will not get another chance to be an NFL head coach. As Young said on air, “Nagy’s career goes if Justin Fields career goes.” Young also implied the worst-case scenario in this QB conundrum would be to start Fields over Dalton, then the team goes 0-3. That would then very likely compel Nagy to replace Fields with Dalton. Young indicated if that happens Nagy has a real mess on his hands.
The implication I got from what Young said is that it would be much better for the psychological state of the Bears if the worst-case scenario unfolded like this. Dalton starts the season but fails to ignite the offense. Then he is replaced by Fields. If it was the reverse that Fields was the starter in the first game but later Dalton replaces him, it could easily trigger the team questioning Nagy’s judgment much more than if he started Dalton and then replaced him with Fields.
How much trust would the team have in Dalton as their leader if Nagy already sabotaged that trust to a good degree? This trust could be greatly damaged if Nagy chose the rookie who has much to learn about the NFL over the veteran who has 11 years of experience as a starter in the NFL. Chicago Bears players know that Dalton is much, much more knowledgeable in reading complicated defenses and running the complicated offense that Nagy uses for the Bears.
The major misstep of starting Fields over Dalton also sets up other players to not only lose trust in Dalton but also lose trust in Nagy. In addition, the trust factor toward Nagy is probably already on shaky ground with his players. Reason being that he failed in developing Trubisky. Plus he came to Chicago to make their offense special and during his three years here, it has been anything but special.
Given all these potential fault lines that could cave in the Chicago Bears season early in the season, Young’s advice appears sound. He advises the fans to give Nagy some space to, conservatively, approach the development of Justin Fields as an NFL quarterback.