The Bears will start Justin Fields on Sunday, head coach Matt Nagy announced (Twitter link via Field Yates of ESPN.com). The rookie will start in place of the injured Andy Dalton with Nick Foles serving as the No. 2 quarterback. 
This will be a temporary arrangement, according to Nagy. “When Andy is healthy,” the head coach said. “He’s our starter.”
Dalton was knocked out of Sunday’s win over the Bengals and an MRI confirmed a bone bruise in his knee. That shouldn’t shelve the veteran for too long, though he hasn’t been stellar so far this year. His performance in the Week 1 loss to the Rams was rough and, even though he looked a bit better on Sunday, Fields’ upside cannot be ignored.
Before exiting, Dalton completed nine of his 11 passes for 56 yards and one touchdown. Meanwhile, Fields completed both of his pass attempts and rushed for a touchdown in Week 1. In fairness, the first-round pick wasn’t as strong this past weekend — he completed only six of his 13 pass attempts for 60 yards with one TD and one fumble.
Despite Nagy’s assertion, a strong showing from Fields could change quickly. If he takes the helm, he’ll be just the fifth Round 1 QB to be the primary starter of his club since 2011, following Patrick Mahomes, Jake Locker, Johnny Manziel, and Paxton Lynch.
I have no confidence in Nagy putting together a decent game plan for Fields. He will ruin the kid before he even gets going in his career
“Despite Nagy’s assertion, a strong showing from Fields could change quickly. If he takes the helm, he’ll be just the fifth Round 1 QB to be the primary starter of his club since 2011, following Patrick Mahomes, Jake Locker, Johnny Manziel, and Paxton Lynch.”
What does that even mean? Is there a word missing somewhere?
Yeah, I’m not sure what they’re trying to say there, either. There have been way more first round QBs to be the ‘primary starter’ of their teams in their rookie seasons than those four. Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray, Zac Wilson, Sam Darnold, etc. are all very recent examples.
Maybe they need to proof read before they make a post or better yet make it more clear what they trying to say
“In fairness…” to what exactly? That’s what got me confused.
Thank You. I read that sentence 4 times and still can’t figure out what was meant. Glad to see I’m not the only one.
I’m with you, brother.
Glad I’m not the only one who didn’t understand that. He’s def not the 5th first round pick to be his teams primary starter since 2011
Not to mention that none of those five were their team’s primary starter as rookies!
I think he meant in the same year of being drafted. I could be wrong.
If that were the case, Mahomes wouldn’t be on the list. I’m not sure what that means either-unless you means “late” first rounder, in which case Lamar Jackson or Mac Jones would figure to qualify.
Yeah, that sentence is a mess.
I don’t think he meant that because, as I mentioned previously, he’s definitely not the fifth since 2011 and there are three others just this year who beat Fields to the punch (Lawrence, Zac Wilson, and Mac Jones).
I feel like there should be a prize for deciphering the riddle that is that last sentence.
Yea he said that now but if field pull a Justin Herbert he can’t turn back to Andy can he
I think it’d be near impossible to turn the reigns back to Dalton even if Fields is terrible. Once the rookie starts, it’ll be his team. I don’t think Fields is anywhere near ready to consistently run a professional offense, but no matter how he plays, I don’t see him relinquishing that role-and the coaching staff being back after doing that.
All of this really just makes me wonder what the Bears are even doing with Nick Foles in the first place. If Fields is ready enough to be the backup, Foles seems unnecessary. If Fields is not ready, Foles should be starting now for Dalton. I just don’t get it.
I don’t get it either. I think that because of Foles’ contract they aren’t likely to find a trade partner if they wanted to, but we haven’t heard anything about them trying to move Foles, or of teams even asking about him. Fields probably isn’t ready and I’m thinking that it’s going to hurt his development to put him out there before he is ready.
Whoever wrote this article needs to edit it from start to finish!
To the Fields announcement let’s hope Nagy doesn’t ruin him like he did Trubisky
Zach needs to stop pretending to be a journalist. It seems like every article he posts, has some proofreading errors in it.
Zach must own this site. As I can’t believe anyone would pay him to pump out the crap he writes. When he isn’t just flat making crap up, he’s writing at a 5th grade level. Do better!
I created an account to just to point out that this platform needs a new football writer. How Zach Links got the privilege of writing these stories behind me because he can’t even do his last name justice and provide us with a proper hyperlink even a quarter of the time. Your last sentence was horrendous and you very rarely sound like you know what you’re talking about, Zach.
If he’s going to sit when Dalton is back why not just start Foles then?
Yo who the hell wrote this Zodiac Killer cypher article ?
Five teams starting backup QBs this weekend.
This organization has hit Rock bottom! Hope they get Crushed every game until both Nagy and Pace are gone!