Bears quarterback Andy Dalton was knocked out of yesterday’s win over the Bengals, and NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport confirmed (on Twitter) that an MRI confirmed a bone bruise in the veteran’s knee. No official determination has been made about Dalton’s status for next weekend’s game against the Browns.
Dalton wasn’t great during the Bears’ Week 1 loss to the Rams, but he looked a bit better on Sunday. Before exiting with his injury, the veteran completed nine of his 11 passes for 56 yards and one touchdown. Meanwhile, after Justin Fields completed both of his pass attempts and rushed for a touchdown in Week 1, the first-round pick completed only six of his 13 pass attempts for 60 yards yesterday. The rook also threw an interception and had a fumble.
The Bears depth chart seems a bit unpredictable at the moment, and coach Matt Nagy didn’t do much to help the matter this afternoon. When asked to reveal who would start Week 3 if both QBs are healthy, the head coach gave a head-scratching answer.
“That’s something that I’m not going to get into with scheme,” Nagy said (via Andrew Siciliano of NFL Network on Twitter).
Later, a team official clarified that Nagy had misinterpreted the question and that Dalton would remain the starter, if healthy (via ESPN’s Jeff Dickerson).
How does one get a bone bruise on non-contact injury?
He came out immediately following a sack. Earlier he had a non contact injury
He limped the same after the non contact injury for his final series, he couldn’t move, sack may have given him the bone bruise but the limp came after that awkward non contact fall
Why do I have a feeling the bears will start Nick Foles!
Dalton is really in a no-win situation it seems. Once Fields starts, it’s unlikely that Dalton will return, no matter how unready Fields may possibly be. Dalton is certainly the better choice right now in my mind-Fields has mechanical issues to work on first before he begins to worry about getting in game experience to build on.
Dalton may not be popular, but if the Bears want to keep Fields from being thrown into the fire too early, he needs to be the starter. That part is my opinion, but this i think we should all realize: once they start Fields, I don’t believe that there is any way they can go back to Dalton (barring injury). So, if they do it, he needs to be ready.
Not giving away who will start against the Browns is understandable, but Nagy never does anything but nonsensically babble in his news conferences.