Matt Nagy has a plan. One he’s seen work a number of times in the past. The Chicago Bears head coach understands the desire of fans. They want to see Justin Fields play. He’s their hope for the future. The sooner he sees the field, the better. That is only natural. However, Nagy also understands the risks of rushing a young quarterback into action before he’s ready.
If you have a way to prevent that from being necessary, doesn’t it make sense to do that? Nagy believes buying Fields time to sit and learn the offense will ultimately benefit the Bears in the long run. It’s hard to argue his point. He watched it work to perfection in Kansas City with Patrick Mahomes. It worked for Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. It worked for Philip Rivers in San Diego. There is enough evidence to justify this approach.
One former GM still thinks it’s a mistake.
Michael Lombardi is a noted critic of the Bears in recent years. Mostly for their willingness to stand by Mitch Trubisky as long as they did even though it was obvious (to him) there was no point. Now he feels Nagy is about to compound one bad quarterback decision with another. This time by wasting valuable days and weeks in the coming months by going with Andy Dalton over Fields to start the season. He thinks it’s a decision the head coach could end up regretting.
“To start Fields as a rookie from day one would require a leap of faith from Nagy and a willingness to suffer early in the season if the growing pains cause the Bears’ offense to lack consistency. Some coaches may fear that scenario, but Nagy should look past this season and give all the reps to Fields, announcing him as the day one starter. The best chance the Bears have to compete for a playoff spot this season and next will be if Fields becomes a blue-chip talent. Why waste time messing with Dalton?…
…Drafting Fields has given Nagy the mulligan he needed to potentially save his job. The decision to use that mulligan won’t be obvious to all, only Nagy. Will Nagy have the courage and vision to make the call? If he waits until the choice is obvious to all, he might have wasted the one card he can play to save his future.”
Much of this stems from the lack of faith some have in the Bears’ offense as a whole. There just isn’t enough star power. Allen Robinson is good. After that, who is there? Questions linger on the offensive line. Especially after the release of Charles Leno. Darnell Mooney remains promising but unproven. Cole Kmet hasn’t shown enough yet. David Montgomery is solid but not a star. It seems like the offense is laden with a lot of “maybes” and not enough “definitelys.”
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Lombardi is essentially saying this offense isn’t good enough to carry Dalton to a successful season.
Is Matt Nagy misplacing too much of his trust?
In this case, trust that the offense is more talented than people realize and that Dalton can get more out of it than Trubisky or Nick Foles could last year. Some like Lombardi certainly have that opinion. Nagy himself has stated on more than one occasion he feels this Bears team is capable of winning now. He believes in the talent they have. That it’s much better than they get credit for. All they need is a chance to prove it.
Dalton has plenty of critics but he’s shown time and again he can be an effective quarterback. Not flashy, sure. Yet good enough to keep his team in games and win enough of them to stay in the playoff picture. What Lombardi is saying is the roster isn’t at a level to carry him that far. This despite clear evidence the roster was good enough to carry Trubisky and Foles that far just last season. Maybe Matt Nagy has some justification in how he’s approaching this.
Could he be wrong? Sure. That’s the risk.
Yet it isn’t necessarily a misguided one. Everything about this offseason suggests Nagy isn’t nearly as in danger of losing his job as people think. Here’s a guy who hasn’t had a losing season yet in his tenure and did it with below-average QB play. Bears ownership seems to think it’s only fair to give him a chance to get that position figured out. It may not be on the timeline a lot of people prefer, but it’s the one he feels is best for the organization.