Camp Battles: Bears QBs

 


It's June and the 2021 NFL Season is rapidly approaching. As it does, I'm going to be looking at some key position battles throughout the league each Monday as a preview of the upcoming NFL Season.

Today I'm tackling the quarterback battle for the Bears. Previously I looked at the Patriots, who took Mac Jones, and the 49ers, who took Trey Lance. Now it's the Bears, who took Justin Fields out of Ohio State with the No. 11 pick in the first round. He joins a quarterback room that's under-going a shift.

The Bears were a playoff team in 2020, albeit one that finished at just 8-8 on the season. Mitch Trubisky, who had been the No. 2 overall selection for the team in the 2017 draft, was the starter. He ended up being allowed to walk at the end of the season, and landed a back up job with the Buffalo Bills. The Bears also had veteran Nick Foles on the team in 2020. He wasn't strong as a starter, and while he's still on the roster it seems like the Bears want to move the veteran before the season begins, possibly to back up Zach Wilson with the Jets.

Instead, the Bears added veteran Andy Dalton during the off-season and drafted Fields. Those two are at the center of a question about who will be the guy during the season. Dalton is 74-66-2 as a starter, spending much of his career with the Bengals before playing for the Cowboys in 2020. Now he's on to a new team, coming in with 33,764 yards passing and 218 career touchdowns. He's a solid veteran option that seems to have the inside track to starting Week 1.

But Fields is the future. Fields played two seasons for Ohio State, throwing for 5,373 yards and 63 touchdowns with only nine interceptions. He's a dual threat and should be a big upgrade on what the Bears have had in the past. The question is when does he step in.

I think Dalton will start Week 1, but unlike the other two, I think there's a chance that Fields is on the field sooner rather than later. I could see him on the field as soon as October depending on how the Bears are doing and where they sit in the playoff race. It feels like a critical year for Bears' coach Matt Nagy, and I think he'll want to spend that season riding with his guy.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Burial a courtroom drama with heart

Broncos Draft Targets

Favorite Westerns, No. 43