Just want people to be able to officially weigh in before the season starts. I said in some thread ages ago that they plan to redshirt him the entire season, but will be forced at some point to play him. If the boos of Dalton, during *preseason* no less are any indication, this is happening, but when? In honor of Lovie, divided into "quarters" of the season....sort of. Fucking odd number bullshit.
I'll go week 3 or 4. Rams are going to manhandle this team, so preserving your shiny/expensive new toy is important. I assume Lazor/Dalton will get their "revenge" game against the Bengals week 2. Week 3 against the browns I see a winnable game that the bears frustratingly give away. Foles is a wildcard. Nagy seems hellbent on forcing Dalton upon us--does he cop out behind protecting Justin Fields? Or ease Fields into a Lions at home/low pressure game?
I'm guessing middle of the season. The offense is going to be abysmal, Nagy is going to give excuses and back up Dalton, and we'll slog through that for a while. I think Nagy puts Fields in when the frustration gets loud enough, and it won't be because it's the right time, Dalton can't run the offense, etc - it'll just be because Nagy sucks and he's hoping Fields bails him out. If Nagy puts Fields in too early, there's enough film to evaluate Nagy's suckage even with the new franchise QB. If Nagy waits too long, he gets canned because he lost games with Dalton. So I think he plays the middle and tries to excuse his way into another year's job. Fuck, I'm cynical.
In a rational world where common sense reigned....it would be week 1. But Nagy already said Dalton would start so he's gotta be a man of his word because admitting he was wrong is just too much. But I think I see Dalton either getting hurt or playing like crap and within the first 4 games Justin Fields begins his pro career. I see a lot of people on twitter mention this as a need. Like we absolutely have to put him in a low pressure game. And I just don't understand why? The kid has played in high pressure games a lot. He's been on national TV quite a bit. He's ready. We aren't gonna see the deer in headlights look from Fields we saw all too often from Trubisky.
I mean, I think Nagy has already bought himself one more year after 2021. Pace likely bought himself at least 3, maybe 4. Because Pace can point to Nagy as the problem now and even though he hired Nagy he can probably suck off ownership enough to be allowed one more coaching hire. Honestly....I really wish Virginia would kick the bucket within the next year or so. I don't know if that will change anything but old man Wirtz died and the Blackhawks changed. Tribune sold the Cubs and things changed. Yes, both franchises have found their way back to the garbage heap but change at the very top altered both franchises dramatically. I would love to see the trend continue with a Bears change. Because I don't think we see any drastic changes to the fortunes of this team otherwise. Pace gets fired? Fine. They will just hire another shithead.
Christ, please don't let this be true. My therapist charges too much. I agree that this is probably the case. And it makes me so sad. Do we know if Virginia has been vaccinated yet?...
Call me conservative/reserved/worrying about something that's uncontrolled anyways/whatever--but right now I don't know who blocks Aaron Donald week 1, Trey Hedrickson week 2, or Myles Garrett week 3. Two of those guys are top 3/best at their position, and Hendrickson is coming off a career-best 14 sack season. Add along Justin Fields being consistent before/after preseason games 1 and 2 saying he still needs to adjust to NFL speeds. Being on National TV before, even in the best of the best collegiately--doesn't prepare you for two guys who can end your season because they're quite apt at beating good blockers (so what will they do to the bears' OLine), including one who has some anger/'I'm going to club you with a helmet' issues. Sometimes a great way to ease a guy into the speed of the game is not to throw him in the deep end. Not to be "that guy" with anecdotal evidence--but Mahomes' 1st game was against a Von Miller-less 5-11 broncos and he won--albeit playing against Paxton Lynch that's probably bound to happen. Watson's 1st game was against 2 very talented pass rushers in Calais Campbell and Yannick Ngokwe and the result was Watson got his ass kicked and sacked 4x. There's more than enough time for the big sharks to come after him/let him learn to avoid/make line calls to counter the best pass rushers. Weeks 1-3 wouldn't be it for me, but to each their own. I understand the mentality of "put the best guy in" and I already know what Dalton and Foles aren't.
I worry more about the edge than I do the interior. You can scheme for Donald. And be somewhat successful at times. He's gonna do what he does ultimately. He isn't the best player in the game for nothing. Garrett worries me the most because when you scheme to protect the edge someone else is gonna lose a one on one battle elsewhere. But if you are concerned about winning an NFL game.....Fields gives you a better chance because he can improvise. Where Dalton is just gonna get slammed to the turf and became captain checkdown all game long. You can't sit around and wait for a perfect scenario to play Fields. It doesn't exist. Russell Wilson started out his career playing against a good Cardinals defense and got sacked 3 times. Threw a pick. Lost the game. Went the whole season without throwing a 300 yard game. His career rebounded pretty well. It's okay to get knocked down your first time out. If you're mentally strong and physically able...you will rise to the challenge. If we have truly drafted an elite talent with elite potential....he will become elite regardless of who he plays in his first game. I think a QB coming from Ohio State is much better prepared for a scenario like this than a guy coming from NC State or Southeast Oklahoma State or schools such as that. I get it. But you draft elite talent to beat elite talent. I don't expect much from Fields in his first game. But I have no problem putting him out there against the best. In baseball they say you don't let rookies take at bats deep in close games. But how does anyone learn to do it if they aren't allowed to do it? We bought a Ferrari. But for some reason still want to drive the Datsun. For me...the goal should be to win games. Win now, win later, win always. Fields, right now, gives you a better chance to win than Dalton. He already shows more poise. He isn't afraid of the rush. And he will make plays with his feet that only a handful of guys in the league can make. If plays break down he can get the ball out to a WR on a scramble drill. Something I don't trust Dalton to do. With Dalton we are gonna see the same ole throw it short of sticks offense we've been watching for years. I'm fucking tired of it. Time for something new.
I think it plays out much like the 2017 season plays out. First 3-4 games offense looks bad, maybe we squeak out one win, but at some point the calls from fans/media and possibly even ownership grows to be too loud that Nagy has no chance but to make the move. I think Fields starts week 4 against the Lions and if healthy starts the rest of the way.
I really think Nagy would prefer Fields. But I think he's too fucking stubborn to make the move and admit he was wrong earlier. And I'm sure that, for some stupid reason, there's pressure from above to play Dalton since he's getting 10 million bucks.
I mostly agree. But more because I'd rather have Dalton take the hits/injuries in these games than I would Fields, instead of genuinely thinking that the experience will be bad for Fields.
I'm going with the idea that they will start him immediately following the bye week. I'm less inclined to look at any of these moves as anything more than a way of protecting employment for beyond this season. If they stick with Dalton until the bye they have the fall back of saying "look, we were working out issues on the offensive line and with the offense itself and we didn't want our potential franchise quarterback being overwhelmed in that situation." After the bye, the worst case scenario is that the Bears go .500 or above, which would all but guarantee that Nagy and Pace are still running the show to start 2022. To throw a little more vinegar in that mix - The schedule for Chicago likely lends to there being a lot of losses prior to the bye followed by a .500 record if Fields is indeed the starter coming out of week 10.
Interesting, the Lions game does seem to be a possible shot, but I honestly don't know. Pre-season, for evaluation purposes seems even more meaningless than usual. Dalton did almost nothing, but he was also asked to do almost nothing. Fields has been improvising for the most part and making "something from nothing" because nothing seems to be the plan. Nagy had a pretty short leash on Mitch last year, before Foles came in. And then eventually we got Mitch back even. Fox gave Glennon a ton of time, despite being objectively much worse than Dalton has any hope to be (at least, I hope that's the case). I don't think Nagy OR Pace are feeling any heat at all. Given that, I don't think we're going to see him in the first 4 games. However, I have a hard time seeing the heat not get turned up as losses pile up and them submitting to the pressure. I said 5-8, as I think while he's raw, he's more polished than Trubs was and they ended up putting him in earlier than expected. The bye makes sense too, that way he'll "get a week" to get up to speed, but with it in week 10.....I'm just not seeing it. We start hearing boo birds or fans not showing up, they will fold. I think there's a 0% chance we don't see him start this year though. No matter what they say.
When the schedule came out i was very much of a mind that he'd start after the bye week. And i totally get the logic behind your other, more calculating thoughts re Pace & Nagy. But have you seen what's been going on with the fans/local media this last few weeks? While Fields has shown clear potential so far, he's also made plenty of mistakes and yet still all the talk has been about whether he will get the gig in week 1. Nagy can't stop taking questions about it. The crowd has been brutal through 2 PS games. They booed Dalton's ass at the weekend(in fucking preseason with no OL) and the week before Foles got ONE series before they booed the ass out of him too! Its like all of Chicago is salivating at the mouth. Drafting Fields has worked for Nagy & Pace short term in terms of giving them a bit of breathing room. But fan morale was at an all-time low 6months ago and there is zero patience out there for this team. I don't see how Dalton's holds back the tide till the bye. He'd have to play lights out with barely a bad game in there and thats just not gonna happen. He's not good enough, his line's not good enough, his playcaller is def not good enough. I now believe this won't take more than a few weeks. I could see the hook coming after a 1-2 start when Dalton has looked nothing more than meh/crap. If he has one decent game in there they may give him a last chance saloon ride against the Loins(the Raiders D sucks and would still represent a pretty nice 1st opponent for Fields in week 5). But its gonna happen early now imo, i don't see how it doesn't.
I'm going to say games 5-8, not because Nagy wants him to, but after the beating, he took the first 4 weeks he'll never make it past the 8th game. After typing that out and careful consideration, I'm going to change it to 1-4 because I don't think Dalton can survive 1-4 without going into concussion protocol, and as much as Nagy may want him to play it will no longer be his decision to make.
I said on the game thread I don't like the boos for Dalton, at least at this point. As for the fans impatience, you can't blame them. Thinking back to 2017 after 4 games of Giraffe, I do think the the pressure from the fans impatience, the media's constant questioning of Fox at the time, and overall suckage of the offense did influence the move to Trubisky. When you combine all that with possible injuries/concussions for Dalton due to an even worse o-line than we had then, I just don't see how we go more than a month before a move is made.
The only thing that really saves Dalton is the defense coming to life and the Bears getting some early victories because of it. Because I really don't see him performing at a level that lifts the offense.
When answering some questions today Matt Nagy said his offense takes 3-4 years to come together. He actually said that. Out loud.
I cringed when he was asked if he has a special package involving Fields and Dalton and I head his Nagy nonanswer/reaction—and now I’m terrified the shiny new toy has a big chance to have his year be toast on a stupid play where he’s lined up at wide receiver probably doing something stupid like a bubble screen.
