Justin Fields shouldn’t be playing in the third preseason game, but is he anyway? Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy decided on his starting quarterback before the preseason started. And he hasn’t wavered from that decision, no matter how ridiculous we believe it to be.
Is Justin Fields playing tonight?
Yes, Fields will play the first half in the Bears’ final preseason game against the Tennessee Titans on Saturday night. Fields is taking the whole thing in stride as a professional. Fans cheered his name while Andy Dalton played in the last preseason game.
“Of course the fans are awesome. They also have to realize Andy’s a human being, too. Andy’s on the field right now, so I really think it’s kind of disrespectful to Andy, them cheering my name out like that. They have to trust in Coach to make sure he’s making the right decisions. Just cheer him on, you know? That’s not helping Andy play better, to cheer my name. My advice to them would be, just cheer whoever is on the field.”
Fields is saying all the right things. He has another shot in the preseason to prove he’s ready to take snaps in the regular season at some point. It would be a major surprise if Dalton starts 17 games for Chicago, particularly given how he and the Bears’ offensive line has looked in the preseason.
Backing Dalton up is fine, for now
Listen, if Nagy and Co. don’t want to throw Fields to the Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey wolves in Week 1, that’s absolutely fine. But there is an expiration date on this “entanglement,” as Jada Pinkett Smith would call it.
That date is the bye week. Realistically, a 4-5 record is probably Chicago’s best-case scenario heading into their Week 10. Hopefully, it doesn’t take that long because we deserve as much Justin Fields to Allen Robinson as we can get in 2021.