The moment Bears fans have been waiting for ever since draft day is coming this Saturday. Justin Fields is going to suit up and play for the Chicago Bears, and Matt Nagy says he’s going to play a lot.
“The mindset going into this is that he’s going to get a lot of reps,” Nagy said. “Does that take him into the fourth quarter? Maybe… We’ll see. But the more reps we can get of him right now the better.
“For him, it’s going to be coming out to start the game and being on the sideline. Then going in. Then getting to halftime coming back out, playing with different guys.”
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This is the next big step in Fields’ development as a franchise quarterback. By all accounts, Fields has aced the homework the Bears have given him up to this point. He’s gotten comfortable reading plays and getting his guys in and out of the huddle, so the next step is moving beyond pre-snap stuff to the action on the field.
“When you look at the quarterback spot, there is that balance,” Nagy said. “We’ve gotta be able to evaluate. The only way you can evaluate is running stuff you wanna run.”
But the most interesting tidbit will be if Fields gets any reps with the first-team skill players. According to Nagy that all depends on how Dalton operates in his first series on Saturday. If everything looks good, there’s a good chance Nagy pulls Dalton after one drive and hands the reins over to Fields so he can work with Allen Robinson, Darnell Mooney and other first-team playmakers.
“I just want him— all those guys, same with Andy— I want him and Nick and Justin to just go out and lead that offense,” Nagy said. “Don’t worry about making mistakes. That’s gonna happen. Just play football. And if you just do that and you’re the leader of that team and you score touchdowns, then we’ll all be happy.”
