Chicago Bears: 3 heated position battles born from 2021 NFL Draft
By Ryan Heckman
Chicago Bears position battles: Justin Fields vs. Andy Dalton
Obviously, the training camp battle watched around the country will be Justin Fields going up against Andy Dalton for the starting quarterback job. We have all heard head coach Matt Nagy speak about Dalton lately as if he is still the team’s starter, but those words have to be taken with a grain of salt.
Dalton was told, at the time, that he would be the starter when he signed with Chicago. While that may have been true, there was no telling what the Bears would do in the draft. As it turned out, Dalton indeed had reason to be worried.
So, for Nagy to come out and give Dalton a bode of confidence seems normal. That’s what coaches do. That’s “coach speak,” for those freaking out about the comments. Almost reminiscent of Nagy giving Mike Davis the starting nod a couple of years ago over rookie David Montgomery, this won’t last long.
If there was ever a quarterback battle to bet on, this is it. Fields has a clear path to show off and take the job in camp. The fact he hasn’t taken a snap yet shouldn’t matter. The talent is so obvious that it seems like a foregone conclusion for Fields to win this job. We’ll be watching, that’s for sure. But, this feels like a story we already know the end to.