Chicago Bears Schedule Release: When will Justin Fields start?
During the 2020 season, the Chicago Bears waited until the bye week to re-insert Mitchell Trubisky as the team’s starting quarterback in place of a struggling Nick Foles.
Typically, NFL teams wait until their bye week to make any change to their on-field product as they have extra time to prepare. Looking back at last season, the change from Foles back to Trubisky also allowed the Bears’ to alter their offensive approach. It was after the bye week last season that Bears’ head coach Matt Nagy relinquished play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. That was a large part of the reason why the Bears had two offensive approaches last season depending on who was playing quarterback.
The Bears likely will have a similar approach to the 2021 season. If the Bears do indeed start Andy Dalton as their quarterback, they likely will implement an offense that is based around running back David Montgomery. The reason why Dalton was signed by the Bears was because of his decision making and often is not the reason why his team loses games. In other words, Dalton is the definition of a game manager.
Justin Fields was not drafted by the Bears’ to be a game manager. The Bears believe that Fields will be their franchise quarterback. Fields also provide the Bears with an element that they have never had at the quarterback position and that is speed. Based on 40-yard sprint times, Fields is currently the third fastest quarterback in the NFL.
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The offense that the Bears will be running with Fields as their starting quarterback will be much different than the offense they will run with Dalton as their starting quarterback.
That would be the reason why a transition during the bye week makes the most logical sense. The two-week period during the bye week would allow the Bears to implement their new offense with Fields as their starting quarterback. Not to mention, the idea of having Fields square off against former NFL MVP Lamar Jackson.