Officially, the Bears are referring to Andy Dalton as their starting quarterback. Realistically, rookie quarterback Justin Fields wasn’t drafted to stand on the sideline.
Fields said today that he hopes to start and wouldn’t be the player he is if he weren’t going to do everything in his power to convince coach Matt Nagy to put him under center in Week One.
“Of course I think everybody on our team should be striving for a starting job, and if you’re not there’s no reason for you to be here,” Fields said. “So of course I’m going to do everything I can to get that starting job. It’s not up to me. Coach Nagy has a set plan for my development, but I’m just going to work hard, keep my head down and keep grinding it out every day.”
That is exactly what the Bears want to hear from the man they hope is their franchise quarterback -- and they hope performs well enough in the coming months to start in Week One.