Justin Fields has been told that he is not competing to be the Bears’ Week One starting quarterback, and he’s OK with that.
The Bears’ plan is to have Fields as the backup to Andy Dalton when the season begins, and Fields says he believes in that plan.
“If I don’t believe in it then it’s not going to work out. So my job is strictly to get better, to be the best quarterback I can be, and help my team win,” Fields said, via Larry Hawley of WGN.
Fields said he’ll stay busy during the next month as he remains in regular contact with coach Matt Nagy and prepares himself for training camp.
“Just work out, study film, meet with coach Nagy individually on Zoom. Most likely just talk about the playbook,” said Fields. “Right now I have a base idea of what plays we have right now so just diving into that more and just focusing on the smaller details because when you have a big base of it, you can really start detailing each and every specific thing in a play and really get to know it like the back of your hand.”
Obviously, the Bears wouldn’t have traded up in the first round to draft Fields if they didn’t see him as the franchise quarterback of the future. But Fields is promising to be patient and respect Nagy’s plan for him, a plan that will start with him on the sideline.