Nagy: Justin Fields in similar place as Mahomes in 2017 originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
If you haven’t heard yet, Andy Dalton is the Bears QB1 and Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace will try to recreate the magic that led to Patrick Mahomes becoming one of the best quarterbacks in the league in Kansas City with Justin Fields in Chicago.
“There will be a process and a plan,” Nagy said. “We will stick to that. That plan is not going to change tomorrow. The plan is not going to change in training camp. The plan is a plan and it’s been thought out.”
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Nagy laid it out pretty clearly on Wednesday, just to quell the surge of questions about his quarterback depth chart. But it did lead to two more questions. First, if the Bears are following the same script that the Chiefs wrote for Mahomes, then how is Fields stacking up to where Mahomes was at this point in his first professional veteran minicamp?
“I would say with Patrick at this point of time in vet minicamp to where Justin is, is great,” Nagy said. “Their personalities, football-wise, football IQ, all of that stuff is very similar on that side. Their actual personalities are a little bit different but that's the beauty of life. We all have different personalities. I just think that right now for Justin, the biggest thing is to make sure that he’s continuing to just really listen and just get better, and then probably just keep asking the right questions, and I think he’s doing that more and more as he feels comfortable.”
Then, what if the script unexpectedly changes with a Dalton injury before Week 1? Would the Bears move Nick Foles up the depth chart to keep Fields developing on the bench? Or would it be Fields leading the Bears offense against the Rams?
“I would say this, when you are the No. 2 quarterback and in that situation that you are presenting to me, then yes, he would be the guy,” Nagy said. “But when you talk through this that is where it’s like, these quarterbacks, all three guys, just because they are in that spot right now, we have explained, and I have specifically explained to each of those guys that you are doing everything you possibly can to be as competitive as possible and be the starting quarterback and be the best quarterback you can be for the Bears.
“So I’m taking a little bit of time here to say this because I know these questions can go on and on each and every day, but out of politeness from me and respect as we go here moving forward, I’m just going to, like I’ll give you updates as we go as to how the guys are doing but as far as the depth chart goes this is where we are at with Andy as the 1, with Justin as the 2 and Nick as the 3. But all three of those guys know that you need to produce, you need to play well, you need to compete, you need to be the best quarterback you can be and then it’s going to be really pretty easy for us to see who that is and how that goes… But to go back to your original question, if that was the case, then yes, Justin would be our starter”
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