Bears sticking with Andy Dalton as starter despite drafting Justin Fields

The Chicago Bears will start Andy Dalton over first-round pick Justin Fields this season.

General manager Ryan Pace said on Thursday night Andy Dalton will be the Chicago Bears starting quarterback to start the 2021 NFL season and not Justin Fields.

It was only a matter of hours before Pace put his foot in his mouth once again. After he and head coach Matt Nagy made an incredibly smart move in the 2021 NFL Draft to trade up to get the Ohio State quarterback in a blockbuster deal with the New York Giants, Pace once again made all of Chicagoland want to pull its collective hair out. How can you not start Fields right away?

Fields may not be completely pro-ready, but he is the most talented quarterback to play for the Bears since at least Jay Cutler. It does not matter what you told Dalton in free agency, you have to start Fields!

Chicago Bears: Ryan Pace says Andy Dalton will start over Justin Fields in 2021

This is the same general manager who traded up to pick the inferior ACC quarterback in Mitchell Trubisky over Deshaun Watson only four years ago. That draft-day blunder should have cost him his job, but here we are. While Pace and Nagy are getting a second chance in their Bears life together, to say Dalton will start over Fields is completely asinine. This is why they are the Bears.

Nagy will inevitably bench Fields before the first leaves of autumn fall onto the sidewalk. Fields could be the next Steve Young or the next Watson, the guy who the Bears did not even conduct an interview with coming out of Clemson. Saying Dalton is going to start over Fields is incredibly conservative and does not give you the best chance to win the NFC North division crown in 2021.

Here is to Fields blowing Dalton out of the water in training camp for the whole world to see.