Matt Nagy Isn't Fooling Anyone With This Andy Dalton Nonsense

Matt Nagy can tell the public whatever he wants about Andy Dalton. I'm not buying it. Dalton will begin the season as the Chicago Bears starting quarterback, but he won't hold that position for long, no matter what Nagy says. Or keeps saying.

After an uneven performance from Dalton in the Bears second preseason game, Nagy reiterated Dalton will start the season under center for the Bears, saying, "We need to see him in the regular season."

Newsflash Nagy, we've seen Dalton under center enough. It's time to see what Fields can do.

In fairness to Nagy, he is giving Dalton every chance to earn a job promised to him when he signed with the Bears in free agency this offseason. But we know who Dalton is at this point in his career. He makes some good passes. He makes some bad ones. He's inconsistent. He's streaky. He's not the guy who is going to save Nagy's job.

That man is Justin Fields. And you can almost guarantee Nagy will go to him the second Dalton struggles in the regular season.

Nagy is on the hottest of hot seats heading into this season. He's led the Bears to two playoff appearances in three seasons and never had a losing record as their head coach. But his inability to develop Mitch Trubisky as a quality quarterback and build a formidable offense (remember, Nagy is a former QB coach and offensive coordinator) have led many to call for him to be fired.

If he can't win this year, or at minimum fix the issues on offense, the Bears won't let him ruin Fields the way Trubisky got ruined under his watch. It just won't happen.

So how does Nagy save his job? Win, is the easy answer. But he also has to develop a good relationship with Fields and help Fields development. You don't do that by sitting a player as talented as him. You do that by putting him in positions to succeed and teaching him how to do just that.

Vegas agrees that Fields will get the chance to prove himself early and often for the Bears. He has the second-best odds on WynnBET to win Offensive Rookie of the Year at +625 (bet $100 to win $625) behind only Trevor Lawrence. The last five quarterbacks to win OROY all started 15 or more games for their team, including Justin Herbert last year. With a tough season-opener against the Rams in store for the Bears, I could see Fields starting against the Bengals in Week 2, or at minimum taking over for Dalton in that game if Dalton struggles.

At this point it feels like Nagy is handing Dalton the starting job because, as mentioned earlier, that's what Dalton said was promised to him when he signed with the Bears. However, with Nagy's job on the line, a need to win now and, most importantly, developing a positive relationship with Fields of paramount importance, I don't see a way Dalton retains the Bears starting gig for longer than a week unless he performs at a Pro-Bowl level. Based on Dalton's past performance, I don't see that happening.

Get in on the action with the WynnBET app.