Was frustrating at the time, but we found out why this happened. Nagy had to guarantee Dalton the starting job to come to Chicago.
There’s lots I dislike about Nagy but starting Dalton week 1 was the right decision
Ok, so here’s the deal. Most Rookie QBs aren’t handed the starting Job.
They “Earn” it. Sometimes it’s pre-season, most time early in the regular season.
If your rookie QB isn’t starting by week 7-8 he’s either sitting for the year, or in serious trouble.
It’s a hustle coaches have been running forever.
Also: Matt Nagy is a dweeb. He never did find the whys.
There are lots of reasons not to like Nagy. But after 2.5 years of watching Fields play exciting but very flawed football, I’m surprised there’s anyone left who thinks it was stupid to take his development slowly
That was actually one of Nage’s best decisions. The dude made the right move. Rookie QB’s benefit from sitting for a bit behind a guy who can teach they how to be a QB in the NFL. Even Mahomes sat his rookie season and it helped him get his feet wet before being thrown to the dogs.
I guess the OP forgot about that Browns game.
They don’t remember that preseason. Too many nightmares since then. They’ve forgotten.
But playing Dalton was always going to be week 1 and as long as necessary to protect Fields development. Fields only played because Dalton scrambled and hurt his knee or leg. Then Fields was totally destroyed.
I mean, from what Josh Lucas has said everyone was in agreement that he should have sat the entire first year. In fact, they drafted him specifically planning to let him develop a bit more because of some of the pre-draft concerns people had regarding Fields.
In my opinion, I wish Andy would have started that entire season, Giving Justin reps in blowouts or garbage time action to allow him to build with live reps without overwhelming him.
But it’s football, and no matter how old or young you may be, the next man up mentality is crucial. Dalton going down with injury basically opened a can of worms that couldn’t be put back, and Nagy basically stuck with JF after Andy’s recovery because he knew the pressure from the fan base/front office was too high.
Look, I know hindsight is 20/20 and as time passes the rose-colored lenses set in. But if we are comparing strictly on a 1-1 basis, I’d take Nagy over Flus in a heartbeat. And while his scheme was eroding, and really hurt Justin early on, I don’t truly think he had quite enough time to understand Justin as a player overall. He never got to see this version of Fields, or anything close to it for that matter. With a full offseason with him as QB1, he would have gotten more out of JF than Flus/Getsy has.
And before you comment to remind me how bad Nagy was at times, don’t bother. I know he wasn’t a good HC at all by the end of it, and there’s a vast amount of coaches I would choose over him. It’s just that, in this case, Flus is not one of those coaches. Neither is Getsy in my opinion.
Who put the spell on the Bears? They did it to themselves when they let William Perry score a TD in the Super Bowl instead of Walter Payton. As long as Ditka is still alive the curse will remain.