Bears Mailbag -- How Can Justin Fields Keep The Starting Job?

The Chicago Bears picked up their first win of the season last Sunday, largely dominating the Cincinnati Bengals at Soldier Field.  The win got the Bears to 1-1 and "back on track" following a rough opening night in Los Angeles.

However, if you're a Bears fan who's been living under a rock, starting QB Andy Dalton left the game in the second quarter with a knee injury, and rookie QB Justin Fields finished the game.  While Fields did struggle with several rookie mistakes, he did show some of his explosive capabilities and sealed the win with a great scramble on third down -- one drive after a crippling interception that let the Bengals cut their deficit to three. With Matt Nagy coming out yesterday and declaring Fields the Week 3 starter in Cleveland while Dalton recovers, this will be the most highly anticipated regular season Bears game since the 2019 season opener.  It should be fun. With that, let's reach into this week's Bears Mailbag.  Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.

Bears Mailbag

To expand on this, there are a few realities to acknowledge about Fields' performance on Sunday:

• The game plan was tailored for Andy Dalton -- and it is extremely different from a Fields-tailored game plan.
• Fields was not expected to see 'significant' snaps.
• His stat line could've looked a lot better if Allen Robinson catches a beautiful touchdown throw, or if Darnell Mooney brings in a solid throw on a crossing route.
• He was late on at least two throws, committed two false starts, and didn't step up in the pocket when he should've, leading to unnecessary sacks.

He looked like a rookie, certainly, but his awareness in some of those situations has to improve over the course of the next few games.  His progress has to be evident.  That's what I'm looking forward to seeing, starting against the Browns.