WHERE DO THEY GO FROM HERE?
With Fields in place as starting QB, here are five things Bears must show in rest of season
The most significant play of the first half of the Bears’ season was tinged with irony: Andy Dalton was injured making a Justin Fields play.
On first-and-20 early in the second quarter against the Bengals in Week 2 at Soldier Field, Dalton dropped back, escaped pressure, found a swath of running room to his right and scooted toward the sideline for a 14-yard gain. But Dalton hopped awkwardly as he stepped out of bounds and suffered a knee injury.
Dalton went to the medical tent for observation as Fields finished out the drive. He gamely returned for the next series, but he came up limping after being sacked for an eight-yard loss by defensive tackle D.J. Reader on his third play back. He didn’t return after the Bears punted.
Dalton had suffered a bone bruise that put him out indefinitely. Coach Matt Nagy said he would be the starter when he returned, but the winds of change already were kicking up. When Fields followed up a disastrous nine-sack game against the Browns with a more promising performance against the Lions on Oct. 3, Nagy awkwardly relented.
On the following Monday, Nagy stuck to the original script and insisted Dalton would be the starter whenever he became healthy. Two days later, he had a change of heart that Bears fans seemed to will out of him: Fields was the Bears’ full-time starting quarterback.
With Fields playing like a talented rookie — failing, succeeding and learning — the Bears are 3-6 at their bye week, ostensibly the midway point of their 17-game season. But Fields’ promotion to the starting job puts the Bears in better shape than they were at the midway point last season, when they were 5-3 with Nick Foles playing ahead of Mitch Trubisky. The Bears had no direction at that point. They at least have hope now.
But, especially with Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace presumably on the hot seat, that low bar will be raised after the bye. The Bears need more than just having Fields in place — and healthy — at the end of the 2021 season; they need performance.
With that in mind, here are five things the Bears need to show in the ‘‘second half,’’ which begins Sunday against quarterback Lamar Jackson and the Ravens at Soldier Field: