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Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy said that he doesn’t anticipate quarterback Andy Dalton playing very much in this Saturday’s preseason opener against the Miami Dolphins.
The Bears want to see what they have in first-round pick Justin Fields during the preseason. However, Nagy says that Dalton has already proven himself to the point where they don’t need to see him get a ton of reps during the preseason.
“If he wasn’t at the point that we wanted, we would play him more in the preseason,” Nagy said, via Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times. “He’s exceeded that. He could play tomorrow in a game, and I would feel great about it.”
Ideally, the Bears mount a quick scoring drive and Dalton takes a seat on the bench afterward.
“If we go out there and score a touchdown on the first drive, I can promise you, if it’s three plays, he’s out,” Nagy said, via Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune. “But if we want to see more and he feels like he needs more, too, we’ll do that. It’ll be a chance for us to talk through it.”
Dalton has a proven track record as a competent NFL starting quarterback. While he’s new to the Bears, the team knows what to expect from Dalton.
For Fields, it’s a chance to get him some reps and let him make some plays and mistakes in games that don’t count.
