The Bears will go back to where they began: Andy Dalton is resuming his role as starting quarterback Sunday against the Giants.
Their best option would be rookie Justin Fields, who needs as much experience as possible, but he was unable to fully practice this week because of an ankle injury. He also missed the game against the Seahawks, when Nick Foles started.
Fields hurt his ankle in the loss to the Vikings on Dec. 20 and has been limited in practice the last two weeks by what coach Matt Nagy called “the pain of football movements,” indicating Fields’ mobility has been hampered so much that it’s unwise to play him.
“We want to be able to have him do everything,” Nagy said. “And he wants that, too, whether it’s scrambling outside of the pocket, extending plays with his legs, whatever it is. We want him to be as close to 100% as we can get, and he’s just not there right now.”
Nagy was hopeful Fields will make it back for the season finale next week at the Vikings.
He also said Foles will be the backup Sunday, but in step with typical Bears gibberish, he did not rule out Fields. Instead, he listed him as questionable, just like he did when Fields was inactive last week in Seattle.
But if Dalton is starting and Foles is the backup, and Fields isn’t healthy enough to start, isn’t he out?
“He’s what?” Nagy said. “No, he’s not out. He’s not out.”
There’s no point in trying to get a straight answer anymore.
Anyway, Dalton will make his first start since throwing four interceptions in a loss to the Cardinals in Week 13. He’ll start against either Jake Fromm or former Bears castoff Mike Glennon at quarterback for the Giants.
Dalton was out three weeks after the Arizona game because of a broken bone in his non-throwing hand and a hip flexor injury. He also was out with the coronavirus for six days before being cleared to return Dec. 17.
“It’s been a whirlwind with everything,” Dalton said. “You throw COVID in the mix of all of that — It’s been a crazy month for me. But I feel good about where I’m at now and my body feels healthy.”
It was the second season in a row Dalton caught the coronavirus, but he said, “Thankfully it wasn’t too bad for me this year.”
For the season, he has completed 64.1% of his passes for 1,017 yards with six touchdowns and six interceptions for a 79.9 passer rating. Very little of it has gone as he anticipated when he signed a one-year, $10 million contract in March with the promise that he’d be the Bears’ starter.
“Very different than every other year that I’ve been in the league,” Dalton said. “The ideal situation is to have one guy the whole year and he’s building that chemistry with everybody throughout the season, but that hasn’t been the case.”
Dalton and the Bears got clobbered in the season opener against the Rams, then he suffered a bone bruise in his knee against the Bengals, his former team, in Week 2 and opened the door for Fields to take over.
Fields started in Dalton’s place against the Browns and Lions, and the Bears made him their permanent starter after that. Dalton filled in for two and a half games when Fields had cracked ribs, but has otherwise been stuck on the bench.
While Dalton, 34, is unlikely to factor into the Bears’ future plans, Sunday could be his final opportunity to audition for other teams as he heads to free agency.
