The Bears quarterback situation remains a mystery heading into Chicago’s Week 4 contest against the Lions, where Bears head coach Matt Nagy hasn’t yet named a starting quarterback for Sunday’s game.
But Nagy reiterated Andy Dalton will be the starter when healthy with Justin Fields being the backup and Nick Foles serving as the third string QB. Dalton was limited in Wednesday’s practice, as he recovers from a bone bruise in his knee. Dalton has been listed as week-to-week, and he’s only missed one game so far.
While Fields left Sunday’s game with a hand injury, the x-rays came back negative. Fields was spotted with a brace on his throwing hand, but he was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice with what was listed as a right thumb injury.
If things continue trending where they are, it sounds like it’ll be Fields starting with Foles serving as the backup with Dalton taking another week to heal up.
So it’s a little surprising that Lions head coach Dan Campbell believes that if Dalton isn’t good to go that it’ll be Foles starting.
“I think that certainly (Justin) Fields is going to play some, but I’m sure it’ll be: if (Andy) Dalton can go, it’ll be him, and if not it’ll be (Nick) Foles,” Campbell told reporters Wednesday. “And I think there’ll be a lot of just knowing the background of Foles, it’ll be a lot more gun-run type things, RPOs, which is kind of some of the things they were trying to do with Fields. I think Dalton brings a little more variety, just on what he’s able to do. But we’ll be prepared for both.”
It sounds like the Lions are game planning for Dalton or Foles to start, even though if Dalton can’t go it’ll be Fields under center. But Detroit will be ready for Fields in some capacity.
“He had some struggles early but I would say there were signs of life at the end of that tape when you watch him, some of the things where, now maybe it wasn’t always the right read but like he’s pulling the trigger, he’s not waiting in the pocket,” Campbell said. “He’s trying to diagnose quicker. They’re getting him out on the perimeter, so there was some things to where, OK, I think they probably gathered some information on things that can help him. And so those are the things we got to be ready for.”
