Nobody has been buying that Andy Dalton would actually be able to start on Sunday for the Chicago Bears against the Detroit Lions, after he suffered a knee injury in Week 2. The veteran quarterback missed Week 3 against the Cleveland Browns, and practiced in very limited fashion this week, while moving around gingerly (no pun intended).
However, Bears head coach Matt Nagy has been quiet all week about who will start at quarterback vs the Lions (along with being quiet about who will call plays, but it’s assumed Bill Lazor will take over there again). Nagy has at least said that Dalton will return to being the starting quarterback when healthy, but again, all indications are that the Red Rifle is *not* healthy. The Bears’ official website — playing along with the regime’s “secrecy” — tried to make everybody think that the status of rookie quarterback Justin Fields was in question on Friday, despite releasing an injury report earlier in the day that no longer includes Fields on it!
And despite calling it a “game-time decision,” the Bears finally announced on Saturday what everybody assumed all week: Dalton is still hurt and Fields will start vs the Lions.
#Bears injury update:
We have downgraded QB Andy Dalton (knee) to Doubtful for Sunday’s game. QB Justin Fields will start vs. the Lions.
— Bears Communications (@BearsPR) October 2, 2021
The “gamesmanship” nonsense is extremely overrated, and especially when talking about three quarterbacks (it would’ve been Nick Foles if Fields couldn’t go either) that Dan Campbell and the Lions likely aren’t trembling about game prep for with this Bears offense.
With Fields’ massive talents and upside, that perception could obviously change eventually, but the Bears just put together a historically pathetic offensive performance behind him against the Browns. If the scheming/play-calling and the offensive line don’t improve (perhaps the former does with Lazor; the offense looked much better when he took play-calling duties from Nagy last November), Fields may have very little chance for success anytime soon, even if it’s not so much his fault. And the entire football world knows what slow-moving veterans Dalton and Foles bring to the table.
Odds are that the Lions spent most of their time preparing for Fields anyway because of his legs and unique skillset, and the Bears’ secrecy likely did nothing to bother Detroit. Oddsmakers and bettors never changed a thing, at least, with the Bears remaining the same three-point favorites they were all week.
