Poll: Who do you THINK starts Week 1, Who do you WANT to start Week 1

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Who do you THINK starts Week 1, Who do you WANT to start Week 1

Dalton / Dalton
41
69%
Dalton / Fields
10
17%
Fields / Dalton
0
No votes
Fields / Fields
8
14%
 
Total votes: 59
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dplank
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I do not believe in the philosophy that a QB develops better while sitting on the bench - I never have and I never will. That said, I want to win games, and I do believe that it's usually better for the team to sit a rookie QB for a year vs letting him kill you with turnovers.

Dalton / Dalton for me.

Now if Fields just flat out plays better than Dalton in camp, and it's clear he gives us the best chance to win, then go with Fields. But I suspect Dalton is going to be pretty darn good.
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Otis Day
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Dalton/Dalton for me as well. Fields has the talent and the smarts to play the game, but I think they need to tailor an offense to him and that will not happen in OTAs (if the have them) or training camp. I think it is a process. Dalton will be ready to go week 1, Fields will not.
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Week 1 is easy.

But the change will probably come sooner than it should, just like with Mitchy.

And losing games doesn't even help you much, with your R1 dealt away.
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wulfy
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Kid needs some time to understand the speed of a game.

Here's an interesting question .... what does SF do? Do you sit Lance for a year .... after he sat for a year??
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The Marshall Plan
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Dalton/Dalton

I want Fields to learn the offense and to spend some time with Flip going over the Surface tablet.

I also want to assess what kind of an OL we've got this year. If it's like last year's shit show I'm not putting the future of the franchise out there to get killed.

Let's see if we get somebody like Jenkens in the second. I wanna see that line first.
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Dalton/Fields for me.

Don't see any way Dalton doesn't start if he's not hurt. But I want Fields playing. I don't think theres any replacement for game experience.
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Dalton/Dalton for sure. I want Feilds' on Difilippo's hip for at least the first 8 games of the season.
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Dalton/Dalton.

Everyone is totally giddy about Patrick Mahomes success but it's easy to forget that he sat for a FULL YEAR, while watching and learning how to be a professional quarterback from Alex Smith. There are things that a kid needs to learn about how to be a pro in this league that a total class act like Smith was able to teach. I don't know a whole lot about Dalton's poise and professionalism but between him, Flip, Lazor, and Foles, Fields is going to get some serious tutoring and mentoring -- which is exactly what a new rookie needs.
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dplank
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wulfy wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:48 am Kid needs some time to understand the speed of a game.

Here's an interesting question .... what does SF do? Do you sit Lance for a year .... after he sat for a year??
It's such a huge leap from ND State to playing against the Seahawks, Rams, and Cardinals...but yea it'd be nuts if he sat two straight years.

SF blew that pick IMO, I thought for sure they were misleading everyone to take Fields there.
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Dalton/Dalton to start. I fully expect Fields to be worked into the games early with packages of plays, and not have it be a digital thing where it has to be either one or the other in any given game. Dalton is a pro and will be ready with the offense even with splitting reps partially with Fields in camp, Then I see either Dalton is playing really well & good for him to earn a contract next year somewhere else, or Fields shows he can play at least as well as Dalton at some point and they pull the trigger and hand the keys to the kid. The latter is my prediction. And it is not in a "we're losing" scenario. It is a "we're winning and playing even better with the kid" scenario.

Foles has to go. Even if they have to PAY someone a 6th rounder to take him.
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Dalton. I don’t want to see Fields play meaningful snaps until 2022.
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Dalton has got to feel like the most red headed step child ever, lol. Never wanted and we can't get rid of him fast enough. His time in Chicago will forever feel like year old Limberger cheese stuck on his tongue.

Nice guy, I feel bad for him, but he fell for Pace/Nagy's BS and the fans have been there and done that, so he really had no shot at winning the fan base. Good luck to you after game two of the season. Fields will be starting no later than game 4 of the season. JFields will have this team ramped up and ready to follow him by then.
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I have the feeling Dalton was made aware of the Bears plans. Barring injury or an 0-6 start, Dalton should start every game.

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Dalton / Dalton for me (and most of us it seems).

I'm thrilled to have Fields but not to the point that I want to rush him into a bad situation. Ideally, the Bears are competitive with Dalton and there is no pressure to play Fields. I want to see how the rest of the draft goes, hopefully the Bears are coming away with at least one promising O line if not more than one. However it breaks, I want proof that there is a decent to above average unit protecting the QB, in a groove, making things happen in the run game before the Bears new huge investment is put out there.

This is the long game for me now. Obviously, I hope the Bears go undefeated to the Super Bowl next season, but I want to see this franchise buckle down on creating an environment where a new quarterback can develop and thrive. To this effect, I'd be willing to accept, if not be outright in favor of, decisions that might disadvantage the team this year to carry out the plan above. Specifically, until Fields was drafted I felt the Bears had to come away with a CB in one of the first two rounds of the draft this year. I'm not so sure anymore, if it fell OT WR or OT C I wouldn't be sad at all.
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wulfy
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wab wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:42 am Dalton. I don’t want to see Fields play meaningful snaps until 2022.
Go catch some bass, wab.

I think it depends on how the year plays out - if there isn't a lot on the line at the end of the year, I'd like him to get a game or two under his belt. Mahomes started the last game of the 2017 season also. Seems like a good way to get your feet wet before they hand you the keys to the car .... especially with a 17 game season this year.
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I want him to play meaningful snaps and be eased in like some other QBs have been. I just don't want it all on his shoulders. He's a weapon. You have to use your weapons. But yeah no need to start him at all this year, unless he clearly earns it.
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southdakbearfan
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Brady, Rogers and Mahomes all sat at least 1 year to hone their skills and fundamentals.

He may adjust fast but the speed of the game is much different.
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Dalton/Dalton.

Although I do rather like IE's idea of game planning a play or two each week. I don't know how realistic it is, but I like it.
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dplank wrote:I agree with Rich here
RichH55 wrote: Dplank is correct
:shocked:
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Dalton/Fields

I just cannot see Fields losing the camp battle to Dalton. I'm sure Nagy/Pace have a roadmap that includes sitting him for the first quarter of the season, but this kid is ready.
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dplank wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:32 am I do not believe in the philosophy that a QB develops better while sitting on the bench - I never have and I never will.
While you're certainly entitled to your view, I patently disagree with you. Young QBs who are thrown into the fire before they understand the nuances of the offense or their teammates can fall into bad habits and/or ways of thinking under duress that makes them worse instead of better. Surely you can't think that Pat Mahomes, who came out of a gimmicky college offense would've gone to the Pro Bowl starting right out of the gate in his rookie year. With the possible exception of you and likely a few others, the entire football world credits his sitting the first year as a help to his becoming the player he turned into 2 years later.
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I'm not sure that I want Fields in a game before December. I'd understand completely if he didn't play at all. I don't want him to be ready to give us hope that he'll be able to learn from his mistakes. I want him to be ready to kick ass. That's going to take some work IMSO.
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dplank
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Mikefive wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 3:51 pm
dplank wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:32 am I do not believe in the philosophy that a QB develops better while sitting on the bench - I never have and I never will.
While you're certainly entitled to your view, I patently disagree with you. Young QBs who are thrown into the fire before they understand the nuances of the offense or their teammates can fall into bad habits and/or ways of thinking under duress that makes them worse instead of better. Surely you can't think that Pat Mahomes, who came out of a gimmicky college offense would've gone to the Pro Bowl starting right out of the gate in his rookie year. With the possible exception of you and likely a few others, the entire football world credits his sitting the first year as a help to his becoming the player he turned into 2 years later.
He's actually more the exception than the rule. If what you say were actually true, then the standard move would be to sit your highly drafted rookie QB - but that's not what happens and it doesn't appear to be hurting anyone's development.

Joe Burrow started as a rookie, did it hurt his development?
Justin Herbert started as a rookie, did it hurt his development?
Kyler Murray? Josh Allen? Deshawn Watson? Baker Mayfield? Andrew Luck?

Just to be sure we understand each other, I'm not saying it would be the best move for the Bears / winning games in 2021. What I'm saying is that you learn faster/better by playing, not watching. And the vast majority of highly drafted QB's in fact start straight away now.
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Mikefive
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dplank wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 5:56 pm
Mikefive wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 3:51 pm While you're certainly entitled to your view, I patently disagree with you. Young QBs who are thrown into the fire before they understand the nuances of the offense or their teammates can fall into bad habits and/or ways of thinking under duress that makes them worse instead of better. Surely you can't think that Pat Mahomes, who came out of a gimmicky college offense would've gone to the Pro Bowl starting right out of the gate in his rookie year. With the possible exception of you and likely a few others, the entire football world credits his sitting the first year as a help to his becoming the player he turned into 2 years later.
He's actually more the exception than the rule. If what you say were actually true, then the standard move would be to sit your highly drafted rookie QB - but that's not what happens and it doesn't appear to be hurting anyone's development.

Joe Burrow started as a rookie, did it hurt his development?
Justin Herbert started as a rookie, did it hurt his development?
Kyler Murray? Josh Allen? Deshawn Watson? Baker Mayfield? Andrew Luck?

Just to be sure we understand each other, I'm not saying it would be the best move for the Bears / winning games in 2021. What I'm saying is that you learn faster/better by playing, not watching. And the vast majority of highly drafted QB's in fact start straight away now.
The unfortunate answer is that we don't know if Joe Burrow's development would've been better had he sat out. Maybe that's what make message boards great. lol

I'd take the argument the other way. David Carr was an excellent prospect who was thrown into the fire right away. And he flamed out. Maybe that was because he was insufficiently prepared to play against NFL defenses. And you can name many similar examples.

Rookie QBs start right away now. That's true. Why? It's a habit that formed a couple decades ago when teams couldn't justify paying a rookie $10M/year (which was a ton of dough back then) to sit on the bench. Why were rookie QBs almost never played right away back in the 1970's when offenses and defenses were simpler? Because teams didn't want to ruin them. Then the salary cap happened and the accountants got involved in the process. And now we regularly ruin half of first round QBs (not that some then and now wouldn't flop anyway).
Mikefive's theory: The only time you KNOW that a sports team player, coach or management member is being 100% honest is when they're NOT reciting "the company line".

Go back to leather helmets, NFL.
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dplank
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Nah. David Carr just sucked and was in a terrible situation. Why would football be any different than everything else in life? You learn by doing. You learn from your mistakes, it’s how you figure out how to avoid them. You don’t magically stop working on your fundamentals all week just because you play on Sunday. You’re citing an old trope that’s been debunked and the league has evolved on.

And if you can’t handle failure mentally? You’re not likely to be successful at anything in life.
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I'd say let there be a real QB competition in training camp but the Bears won't subscribe to that.
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Mahomes sat for almost the full season his rookie year and learned behind Alex Smith, and he has credited Smith often with helping him prepare for the NFL ... if I remember correctly, he got a start or 2 at the very end of the season just to get his feet wet ... I'd like to see that same scenario with Fields and Dalton

Dalton signed for only 1 year, and though he isn't great, he is serviceable and has plenty of knowledge to share ... my hope is he realizes his situation could be a gold mine for him ... if he plays well AND shows he is a good team guy by legitimately taking Fields under his wing, it will retally help his next contract with his next team ... and then we get to see Fields with a year of sideline learning under his belt begin his career for real in his second year with the team
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dplank
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These things are situational. How ready is the QB coming out? People keep parroting the Mahomes thing like it’s gospel - it’s not. In fact, it’s unusual.

I don’t know if Fields is as ready a prospect as Justin Herbert, Kyler Murray, or Joe Burrow - but SD, AZ, and CIN certainly didn’t believe in this old trope - they wanted to rapidly develop their new QBs and weren’t worried about W/L as much as accelerating that development. Sure doesn’t look like they hampered their development 😂

All I know about Fields is what I’ve read, seems a plus athlete with a plus arm and pocket presence, strong leader and tough. Weakness appears to be read progression and like every NCAA QB, reading NFL disguised defenses and playing speed. Guess we will know when we get him in camp. But IMO, if we sit him it’s because we are trying to win now and Dalton gives us the best chance to win, it’s not to protect a fragile ego lol

My guess right now is Dalton starts week 1 and plays OK but is overtaken mid season
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IE
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Mahomes didn't learn a thing sitting behind Smith that he wouldn't have also learned while he was playing - and quickly. Same with Rodgers behind Favre. And like I've said in another post I believe the Packers wasted or delayed several years of prime Rodgers by making him sit behind the popular lesser (by a mile) QB.

The Bears have a luxury in Dalton that they don't have to force Fields to take his lumps unnecessarily. But they can (and should) work him in slowly and let him absorb the offense (in actual games) in pieces over the year. To not play him is to choose to not use a top weapon and to slow his growth.

It is possible, I guess - but I see no way they get into camp and conclude that Fields needs a redshirt year because he can't grasp the offense or process at NFL speed. The odds of that coming out of the NCAA championship and huge bowl games after two years at OSU... have to be almost non-existent.
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dplank wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 5:56 pm

Joe Burrow started as a rookie, did it hurt his development?
it literally did!
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I was all for sitting our new QB for a year and letting Dalton do his thing. I also thought we had about the same chance at Fields as we did Lawrence. What if they all show up at camp and Fields is simply the better QB?
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