Marcus Spears upset at Bears not starting Justin Fields
NFL veteran Marcus Spears joined the call on Twitter for the Chicago Bears to start quarterback Justin Fields. Calls for Fields to be the starter began after head coach Matt Nagy announced that the Bears would be starting Andy Dalton week one of the regular season.
Marcus Spears on Justin Fields
When ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported via Twitter that Andy Dalton would be starting week one for the Chicago Bears, his coworker Marcus Spears replied with a very simple message expressing his frustration.
With some time to think it over, Spears returned to Twitter to elaborate on what he meant. He made the case for starting Fields, explaining that he gives Chicago a better chance to win and deserves the chance.
“Aight let me get this out right now! Holding off on starting @justnfields week one because they playing the Rams and @AaronDonald97 is not at all a good reason! This football dammit! You better play the dude that gives you a chance to win each week period! That’s #Fields.”
Fans at the preseason game seemed to agree with Spears’ stance. With fans eager to see Fields take the field, Dalton received boos from the crowd when he entered the game for the second quarter.
The case for Fields
The excitement around Fields’ early preseason success was a large factor in fans booing the decision to stay with Dalton. Adding fuel to the growing fire, Fields impressed on Saturday by picking up four first downs on his first two drives, tying the production Dalton oversaw in a whole half of play.
Fields ended his Saturday effort leading the Bears in rushing yards with 46, and completed 9 of 19 passes for 80 yards. He finished with two scoring drives on the day and ten total first downs.
As the NFL season draws closer, the opportunities to see Fields in action with the starting lineup are disappearing. Nagy spoke with reporters after the game and suggested that Fields could start to see playing time with the team’s starters.
“With three weeks before the season opener and one preseason game left, the hope is Fields will get reps with the starters before week one,” reported NFL.com’s Kevin Patra. “Nagy suggested after the game that we could see the rookie get reps with the first-teamers next week. That’s when the true evaluation of the first-rounder can begin.