Bear Necessities: Kyle Brandt perfectly summarizes why sitting Justin Fields is ridiculous

This is our online morning newsletter, Bear Necessities. Subscribe to get the latest Bears news delivered to your mailbox every day.

When Andy Dalton took the field as the Bears’ starting quarterback against the Rams, Matt Nagy fulfilled his promise to Dalton that he would be the team’s starting quarterback in Week 1.

Following a lackluster effort by the offense — which managed just 14 points and was handicapped by a conservative game plan that didn’t dare even attempt to stretch the field — Nagy has no excuse for why he can’t start rookie Justin Fields.

Fields made his Bears debut Sunday against the Rams, where he appeared for a mere 5 snaps. And while he  didn’t light the world on fire with such a small sample size, he showcased exactly what he can bring to this offense that Dalton can’t — mobility, explosiveness and an ability to stretch the field.

And yet, Fields remains on the bench — for most of the game.

Everyone’s heard it by now, but Nagy is intent on following the Chiefs’ blueprint for how they handled Patrick Mahomes as a rookie. As soon as Fields got in the game on the fourth play, that point was null and void.

Kyle Brandt, co-host of Good Morning Football and Bears fan, addressed the argument that Fields should sit as some of the greats did. And Brandt absolutely destroyed the argument and made a clear point for why sitting Fields for the sake of sitting him is ridiculous.

My thoughts on Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears. pic.twitter.com/0OpFVQVPps

— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) September 14, 2021

“People are still talking about Aaron Rodgers waited.16 years ago,” Brandt said. “There’s still Tom Brady waited. 21 years ago. Patrick Mahomes waited, Patrick Mahomes would’ve been just fine. I’m actually starting to think that the Chiefs might’ve cost themself a Super Bowl run by benching him that year. I’m not even kidding.

“You can bring up those names. That’s fine. Bring them up. But just don’t forget, there is a whole other species of names in this Justin Fields thing that I’d like to bring up right now.”

Brandt mentioned Cam Newton, Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson and even Justin Herbert as examples of players who started right away (or pretty close) and had success. And Brandt believes Fields could be the next success story.

“And now you’re going to say you have to wait, Justin Fields. I think you have one of those guys because Justin Fields is not small program, didn’t play, opted… no. He played the biggest college football you could play. He dominated in every category, best competition you could play. He was teammates with Chase Young and played against him in practice.

“And yet he sits and we got Trey Lance playing. We got [Trevor] Lawrence, we got [Zack] Wilson out of BYU is starting in the New York media market and this guy can’t play. Why do they get to play with their toys and the Bears don’t? I’m waiting for a reason and I haven’t heard one.

“I think you’re messing this up. And I think you’re sitting Cam Newton and Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson. And I think you got to let them go.”