With Justin Fields in place as the starting QB, the Bears’ arrow should be pointing up heading into 2022.
On first-and-20 early in the second quarter against the Bengals in Week 2 at Soldier Field, Dalton dropped back, escaped pressure, found a swath of running room to his right and scooted toward the sideline for a 14-yard gain.
But he came up limping after being sacked for an eight-yard loss by Bengals defensive tackle D.J.
Coach Matt Nagy said Dalton would be the starter when he returned, but the winds of change already were kicking up.
On the following Monday, Nagy stuck to the original script and insisted Dalton was the starter whenever he became healthy.
But Fields’ promotion to the starting job puts the Bears in better shape than they were at the midway point last season, when they were 5-3 with Nick Foles playing ahead of Mitch Trubisky.
But, especially with Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace presumably on the hot seat, that low bar gets raised after the bye.
With Fields gaining comfort with the offense and the coaching staff gaining comfort with him, Fields is trending toward that signature game.
No matter how well he’s technically playing — a difficult thing to quantify for a safety — Jackson still has not found the play-making groove of his first two NFL seasons in 2017-18.
It’s could be a bit of a quandary for Nagy and offensive line coach Juan Castillo.
It would be difficult for the Bears to bench Peters to get Jenkins experience that might pay dividends in 2022 — especially if the Bears have any chance at a playoff spot in the final weeks of the regular season.
They were called for 16 penalties against the Steelers , including an illegal formation out of a time out.
Nagy made his mark in that glorious 2018 rookie season as a coach who impressively engendered a healthy respect from his players on both sides of the ball.