AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Frustrated Chicago Bears fans who have been desperate for a franchise quarterback for so long surely want to see Justin Fields play more snaps, but head coach Matt Nagy believes the rookie impressed when he was given an opportunity in Sunday’s 34-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

Nagy told reporters as much: 

“Really, the very first play when he went out there and was able to make a throw—and that was an RPO. So he made a decision to throw the ball off of a look that we had. So right there to start the game, I thought that was great. And then he was involved on the sideline. And then when we got down into the red zone at times, we had a couple things in for him that worked and some that didn’t work. But when he got down in the red zone, he did some great things there, too.

“So we’ve just got to keep having him grow and keep staying positive. But he’s certainly a weapon.”

Nagy also said: “We had the plan and we stuck to our plan. We knew where and when we were going to use him and we stuck to that. And so, we’ll see where that goes and how we do it. But I think we all understand that for us, strategically, we’ll see where we go with that—without giving anything away.”

It didn’t take long for Nagy to turn to the Ohio State product.

Fields entered the game on the first drive and threw a well-placed pass to set the Bears up in scoring position. However, the drive came to an end when starter Andy Dalton threw an interception in the end zone and spoiled Chicago’s best chance to take a lead in the entire game.

In fact, Dalton was a non-threat to throw the ball downfield throughout the loss, which limited the offense and prevented the Bears from keeping pace with Matthew Stafford’s deep balls on the other side:

Zack Pearson @Zack_Pearson

Pass charts are back. Here’s #Bears QB Andy Dalton’s for Week 1: pic.twitter.com/oGwwxWcwbv

Fields scored one of Chicago’s two touchdowns when he kept the ball on an option play and ran it in with the type of speed that Dalton doesn’t have. The rookie also completed a shovel pass but was largely just a gadget option while Dalton dinked and dunked his way to the loss.

Bleacher Report @BleacherReport

JUSTIN FIELDS GETS HIS FIRST CAREER TD 💥

(via @NFLBrasil)pic.twitter.com/H2RX6ehDcU

There was surely understandable hesitation to put Fields in for too many snaps against arguably the league’s best defense that features Aaron Donald up front, but Chicago’s ceiling is far higher when he is in the game.

He brings a running dimension that Dalton does not. He proved throughout his collegiate career that he is capable of unleashing deep balls with head-turning accuracy. And he could even help David Montgomery and the other Bears running backs just because the linebackers have to freeze for a moment longer to make sure he doesn’t have the ball.

Chicago traded up for Fields during the NFL draft to make him its franchise quarterback. Yet, at least for now, he is apparently only running a set group of plays while Dalton keeps the starting role until he is ready. 

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