Justin Fields NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year odds: Bears quarterback will play perhaps 3 quarters vs. Dolphins in preseason opener Saturday
Bears fans finally get a look at rookie QB Justin Fields on Saturday.
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The Chicago Bears and their fans have been looking for a franchise quarterback pretty much ever since Jim McMahon's promising career was ruined by injury -- and by Green Bay defender Charles Martin. The Bears think they finally found that QB in Justin Fields, the No. 11 pick in this year's draft. He will play the most of any Chicago signal-callers on Saturday afternoon vs. Miami as the teams open the preseason. The Bears are 3.5-point favorites on the Caesars Sportsbook NFL odds, which is a pretty big spread for an exhibition opener.
One doesn't want to read too much into what a quarterback is doing in training camp or in joint practices with other teams, but by all reports Fields has been very good and often better than Andy Dalton. The Bears did practice with the Fins on Thursday and the comparisons weren't close between those two. Again, though, quarterbacks aren't allowed to be hit.
"Oh man, he's catching on quick," said new Bears running back Damien Williams. "When he starts making plays, you start feeling that energy, and then that energy feeds off. It's like he gives you that energy and the swag. When he's making plays, it makes you want to get behind people like that."
Coach Matt Nagy continues to insist that Dalton will be his Week 1 starter at the Los Angeles Rams (first Sunday night game of regular season) and that Dalton will start Saturday against Miami but only play a series or two. Then it will be Fields' show. The Chicago third-stringer is Nick Foles, who was last year's primary starter but a guy the Bears would now love to trade. Alas, a deal to the Colts seemingly won't happen.
"For Justin, for sure [he'll play] past the halftime," Nagy said. "The mindset going into this is that he's going to get a lot of reps. Does that take him into the fourth quarter? Maybe. ... The more reps we can get him right now, the better. It's only going to help him."
Whether Nagy allows Fields snaps with the first-team offense – and against Miami's first-team defense – remains to be seen.
Even though Fields will not be the opening-week starter and probably won't get into a game before, say, Week 3 at the earliest barring a Dalton injury, he's up to the +600 second favorite to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year behind Jaguars quarterback and No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence (+280).
Because oddsmakers are so sure that Dalton will be replaced by Fields eventually, there are no Over/Under season props on either because of the uncertainty when that may happen.
Just for a point of reference, Bears fans: Mitchell Trubisky was stellar in his 2017 preseason debut vs. Denver, going 18-for-25 for 166 yards and a touchdown – and we all know how Trubisky's career turned out.
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