The Bears rookie QB revealed how he has been challenging the team’s offense — and helping the defense.<\/b>
\nGetty\t Justin Fields runs for a first down against the Cincinnati Bengals at Soldier Field on September 19. With the injury to Chicago Bears veteran quarterback Andy Dalton, sustained Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals, rookie QB Justin Fields may be taking over the team sooner than initially planned. Fields entered the game against Cincinnati late in the second quarter after Dalton appeared to injure himself while running out of bounds. The 11th overall pick out of Ohio State was shaky in relief, but he also showed a knack for making plays the team has lacked at the quarterback position for quite some time. 1st of many tests for Justin Fields. pic.twitter.com\/BzutVOdyYI Greg Braggs Jr. (@GBraggsJr23) September 19,2021 Fields finished the game going 6-13 for 60 yards and an interception, and it looks like he may be getting more opportunities to start in the near future. Bears head coach Matt Nagy was non-committal when asked whether Dalton would start next week \u2014 even if healthy. \u201cI\u2019m not going to get into that. I\u2019m not going to get into that,\u201d Nagy told reporters after the game. Dalton is set to get an MRI on September 20, and while Nagy noted he didn\u2019t think the veteran signal-caller tore his ACL, it\u2019s clear Fields is ready to be the leader of this team \u2014 particularly when considering his comments after the game. ALL the latest Bears news straight to your inbox! Subscribe to the Heavy on Bears newsletter here! Join Heavy on Bears! Fields has been the Bears\u2019 scout team quarterback since the start of the regular season, which requires that he and other reserves face the team\u2019s first-team defense in order to better prepare for their weekly opponents. After Chicago\u2019s Week 1 loss to the L.A. Rams, Fields challenged his fellow players on the scout team offense to up their level of play. \u201cI challenged the scout offense this past week\u201d Fields revealed after the Bears\u2019 win over the Bengals. \u201cI was like: \u2018Yo, we didn\u2019t do a good job last week giving our defense looks.\u2019 I tried to go out there this past week and I tried to scorch our defense and really just play ball with them. Just tried to get the practice receivers together, tell them that we need to do better to get our defense better.\u201d That sounds exactly what a great leader would say \u2014 and do. Follow the Heavy on Bears Facebook page, where you can weigh in on all the latest Bears-related breaking news, rumors, content and more! The 22-year-old QB was quick to note that he wasn\u2019t pleased with his performance in Chicago\u2019s Week 2 win. \u201cI didn\u2019t play well, in my eyes,\u201d Fields said. \u201cOf course I played well enough to get the win\u2026 but I think there\u2019s a lot of room for me to improve.\u201d When asked if he\u2019s ready to make his first NFL start, Fields answered in the affirmative, and noted it would help to get some quality reps this week. \u201cI\u2019ll be getting reps with the first team offense, so I think I\u2019ll be even more prepared,\u201d he added. For his part, Nagy seemed to suggest he thinks Fields may be ready, too. Like I\u2019ve said with Justin, he\u2019s probably further along than we thought at this point right now. If that\u2019s the case, we feel good about it. He\u2019s worked really, really hard to get to this point. Even today, in that moment as a rookie, coming on in that situation \u2013 super calm, super cool. Even after the interception, when he dropped in the zero look and made the play, he was very cool coming out there and trying to make a play. He\u2019s done that his whole career. That doesn\u2019t fluster him. That\u2019s a strength that he has. We\u2019ll see where everything goes and where it\u2019s at\u2026 If (it\u2019s) Justin, he\u2019s done everything we\u2019ve asked him to do and we feel good with him. Sounds like the Justin Fields era has officially begun in the Windy City. READ NEXT: Conflicting Reports Emerge About Bears Qb Andy Dalton\u2019s Injury Unlock the latest Chicago Bears news, rumors and exclusives \u2014 direct to your inbox. \u2193<\/p>\n