With his top two quarterbacks nursing injuries, Bears coach Matt Nagy at least had to entertain the possibility that he could turn to third-stringer Nick Foles on Sunday against the Lions.
Monday, Nagy called veteran Andy Dalton “week-to-week” with a bone bruise in his left knee and said the team would monitor rookie Justin Fields’ throwing hand for swelling after finding no break in a X-ray Sunday.
It was telling that Nagy never mentioned Foles’ name when talking about his quarterbacks until he was asked specifically about the former Super Bowl MVP.
“They’re all three under consideration right now in regards to where they’re at, so we’ll just kinda have to see in the next couple days where they’re all at,” Nagy said. “We know where Nick’s at, health-wise, but we just want to keep an eye on Justin and Andy. Then, for us to stay on that and make sure that we have a plan for any of those.”
Foles hasn’t thrown a regular-season pass since November. He doesn’t figure to again unless both the other quarterbacks are significantly hurt.
Nagy on Graham’s post
Nagy speculated that tight end Jimmy Graham’s social media critique of his offense was the result of postgame frustration.
“I would say the biggest thing with that is y’all understand, after a game, we all get very emotional,” he said. “I think that’s real. What you do is you talk and you figure out, ‘OK, where are we at?’ And you try to get better at all that. I respect these players so much. These guys care. That’s all.”
It’s unclear whether the respect goes both ways. Shortly after the 26-6 loss, Graham Retweeted a post from CBS Sports saying the Bears’ average of 1.1 yard per play was the second-fewest by any team since 2000.
Graham hasn’t posted a catch since Week 1 and has only one target, total over the past two weeks.
“There’s a lot of different facets involved in it, but Jimmy has done some things in this league that very few people have ever done,” tight ends coach Clancy Barone said. “We’re very excited about the time and place when he is gonna be come more active in our offense.”
Where’s Eddie?
Defensive line coach Chris Rumph said the Bears miss nose tackle Eddie Goldman, who, somewhat mysteriously, has yet to play this season. He hurt his knee six days before the season opener and missed three starts, which is a longer absence than the Bears expected. He sat out last year with coronavirus concerns.
Rumph said he believes Goldman wants to play.
“I think he’s dealing with some things right now,” he said. “When he comes back, he comes back. Until then, I’m going to keep on moving.”
