(670 The Score) Are you excited for the 2021 Dr. Pepper Zero Sugar Chicago Bears training camp? I know I'm excited for the 2021 Dr. Pepper Zero Sugar Chicago Bears training camp.
It's less than a week away and -- even with limited fan attendance -- should offer you all the quality camp taste you've come to expect, but without all that pesky sugar! It's a treat you and your doctor can be happy about. Now that I've let the metaphor sufficiently drag out, let's get into some questions in our Bears mailbag.
Steve wants to know if rookie Justin Fields has any chance of winning the starting quarterback job in camp? If not, how bad (barring injury) does Andy Dalton have to be in order to switch to Fields?
It's possible, sure. But more than anything, I believe if anyone tells you they know with certainty that Dalton or Fields will be the Week 1 starter, they're lying. Or from the future. People have grown fond of making the comparison to Russell Wilson and the Seahawks back in 2012, but the situations aren't really that similar – Matt Flynn had just signed a three-year deal to be Seattle's de facto starter back then, and Wilson came into the league with significantly less expectations than Fields. Fields beating out Dalton would be less of a surprise than Wilson beating out Flynn was at that time. I think the Bears really believe right now that Dalton is going to be the Week 1 starter, but if it's abundantly obvious that Fields is on a different level than Dalton, coach Matt Nagy isn't going to sit him just out of obligation to That Tweet. And realistically, Dalton's got what -- four or maybe five losses worth of runway? Even if he plays better than Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles did in 2020, if and when the Bears start losing games, they're going to make the switch. There's no doubt Nagy wants to carefully and meticulously develop Fields, but it's awfully hard to do that when you're an offensive consultant in the Pac-12. In a sort of backward way, I think a six-win season featuring a lot of flashy Fields moments would get ownership (not to mention Bears Twitter) off Nagy's back far more than a Dalton-led eight-win season would.
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Bushhhhhiii wants to know if, by not extending Allen Robinson just yet, the Bears are signaling that they want a different style of wide receiver in the room? Loosely looking at the Kansas City model, the possession guy is their tight end.
From the looks of it and from what little nuggets I've heard, the Robinson situation is far more rooted in the business side of football. It's hard to say that from a team-building perspective they'd want to move in a different direction – Robinson has posted 3,151 yards and 17 touchdowns on 400 targets since coming to Chicago. And those were Trubisky targets, which, you know. Robinson is one of the elite contested-catch players in football, is by all accounts a great leader in the receiver room and is a tremendous ambassador to the community. That's all to say, I'm not sure what different "style" of receiver the Bears would be looking for. They have their speedy deep threat in Darnell Mooney and in theory have a talented slot receiver in Anthony Miller (I know, shush). The problem -- or at least how the Bears are framing it -- is that Robinson wants $20 million annually and (whispers quietly) the free-agent receiver class is stacked next offseason. Davante Adams, Chris Goodwin, Robbie Anderson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, T.Y. Hilton and Will Fuller could all hit the open market. Robinson, who turns 28 in August, will get what he wants eventually – and rightfully so – but the Bears seem quietly content to let someone else pay Robinson for the back half of his prime.
Alex wants to know is Germain Ifedi a good option at right tackle? Should Bears fans be really worried at that spot? Is he possibly an improvement over Bobby Massie?
There's good news and bad news when it comes to Ifedi. The good news is that he's coming off the best season of his career, and he played surprisingly well at right tackle after switching outside in the middle of last season. He only allowed 19 hurries, two sacks, and four quarterback hits – the first two being career-bests. The penalties weren't as much of an issue last season either. If you squint hard enough, there's plenty of reason to believe that something clicked, at least in part, for him. The bad news is that Ifedi's career year was still just … kinda meh. The fact that Ifedi, who played more snaps than any other offensive linemen on the team last year, is going into the upcoming training camp in a legitimate positional battle with a fifth-round pick probably tells you all you need to know about how the team views him. Is he a clear upgrade over Massie? Probably not, no. Can he be a viable right tackle, especially on a line with two or three above-average starters? It seems like he could. If I were a Bears fan, I would tell my therapist that it's not specifically Ifedi that worries me, but Ifedi having to play next to Cody Whitehair or James Daniels' backup.
Gillian wants to know, will safety Eddie Jackson will bounce back after a bad season?
It's a great question Gillian. First, a couple of quick points about the perception surrounding Jackson. First, Jackson was set up for failure when he made his name on a turnovers-and-touchdowns reputation. History tells us that on the defense, both of those stats are fairly arbitrary year-over-year. Nothing good was ever going to come from expecting Jackson to create eight to 10 turnovers a year and score a couple touchdowns along the way. It just doesn't happen consistently unless you're Ed Reed.
With that being said, new defensive coordinator Sean Desai is going to do some fun things with this defense. Jackson should benefit especially – the two go back to Desai's time as a Bears quality control assistant when he worked with defensive backs and returning to Vic Fangio-inspired chaos would, in theory, do wonders for a player who clearly thrived in it. If you're looking for a six-interception, multi-touchdown season from Jackson, that might be asking a lot. Maybe fewer missed tackles is a better place to start? But he'll be better than he was last year – he's too talented to take another step backwards. (Quietly whispers again.) And if he doesn't, that contractual out in 2022 might look awfully tempting.
Secondly, he switched from No. 39 – which is just two ugly digits trying and failing to be a prime number – to No. 4, which looks cool as hell. He'll bounce back.
Matt wants to know what's the best Dr. Pepper Zero Sugar flavor? He's a cream soda stan. Tommy also wants to know what's my favorite setting to drink a Dr. Pepper?
I'll be honest: After an adolescence spent mainlining Mountain Dew Livewire, I gave up drinking soda a while back. It wasn't even really much of a choice -- on one very specific day, my internal organs decided that they would no longer Do The Dew. I didn't have a whole lot of say in the matter. Also, it was that or french fries, and I'll be damned if I ever give up frying foods in boiling grease. Life's all about choices, and I choose scalding hot oil.
Cam Ellis is a writer for 670 The Score and Audacy Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KingsleyEllis.
