NFL Power Rankings, Week 1: Dolphins hurt by trade talk, Bears look foolish

For some reason, there are still NFL head coaches who think rookies have to sit. It makes no sense and players such as Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Justin Herbert, Baker Mayfield, Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray, Carson Wentz, Dak Prescott and more have constantly proven that if a guy can play, he should play.

Even with all this proof, stubborn old-school coaches stick to their guns and decide it’s best to go with the veteran. Then the veteran stinks it up and the rookie comes in and makes said coach look foolish for keeping him held back. And sometimes like with Hue Jackson with the Browns in 2018, that coach even ends up gone before the season ends — and it’s crazy because they might have been able to save themselves by playing the better quarterback.

All of that brings us to the insanity that’s ensuing with the Chicago Bears where head coach Matt Nagy continues to stay stubborn with Andy Dalton as his starter while the much more explosive Justin Fields will sit.

There’s absolutely no reason for this and while some want to cite Aaron Rodgers behind Brett Favre or Patrick Mahomes behind Alex Smith, those situations are in no way similar to this one. Not only was Favre a Hall of Famer, but he and Smith were both established starters who were winning already with their teams.

In Chicago, they don’t have that. Dalton has played the same number of regular-season games in Chicago as Fields — none. He’s as new to this team as the rookie and just had a losing season in Dallas. So there’s absolutely nothing tying him to the starting lineup other than Nagy’s stubbornness. That kills them in these 2021 NFL Power Rankings and it could hurt his chances of sticking with this team.

But hey, at least he’s staying true to the old ways of football. Right?