Ditka: Better to Let Justin Fields Learn by Playing

Mike Ditka continues to be someone people talk to for thoughts on the NFL and Chicago Bears, even decades after his time of relevance ended.

The game is nothing like it was back in the day of their former coach.

Ditka remains beloved in Chicago but also disliked by some. In the end, his comments always seem to invite controversy and they did less than a month ago when he was criticizing the Bears for wanting to leave the Chicago city limits for sanity in the suburbs.

Now, Ditka offers up an opinion certain to be popular with most Bears fans, even if it's not entirely supported by fact.

                                                                                   -MIKE DITKA

Ditka did an interview with CBS Sports in conjunction with a rum company promotion aimed at training bartenders, and in it "Da Coach" said Justin Fields should be starting the opener.

"You learn by playing, you don't learn by watching," Ditka said.

Bears coach Matt Nagy has said Fields doesn't have a chance to start the opener and Andy Dalton will.

"Well, I don't know why you'd draft the quarterback if your plans aren't to play him," Ditka said.

His comments took a departure from reality and conventional wisdom.

Ditka was asked how he would handle Fields if he was coaching the Bears and what advice he would give Nagy.

"I don't think Matt needs any advice at all," Ditka said. "He knows how to handle Fields and he'll do a good job with him. I think he's gonna be thrown in there but that's OK, he'll learn. We did that with McMahon and that worked out OK."

Wait, what?

Ditka said they should start Fields and doesn't know why they would draft him if they weren't going to let him play. But then he says he doesn't want to offer advice up to Nagy. Didn't he just offer up the advice?

And besides that, Ditka showed he doesn't really remember too well when he said they threw McMahon in there and it worked out. It did, eventually, but they didn't throw him in right away as Ditka said.

McMahon eventually performed well, but the Bears made him sit out the 1982 season opener at Detroit and started Bob Avellini. In fact, he wasn't even the backup and didn't get to play when the backup came off the field.

The Lions made Avellini's face look like hamburger, as they often did when they faced him. They knocked him out of the game in the second quarter and Vince Evans had to replace him. Later Avellini returned but then went to the bench for good after getting sacked for a 10-yard loss on fourth-and-goal from the Detroit 1 in a 17-10 defeat.  And when he went to the bench the second time, Ditka didn't turn to McMahon. He turned to Evans again.

Avellini went 5 of 11 for 51 yards, Evans 7 of 15 for 89 yards and they couldn't run the ball even with Walter Payton in the lineup.

So Ditka not only failed to start McMahon in the opener, he didn't even bring him in to finish the game as the backup when both quarterbacks struggled, and didn't use him as the third quarterback.

At least Nagy has said Fields will be the backup ahead of Nick Foles.

Ditka did eventually see the error of his ways by Week 2 and started McMahon against the New Orleans Saints in one of the franchise's most forgettable games. They lost 10-0 at Soldier Field to aged former Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler.

Ditka also says he sees the need for more consistency from today's Bears quarterbacks.

Most Bears fans would say they've always had consistency—it's just been consistently bad.

"They gotta have consistency. If they can get consistency—their defense is good, their running game is good," Ditka said. "The Bears do a lot of good things, special teams is good. They gotta be able to score points and throw the football a little better."

Now, that last description does sound a great deal like in the days when Ditka was deciding whether McMahon should start.