No Hard Feelings from Andy Dalton

Bears veteran quarterback shrugs off selection of Justin Fields and quickly becomes engaged in learning the new offense.

It would have been easy for Bears quarterback Andy Dalton to feel he'd been used as the "new Mike Glennon," when Justin Fields was drafted.

In his first comments about the quarterback situation since the team drafted Fields, Dalton on Wednesday at OTAs seemed to have accepted the rookie as the future for the Bears offense but his goal is to make that future next year or beyond.

In other words, Dalton doesn't carry around the same kind of anger expressed by Aaron Rodgers over the Packers' drafting of Jordan Love. 

"I knew the situation I was going into regardless of whether they drafted somebody or if they didn't," Dalton said. "I was on a one-year deal and I was going to be the starter. So my mindset didn't have to change.

"I already knew I was going to do everything I can to be the best player I can for this team and to help us win a lot of football games and that's been my goal from the very beginning. And so whatever happens after this year happens. But my mindset didn't change just because they drafted Justin."

Dalton doesn't intend to simply slide to the side and let a rookie take the starting job, and he has asserted himself in early organized team activity work. At the same time, he made it apparent to Bears coach Matt Nagy and to teammates that he has command of the offense and the huddle at an early stage.

"I think it's real," Nagy said. "So, it goes back to the comment of when the quarterback plays this game and he already knows what the defense is doing, he can play faster than others, and Andy has a ton of experience in this game."

The 10 previous years of experience in Cincinnati and Dallas provided Dalton with both patience to cope with his current situation as a possible one-year Bears quarterback, and the talent to quickly fit into an attack using his ability to make anticipatory throws.

Dalton already knows where players are supposed to be and is putting the ball in the spot while expecting receivers to get to where they need to be for a reception.

"So for us, we have a lot of young wide receivers, and so they're seeing that if you don't get your tail to that spot, he's gonna throw the football and if you're not there and it's an incompletion and it's your fault," Nagy said. "Then we've got to figure out, are we going to keep letting that happen or are we going to get somebody else.

"That's what I think is neat to see and Andy, he's got red hair, too, so he’s like, he's got that fire—he's like, he'll get pissed now and tell you if you do something wrong. He's gonna tell you. I kind of like that."

Dalton had to smile about the fiery redhead remark from Nagy.

"It comes with experience and understanding how things should look," Dalton said. "Playing the position of quarterback, you're obviously going to have a voice, but then you throw the experience in and how long I've been doing this into the mix, too, and I think you're in that leadership position and you want to make sure things are going the right way.

"I'm sure that's what he's alluding to with the fiery redhead comments. But I'm trying to do everything I can to make us the best team that we will be come the fall."

While Fields tries to pick up the pro game and learn the offense, Dalton has a good grasp.

"As soon as I signed here, I was already starting to learn the offense," Dalton said. "Fortunately, having been around I think this is my seventh coordinator of my 11 years, I know how to adjust to a new offense.

"So to start from the beginning, I was trying to make sure I was on the same page, making sure that if I had any questions to reach out so that when we got to this time of year I wasn't having to get so many questions answered and see how things were going. I've been in this and trying to learn and I feel really comfortable with everything we've done so far."

It didn't hurt he was working again with Bill Lazor, his offensive coordinator from 2017-18 in Cincinnati.

"It's been great being back with Bill," Dalton said. "That's a big reason I wanted to be here, because of Bill and just the experiences we've had together.

"It's been fun to see Matt install all the plays and just to hear the way that he's gone about talking about every read that we have, every progression. This is why we're calling it, this is what we're doing. Just his teaching. That's what this time of year is for, it’s for the teaching."

The teaching includes joining Nick Foles in mentoring Fields. Foles isn't at this week's OTAs for personal reasons but was at least week's conditioning and meetings and is expected back next week.

"Yeah, right now for (Fields), it's all new, first time getting in an NFL offense," Nagy said. "I'm trying to give him advice on certain things, how I would view certain plays, what I'd do with my eyes on certain things, different things that come with experience.

"Obviously, I'm going into Year 11. I've had a lot of ball. For me, I'm just trying to help him out a much as I can."

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