Bear Digest

Another Bears  Bridge Washout

The Chicago Bears bought in Andy Dalton as a bridge quarterback to Justin Fields just as they did with Mike Glennon for Mitchell Trubisky and the results were the same, as the veterans underperformed while leaving the rookies on the field too soon.

Gene Chamberlain

In this story:

The Bears' signing of quarterback Trevor Siemian became official on Tuesday after it had been reported last week.

In essence but not reality, it's a trade: Siemian for Andy Dalton

While Siemian left the New Orelans Saints in free agency, Bears free agent quarterback Andy Dalton signed with the Saints Tuesday and has come out of it quite nicely cash-wise, although not as well as he did last year.

ESPN's Adam Schefter and NFL Network reported the signing at $6 million with $3 million guaranteed for one season.

When Dalton signed with the Bears, he got $10 million for one season, eight games and six starts. They're still counting $5 million of the deal he signed toward their cap space this year thanks to former GM Ryan Pace's method for prorating contracts over dummie years in the future.

Dalton was last year's Mike Glennon, the bridge quarterback signed to hold the fort down until rookie Justin Fields was ready much the way happened with Mitchell Trubisky in 2017.

In fact, Dalton didn't even last as long as Glennon, who made it through Week 4 before giving way. It was hardly Dalton's fault, though. He suffered a bone bruise to a knee in the second quarter of Week 2 against Cincinnati with the Bears leading 7-0.

Dalton's time as starting quarterback effectively ended then, although Fields wasn't officially anointed the starter until Week 5 against Las Vegas and Dalton had to play again later in the season due to broken ribs and an ankle injury to Fields.

Dalton's best games were the Week 17 29-3 win over a hapless Giants team at Soldier Field and the Thanksgiving Day 16-14 win at Detroit.

He was 18 of 35 for 173 yards with a touchdown pass against the Giants in the win which came, ironically enough, over Glennon. Dalton led a 16-14 comeback win over the Lions, completing 24 of 39 for 317 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

He had an abysmal day against the Arizona Cardinals at Soldier Field with four interceptions in a 33-22 loss.

The bridge Dalton was expected to bring never really materialized as he was 36 of 49 for 262 yards with a TD, an interception and had a passer rating of 83.9 for the first two weeks before Fields took over.

Perhaps as big a mistake for the Bears as spending $10 million for Dalton was coach Matt Nagy telling him as early as mid-March that he would be the starter. With Dalton taking all the offseason and preseason first-team snaps, Fields was ill-prepared for stepping in with a group of receivers he had little exposure to before Week 2 of the regular season.

Dalton on the season went 149 of 236 (63.14%) for 1,515 yards with eight touchdowns, nine interceptions and a passer rating of 76.9. His passer rating and his 6.4 yards per attempt were career lows, as were his eight TDs.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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