Is That All There Is?

Bears GM Ryan Pace brought in a quarterback but Andy Dalton more fits the description of a backup at this point in his career, leading to speculation the team could still be setting up to draft a QB.

Quarterback Andy Dalton comes to the Chicago Bears facing a rather difficult situation for a player not necessarily expected to start.

It's not a popular move. And he has to follow a quarterback who didn't even come to the city. 

The Bears agreed to terms on a one-year, $10 million deal with Dalton, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, after he spent 2020 as Dak Prescott's replacement with Dallas. Dalton played for only $3 million last season. 

The reaction of Chicago has been less than negative, considering the buildup to a possible Bears deal to acquire Russell Wilson. 

The signing leads to questions beyond what are they possibly thinking, like, have they actually improved by dumping Mitchell Trubisky?

However, it is also possible the Bears plan to make a move at quarterback still and trade for Wilson or someone else, like Sam Darnold.

Considering what they paid Dalton, it would appear unlikely. If not, it would appear they will use Nick Foles and Dalton.

Dalton will turn 34 years old this season and played last year in nine games, throwing interceptions in seven of them. He finished 216 of 333 for 2,170 yards with 14 TDs and eight interceptions for a passer rating of 87.3.

Dalton's statistics for the same number of starts Trubisky made last year were worse than the Bears starter, and he had more weapons at his disposal than Trubisky with names like CeeDee Lamb, Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, Dalton Schultz and Ezekiel Elliott. Trubisky completed a higher percentage (67%), had more TD passes (16), the same number of interceptions, had a better yards per attempt (6.9 to 6.5) and better passer rating (93.5).

Since Trubisky came into the league in 2017, he has a better completion percentage (64.0 to 61.1), fewer interceptions (45-37), a better passer rating (87.2-84.8) and the same yards per attempt as Dalton.

Putting Dalton in a quarterback competition with Foles leaves the Bears with two veterans in their 30s, and the other QB move they make could actually be looking to the draft for an understudy to be mentored by the two veterans.

Dalton did have a better 2020 season than Foles had in Chicago. Foles wound up 202 of 312 for 1,852 yards, 10 TDs with eight interceptions and a passer rating of 80.8.

Dalton led the Cincinnati Bengals to the playoffs from 2011-2015 but missed one of those playoff games. The Bengals lost all five playoff games during that period.

For nine seasons as Bengals starter, Dalton had an 87.5 passer rating with 62% completions and 7.1 yards per pass attempted. His interception rate was 2.7% and he threw for TDs on 4.6% of his passes.

One possible benefit to acquiring Dalton is he has a good working relationship with Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, who was the Bengals offensive coordinator in 2017 and 2018, and quarterbacks coach in 2016.

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