Is Andy Dalton a Real Obstacle for Justin Fields?

The past suggests Justin Fields will need to attain only a very average level of play to pass Andy Dalton and claim the starting Chicago Bears quarterback role.

Before Justin Fields, there will be Andy Dalton.

That is, barring an injury.

Dalton was named the starter and Bears coach Matt Nagy wanted to make this clear after last week's rookie camp ended.

"Andy is the starter, Andy is going to get the (No.) 1 reps," Nagy said. 

Nagy didn't really need to clarify any of this but did. After all, it had already been stated and no one ever took away a veteran's job at a rookie minicamp. There is more serious football going on in gym classes at high schools across the country than at many of the rookie minicamps.

It's no contact, little 11 on 11, some seven on seven and mostly passing against air. It's a lot of individual work in front of the coaches and teaching the offense. One full practice of the three was a walk-through. No one can tell anything about a quarterback or any other position under those circumstances.

So, assuming Dalton gets to Week 1 against the Rams, what can the Bears expect?

Dalton actually was not a bad quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys under difficult circumstances last year. 

Justin Fields on 30+ yard throws in his career
🚀 95.7 grade
🚀 18 TDs
🚀 0 INTs pic.twitter.com/rWPuya5Ygc

— PFF College (@PFF_College) May 20, 2021

Nor was he a good quarterback. His overall passer rating of 87.3 was just above Mitchell Trubisky's career passer rating of 87.2.

More pertinent to the Bears this season was how Dalton fared against the New York Giants, Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers. All are on the schedule for the Bears this season and Dalton started against each of them. Only the 49ers of that group have a different defensive coordinator than last year and DeMeco Ryans is likely to run a scheme very similar to what Robert Saleh did because he was on the 49ers staff for four years.

Against those teams, Dalton barely strayed from his season average but he did succeed a little more in terms of wins and losses against this group. He won half the six games he started against them, completed 64.5% of his passes for a passer rating of 86.14 with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. He beat the 49ers, Bengals and Vikings but lost to the Giants, Cardinals and Ravens.

Dalton played competently enough with four passer ratings in his starts of 96.7 or higher. His only really poor games came against Arizona, Washington and in the finale with the Giants. By that game, the real problem Dalton had completely materialized. Actually, it probably materialized when he suffered a concussion against Washington.

The Cowboys had no offensive line by just past midseason. They lost right tackle La'el Collins to hip surgery before the season, left tackle Tyron Smith to a neck injury two games into the year and right guard Zack Martin to a calf injury after 10 games. They'd also lost center Travis Frederick to retirement before the season.

They went from 23 sacks allowed, the second-best total in the league, to 44 allowed. That was seventh-worst total. So even though Dalton had some of the best receiver weapons in the league and great running back help, he had little time to throw. 

This also explains his poor yards per pass attempt average, a career-worst 6.5. This had always been a problem in Chicago for Trubisky, but it's become one for Dalton more and more as his career advanced. He's reached 7.0 only once in four years. 

This is the bar being set for Fields. It's fairly low. Mediocre accurately describes it.

Nagy said it will be apparent to everyone whether Fields is ready to play. 

"Andy Dalton is there as a bridge. What Justin Fields has to do is take control come training camp. I need some wild plays. I need to be able to see some MAGIC!" @Keyshawn lets us know how Justin Fields can take over as QB1 in Chicago pic.twitter.com/7jPsmul1Zg

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) May 14, 2021

"I think the easiest way for us to simply think about this is it'll all happen for those quarterbacks," Nagy said. "They'll all play however they're supposed to play. We're all going to see whatever we're supposed to see and then it's our job as evaluators of who they are and what their strengths and weaknesses are to make sure that we're doing everything we can to make the Bears the best team possible. That's it."

When it looks like Fields has advanced enough in the offense to be mediocre or better, then it should be apparent it's time for them to get him on the field.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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