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It’s a tale as old as time — the struggles of the Chicago Bears when it comes to stability at the quarterback position.
After a magical two weeks where Bears fans allowed themselves to dream about the possibility of Russell Wilson being traded to Chicago, they were dealt a harsh reality check when the Bears signed veteran quarterback Andy Dalton to a one-year deal worth $10 million.
This after an offseason where fans anticipated general manager Ryan Pace making a big splash at the quarterback position. Which, admittedly, he did try to land Wilson, although he couldn’t get it done.
Now, the Bears are trudging forward with Dalton as QB1 heading into the NFL draft, where Chicago is expected to draft a rookie quarterback to groom behind Dalton.
But what was it about Dalton that made Pace make a move — aside from the fact that they lost out on Wilson.
“The things we like as you look at it, obviously his experience—he’s a nine-year starter, he’s been to three Pro Bowls, a lot of leadership with Andy Dalton, his decision-making,” Pace said. “He’s won a lot of games in this league. Andy’s been a durable player, too. I think that’s something that’s understated.
“And I think really Andy fits our style of offense. When you go through it with our scouts and coaches, he can handle the drop-back game, he can handle the RPOs, the play-actions, the movements. And we just felt, as we went through those free-agent quarterbacks, he’s one of the more complete quarterbacks that we evaluated in free agency, and we’re excited to have him.”
While Dalton might be an upgrade over Mitchell Trubisky, who signed with the Buffalo Bills in free agency, he’s as much of an answer as Trubisky and Nick Foles were.
But we’ve been here before. Where Pace has touted a veteran free-agent signing as the starting quarterback only for him to go out and draft a young quarterback to further shake up the quarterback position.
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