Andy Dalton will be the guy for 2021. At least that is what both he and the Chicago Bears brass have said publicly. The team Twitter feed even put out that infamous ‘QB1’ post just to make sure everybody got the message. There isn’t going to be any quarterback controversy this year. Even if the Bears end up drafting somebody. Dalton is their guy this year. He’ll receive every meaningful snap in training camp.
That seemed to be the end of the discussion. Was it always the plan though? Obviously, Dalton wasn’t the first choice this offseason. A blockbuster trade for Russell Wilson would’ve been much preferred. However, that fell through in March. So they quickly moved on to grabbing Dalton. It appears though he wasn’t their first choice in free agency either. At least according to what Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune has heard.
Some around the NFL think they wanted Ryan Fitzpatrick.
“Some believe the Bears preferred Fitzpatrick to Dalton but had to pivot after the Washington Football Team reached an agreement with Fitzpatrick before free agency opened. It’s not like the Bears had first choice in the matter.”
The timeline seems to line up. Chicago had to wait for an answer from Seattle on Wilson. They received their reply on March 16th that it wasn’t happening. That same day they came to an agreement with Dalton on a one-year deal. The problem was Fitzpatrick was already gone by that point, having chosen to sign with Washington the day before on March 15th.
This would explain why the Bears were so rapid in their action to make sure they got Dalton. They knew waiting on Wilson had cost them their chance to get Fitzpatrick. This is not to say they didn’t want Dalton, but if what Biggs says is true then the guy they really wanted was just out of reach. So is there a defining reason why this might’ve been the case?
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Fitzpatrick has one advantage over Andy Dalton
If there is one thing the longtime veteran has proven adept at it’s attacking defenses down the field. Since 2013, Fitzpatrick has averaged a healthy 11.9 yards per completion. Dalton sits at 11.4 by comparison. It may seem like a small difference but it’s a full half yard more. Chicago has sorely lacked in explosive plays the past few years. Last season was especially tough to watch as Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles routinely missed wide open guys down the field.
Outside of that, it’s hard to see what the Bears saw in him that superior to Andy Dalton. He’s five years younger than Fitzpatrick. He has a high touchdown per game percentage and a lower interception per game percentage. If that weren’t enough, he has actually made the playoffs in his career. Something Fitzpatrick has never accomplished once. So even if this rumor is true, one could argue the Bears ended up with the better quarterback.
This serves as another reminder of how fluid the NFL offseason is.
The far more pressing question isn’t if the Bears got their guy in free agency. It is whether they get him in the draft. Everybody believes the team is gunning for a quarterback early. Perhaps even by trading up in the 1st round. This is a situation that could well determine the long-term future of the franchise. Can Ryan Pace get it right this time?