The Bears’ expected signing of Andy Dalton is a mystery that really doesn’t solve anything. The only thing is indicates for sure is just how done with Mitch Trubisky the Bears were after the 2020 season.
Oh, were they done with Mitch.
The Bears were so done with Trubisky they signed a quarterback who isn’t any better. Dalton is a three-time Pro Bowl quarterback whose 31,594 passing yards and 204 touchdown passes in nine seasons with the Bengals are miles ahead of the Bears’ all-time leader in those categories, Jay Cutler (23,443 yards, 154 touchdowns). But he’s not that quarterback in 2021 at 33.
In fact, in Trubisky’s four seasons with the Bears since he was drafted No. 2 overall in 2017, his 87.2 passer rating in 51 games (64 touchdowns, 37 interceptions) is better than Dalton’s 84.8 (76 touchdowns, 45 interceptions.)
Dalton already has been discarded by a team that can’t get over the hump. And Dalton, despite some prolific regular seasons, was a big part of that struggle. In four playoff games, he had a 57.8 passer rating, with one touchdown and six interceptions. The Bengals lost all four. And the last one was five years ago.
The Bengals finally decided to dump Dalton and drafted Joe Burrow with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft. The Bears are going in the opposite direction — dumping Trubisky to sign Dalton. So far, anyway. There has to be another move here, right?
Whether or not there is, the Bears are going forward without Trubisky, whose departure typifies the Bears’ struggle to find a quality quarterback. It’s the right move, but a quick perusal of the quarterback landscape left a daunting question — could the Bears find someone better? Outside of the dream scenarios — Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson and a top-10 quarterback in the draft — the options in free agency were limited.
That’s a tough spot for Bears general manager Ryan Pace — even after releasing Jay Cutler he at least provided hope with Trubisky. If Pace doesn’t have another trick up his sleeve, he’ll have to explain how Andy Dalton is an upgrade over Trubisky. What does Dalton give you that Trubisky did not?
Maybe Dalton allows Nagy to be himself. Though Nagy gave it a good try with Trubisky over three seasons, he probably had enough. Trubisky’s failure in 2020 forced Nagy too far out of his element — he made quarterback change; he gave up play-calling; and he had to adjust his offensive scheme to accentuate Trubisky’s strengths and maximize his performance.
In his fourth season, Nagy probably wants to get back to the approach he envisioned when he was hired in 2018 — whatever that was. Whether it’s Dalton or Nick Foles or somebody else, it won’t be Mitch Trubisky.
That seems to be the point of the Dalton signing. Trubisky actually showed a spark after regaining the starting job from Foles last season. He had credible performances against the Lions (108.3 passer rating), Texans (126.7), Vikings (97.7) and Jaguars (97.9) — a combined 108.5 rating with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. It came against bottom-10 defenses, but it was better than he was.
After an intrusion of a little reality against the Packers in the regular-season finale (81.7) and the Saints in the playoffs (69.4 before garbage-time production improved his rating to 96.8), the road to future NFL success for Trubisky led out of Chicago. Andy Dalton gives the Bears what they were looking for — somebody else.
