The Bears have signed Andy Dalton, and it's a move that even they don't seem particularly proud of. At the same time news of that signing came out, we got the story that they'd tried really hard to acquire Russell Wilson from Seattle. Instead, it's Dalton.
Of course, the news was met with some derision, partly because that's what Twitter is all about, and partly because, well, it seems like the latest lateral move at quarterback in a recent history of lateral moves. Whether it's trading up to draft Mitchell Trubisky (famously ahead of Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson), trading for Nick Foles, or signing Dalton, Chicago seems to generally be treading water at quarterback.
Dalton has been to three Pro Bowls and took the Bengals to the playoffs four years in a row, so it's not as if he's a poor quarterback -- in fact, he's quite capable. He was credible (if unremarkable) with Dallas last season.
The question is whether he moves the needle much for the Bears, and that's a lot less clear. Probably better than Foles, who flopped last year, but not necessarily any better than Trubisky. Not down the stretch, and not noticeably so since Trubisky entered the league.
Over the last four seasons, all three quarterbacks grade out pretty similar -- touchdowns, interceptions, passer rating. Among quarterbacks who started at least 25 games (to sneak Foles into the table), they're all in the same general area. Well below average.
| QUARTERBACK PERFORMANCE, 2017-2020 (25+ STARTS) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | G | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
| Drew Brees | 54 | 72.8 | 14247 | 106 | 23 | 110.3 |
| Patrick Mahomes | 46 | 66.0 | 14152 | 114 | 24 | 108.7 |
| Ryan Tannehill | 39 | 66.5 | 8540 | 72 | 22 | 105.9 |
| Deshaun Watson | 54 | 67.9 | 14539 | 104 | 36 | 104.5 |
| Russell Wilson | 64 | 65.4 | 15753 | 140 | 36 | 104.0 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 55 | 64.8 | 14418 | 115 | 17 | 103.4 |
| Lamar Jackson | 46 | 64.0 | 7085 | 68 | 18 | 102.6 |
| Kirk Cousins | 63 | 67.8 | 16259 | 118 | 42 | 101.1 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo | 31 | 67.5 | 7352 | 46 | 26 | 98.1 |
| Tom Brady | 64 | 64.6 | 17622 | 125 | 39 | 97.6 |
| Matthew Stafford | 56 | 65.2 | 14806 | 95 | 36 | 96.8 |
| Philip Rivers | 64 | 66.1 | 17607 | 107 | 53 | 96.4 |
| Matt Ryan | 63 | 66.4 | 18066 | 107 | 44 | 96.3 |
| Derek Carr | 63 | 67.4 | 15702 | 89 | 40 | 95.6 |
| Dak Prescott | 53 | 65.6 | 13967 | 83 | 36 | 95.4 |
| Jared Goff | 62 | 64.3 | 17082 | 102 | 48 | 94.1 |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 48 | 65.4 | 13534 | 95 | 41 | 93.8 |
| Alex Smith | 33 | 65.8 | 7804 | 42 | 18 | 92.9 |
| Teddy Bridgewater | 30 | 68.3 | 5235 | 25 | 15 | 92.5 |
| Carson Wentz | 52 | 62.8 | 13029 | 97 | 36 | 92.4 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 38 | 64.0 | 9089 | 57 | 36 | 91.0 |
| Kyler Murray | 32 | 65.8 | 7693 | 46 | 24 | 90.9 |
| Josh Allen | 44 | 61.8 | 9707 | 67 | 31 | 90.4 |
| Case Keenum | 43 | 64.6 | 9190 | 51 | 27 | 89.2 |
| Baker Mayfield | 46 | 61.9 | 11115 | 75 | 43 | 89.1 |
| Jameis Winston | 44 | 62.7 | 11680 | 71 | 55 | 88.2 |
| Mitchell Trubisky | 51 | 64.1 | 10609 | 64 | 37 | 87.2 |
| Eli Manning | 35 | 63.6 | 8809 | 46 | 29 | 86.0 |
| Marcus Mariota | 37 | 63.9 | 7189 | 32 | 26 | 86.0 |
| Nick Foles | 25 | 65.8 | 4538 | 25 | 16 | 85.3 |
| Cam Newton | 47 | 63.6 | 9926 | 54 | 40 | 85.1 |
| Tyrod Taylor | 29 | 60.1 | 3513 | 17 | 6 | 85.1 |
| Andy Dalton | 51 | 61.2 | 11550 | 76 | 45 | 84.8 |
| Jacoby Brissett | 46 | 59.5 | 6059 | 31 | 13 | 84.2 |
| Daniel Jones | 27 | 62.2 | 5970 | 35 | 22 | 84.1 |
| Blake Bortles | 32 | 60.2 | 6408 | 34 | 24 | 82.5 |
| Joe Flacco | 38 | 62.6 | 8292 | 42 | 27 | 82.4 |
| Sam Darnold | 38 | 59.8 | 8097 | 45 | 39 | 78.6 |
Quarterback rating isn't everything. Dalton has taken teams to the playoffs, so the Bears can point to that and say that maybe, with enough good stuff around him in terms of receiving corps, running game and defense, he can do the same in Chicago.
But it looked a lot more reasonable last year when the only contract Dalton got was to be a backup in Dallas. Hard to get excited about him leading Chicago anywhere but to a .500 record, perhaps, and a quick playoff exit at best. They could have done that with Trubisky.
--Andy Richardson