Does Chase Daniel make the Chicago Bears one of the top backup quarterback jobs on the team?
Bleacher Report recently ranked every team and their backup quarterback situation from the worst situation to the best in the league. The premise is that if your starter goes down, how comfortable would you feel in the backup?
The Chicago Bears cracked the top ten in this list, coming in at number ten. Their explanation:
"The Bears’ backup quarterback tandem isn’t sexy, but it’s reliable.Despite rarely getting opportunities, Daniel has been a top-quality backup quarterback for years. Two of his last three preseasons (in Philadelphia in 2016 and in New Orleans in 2017) have been superb, and new Bears head coach Matt Nagy knows him well from their time together in Kansas City.There’s no long-term potential there, but he’s a quality 31-year-old second-stringer.And they’re probably in trouble if they need to use Bray extensively, but the former Chief was also good last preseason under Nagy’s tutelage"
Before digging into whether or not the ranking is fair, it is worth questioning the overall validity of this list. The list has the Buffalo Bills backup quarterback situation at number nine.
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I get it, any of the three could end up being the starter. However, no team wants Nathan Peterman to be their starting quarterback. Josh Allen is the least ready of any rookie quarterback, and there is no reason worth believing in him at this point. Which leaves us with A.J. McCarron, who everybody seems to love. He started a playoff game, they say. He was at home, with A.J. Green, Mohammed Sanu, Marvin Jones, Tyler Eifert, a top ten o-line and a complete running back arsenal.
Against an average Steelers defense he completed 55% of his passes, threw one touchdown to one interception, was sacked three times and averaged just over 5 yards per attempt. Those numbers are awful across the board, and are even worse considering who he was playing and who he had on his roster.
This is not a top ten backup quarterback spot by any stretch. It would be hard to argue top 16.
With that said, the Chicago Bears quarterback spot could be in a similar spot depending on how you look at it. You cannot watch Chase Daniel on tape and seriously make the case that this is a top ten backup quarterback. It is silly.
However, there is something to Daniel and Tyler Bray setting the mood in the room. Both have experience with Matt Nagy, and have spent most of their careers in his offense. From Monday-Saturday, Bray and Daniel may be a top ten backup group. They are going to provide Trubisky with a lot of information and experience between the ears.
However, on the field, it really is not a case to be made. Chase Daniel was ranked over backups such as Jacoby Brisset, Trevor Siemian, and Brian Hoyer. There is just no way that anyone could competently say that Daniel is better without guessing about Daniels potential.
The ranking is unfair.