10 quarterback comparisons to Mitch Trubisky through 3 years

4. Andy Dalton

Dalton is one of recent comparable quarterbacks who was not a first-round pick. Not many teams ride with a quarterback that early and trust them beyond two years without notable success.  Still,  looking at Dalton compared to Trubisky you can see why the two are compared to each other at this stage.

Dalton started seven more games and is slightly more efficient, but on a per-game basis, you can see that they are comparable. Trubisky helps with his rushing.

Like Flacco, Dalton hit the ground running and did not see a losing season until 2017, his sixth NFL season. However, you know the story and that is 0-4 in his first four chances. He missed his fifth chance in the playoffs with a thumb injury.

Still, the Bengals stuck with Dalton for years six through eight. Over that span, the Bengals went 20-35-1. That is enhanced by an awful 2019, but he was 18-24-1 taking out the Zac Taylor era.

The realization is that he was fine for five years on a cheap deal, but like most of these players was not worth his value after five years. Even Flacco won a Super Bowl in year five then never got back to that status. Would the Bengals have been better off cutting their losses after year five, knowing what they had in Dalton, and knowing that he did not hit the mark that Flacco and Manning did? If Trubisky makes the playoffs in years four and five, but struggles along the way, should the Bears keep betting on him? Could they be stuck in a Dalton-like situation for years six through eight?