The Chicago Bears signed Andy Dalton well before they knew they could acquire a first-round talent in the 2021 NFL Draft. Many believed that it would be the Andy Dalton and Nick Foles show that would end the reign of Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace. However, the Chicago Bears head coach and general manager were not going to go down without a fight.
It has been rumored that the Chicago Bears set up a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles to send Nick Foles back to them, but Foles refused the trade because he wanted to stay with the Chicago Bears. I believe at this point, Nick Foles likes Chicago enough to want to stay, or the Eagles are that bad in his mind that he wanted no part of them.
Regardless, Nick Foles was there when Carson Wentz had an almost MVP caliber season before going down with a season-ending injury. Foles was also there when Gardner Minshew outplayed his draft ranking during Minshew’s rookie season.
Andy Dalton and Nick Foles can help develop new Chicago Bears QB Justin Fields
Somewhere in the Twitter world, you will see a comment that I made about Joe Burrow and Andy Dalton. I still think it was a mistake to let Dalton walk because why force the rookie to play without any actual competition. As Justin Fields seems built for big stages, Andy Dalton and Nick Foles seem made to help build talented quarterbacks into stardom.
During Andy Dalton’s press conference, he mentioned how he had mentored Justin Fields on what to do with his eyes and what to look for in certain situations. Mitch Trubisky had Mike Glennon to look to when he needed advice in transitioning to the NFL.
We don’t need to go into how bad that situation was for Trubisky. Justin Fields is labeled as the number two quarterback on the depth chart. That shows he is already ahead of Jordan Love year for year. Regardless of the scheme the Chicago Bears run, Justin Fields should have some solid veteran quarterbacks who could help him achieve his full potential. These two quarterbacks make for great assets that will help Fields develop in his rookie year.
Mentioning Steve Young and Joe Montana, Aaron Rodgers and Brett Farve, and Tom Brady and Drew Bledsoe are unfair comparisons. However, Patrick Mahomes and Alex Smith don’t seem too far off. Sure Mahomes is ranked as the number one quarterback in the NFL. But besides efficiency and draft status, who has had a better career thus far?
Andy Dalton has had some game-changers on offense, but I will stand by this comment. It doesn’t matter if you have all of the talented players in the world; you still have to deliver the ball to that talent. I mean, are we knocking Joe Montana and Steve Young because they had Jerry Rice?
Rich Gannon had one of the better endings to a career that any quarterback could ever have. All he needed to do was get his talented players the ball. Even Mahomes relies on getting the ball to Tyreek Hill in open space at times — not all of his throws can be while laying out horizontally and slinging it side-arm.
Essentially, that is what Andy Dalton and Nick Foles will teach Justin Fields. Not that he needs the help doing that after Chris Olave.