Chicago Bears: Why Ryan Pace should get a pass on these two 2021 “mistakes”

The Chicago Bears and Ryan Pace should not have spent money on Andy Dalton

The first “mistake” that many fans will claim Ryan Pace made was wasting salary cap on Andy Dalton. Honestly, I was one of those people who called Pace out for not being patient again when it came to the quarterback position. He did the same thing in 2020 when trading for Nick Foles. Although I do agree he was impatient with the signing of Andy Dalton, it appears Pace somewhat knew what he was doing this time around.

Andy Dalton is not going to move the needle for this team. If Dalton was under center in 2020, the Bears would not have done much better. I would guess that the team would have won an extra game and finished 9-7 as opposed to 8-8. Even though Foles has a Super Bowl MVP on his resume, Dalton is, and always has been, a better quarterback than Nick Foles overall.

The thing is, Ryan Pace deserves a pass here. I have seen many call the Chicago Bears out for wasting $10 million on Andy Dalton when they should have just drafted Justin Fields to learn behind Nick Foles. This is a ridiculous notion. At the time of signing Andy Dalton, there is literally no way of knowing that the Bears would be able to draft Justin Fields (or any of the top-five quarterbacks). Had the team went into the season with just Nick Foles fans would be upset.

First, when it comes to Dalton, all we have to look at is the fact he was brought in as a stop-gap in hopes that the team could land a top quarterback in the 2021 NFL Draft. It is a one-year deal worth $10 million, but all fans should concern themselves with is his cap hit of $5 million. A quarterback earning $5 million dollars is not anything to get upset about. That $5 million is what counts towards the top-51 in terms of the Bears cap and the only thing allowing or preventing the team from signing or keeping other players.

Now, is it frustrating seeing the team hold onto Dalton and Foles this season after already drafting Justin Fields? Yes, but the team attempted to trade Foles to no prevail. He could make for a trade candidate prior to the trade deadline too should a quarterback go down with an injury elsewhere. T

Some fans think the Chicago Bears should have signed someone else. That’s a fair take, but who? Ryan Fitzpatrick saw a very similar deal from Washington. Some wanted Mitch Trubisky back, which is funny seeing they wanted him gone for the last two years. Tyrod Taylor signed in Houston for half the cost of Dalton, he may have been the only real argument here in comparison to Dalton. Otherwise, fans would have been very upset with the likes of C.J. Beathard or Jacoby Brissett.

Ryan Pace gets a pass for signing Andy Dalton as he had no guarantee of landing a top-five quarterback prospect and Dalton’s salary is not concerning at all.