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My ideal outcome is to trade up for Jones or Lance using a pick from next year’s draft, while taking a OT in the 2nd and a WR in the 3rd. I know the WR talent in this draft is super deep and I believe there is a decent amount of talent at tackle to get a fairly good prospect at #52.

We all know the answer to this question and it’s George McCaskey.

This is definitely the silver lining...until he trades up for Mac Jones who leads the Bears down the stretch to a playoff spot resulting in extensions for everyone!

The moment they missed out on Wilson they should have kicked off a rebuild, but the reality is Pace & Nagy aren’t going to do that.

I would have cleaned house this offseason and not given Pace & Nagy another opportunity, but even with them in place I’d like to see them take a shot a QB prospect because everything else is pointless until we solve that problem. The Bears have historically underinvested in the position and if they trade up for Jones or Lance and are wrong, then the team will likely struggle and hopefully we have improved draft position at some point to take a crack at another high end prospect. Again, I will use the Josh Rosen to Kyler Murray example of where a team missed on a high end pick and then used those struggles to land their franchise QB. But regardless, I do hope Pace & Nagy are gone unless we make the playoffs next year while having a potential long-term QB in the fold.

Based on what? I’ve seen Dalton be able to throw the ball downfield with an acceptable level of accuracy for years, whereas Mitch has to failed to his entire professional career. Again, I will fully acknowledge I didn’t see Dalton play last year, but 2020 was a fucked up year in general and unless you actually saw him play and tell me his arm has completely fallen apart I’m going to defer more to history than his 2020 stat line. There may very well be legit reasons for him throwing shorter passes (such as a struggling offensive line), while I can tell you for a fact that Mitch can’t throw the long-ball and is unable to read a defense at a NFL caliber level.

Andy Dalton switched organizations during a pandemic impacted season and was forced into the starting role due to injury. I’m not suggesting he’s a stud, because he’s certainly not at this point in his career, but I’ve watched him play a ton over the years and he will bring a level of competency to the position that Mitch can’t remotely provide. I can’t stress this enough, but Mitch is a fundamentally flawed QB who greatly limits the type of offense we can actually run. His mobility helps some but every other element of his game is really bad. Dalton is an improvement regardless of 2020 stats, but he obviously doesn’t move the needle enough on his own. We need to draft a legit QB prospect or we’re just wasting time while Pace & Nagy pray for a miracle to save their jobs.

You don’t watch actual game so it makes sense you feel this way ?

I’m simply responding to the people arguing that Mitch is somehow better. Either way, the Bears need to find a way to land one of the top five QB prospects in the draft for our QB room to make any sense. If Pace’s plan is a Dalton vs. Foles competition with no long-term option in place, then 2021 will likely / hopefully be his last year in the GM role.

Mitch Trubisky is a terrible QB and an aged Dalton is most definitely better. How much better is certainly up for debate, but people using stats alone from last year to act like Mitch wasn’t a horrible decision-maker who couldn’t throw the ball downfield must not have watched any of our games. Again, I’m not suggesting Dalton is something that he’s not at this point in his career, but if I’m GM and my job is on the line there is zero debate I’m going with Andy over Mitch.

Are you suggesting Mitch is better than Dalton?

But if you’re operating under lame duck status and don’t want to draft a rookie QB, why not just trade a mid round pick or two for him or even Minshew? My point is these guys can’t think Dalton on his own is the answer for 2021, so why not trade away a bit from a future that isn’t promised to you for a solution with more upside today. I think the reason is they plan to draft a QB in the 1st round. That being said, it’s very possible they are just horrible at QB evaluation and plan to rock & roll with Dalton and Alex Smith as their QB room, but I just don’t buy it.

I still don’t think it’s going to cost a future 1st to get the last of the big five QB prospects, but obviously I’m assuming one of Jones or Lance falls to around 15 or so. The Cardinals gave up a 3rd & 5th to move up five spots to draft Rosen back in 2018. I’d expect something similar to move up from 20th to the 15th pick range.

Trust me, I’m not excited about the guy who traded up one spot to get Mitch Trubsiky (when Mahomes & Watson would have been available), signed Mike Glennon to a sizable three year deal, and traded a 4th round pick for Nick Foles (a player the Jaguars would have likely given away or cut) making our next QB selection. But at this point, even if Pace selects the next Josh Rosen hopefully that will give his replacement the draft position to select the next Kyler Murray the following year.

If they’re not planning on drafting a QB, then why not at least go for someone like Mariota who is also a question mark but with far more upside and could theoretically become the long-term answer? I still think they draft a QB in the 1st or Pace would have done something much bolder given his lame duck status.

If the Bears aren’t planning to draft a QB, then this is an abomination of a move.

I fully disagree that Foles is even a temporary option and Bears fans saying as much are doing so simply because he’s already on the roster. To be honest, I think most of the hate here is Bears fans being pissed about losing out on Wilson. I get wishing we had $10M to invest elsewhere, but if we know Foles is not the answer then it’s a small price to pay for a potential improvement at QB that requires zero long-term commitment. If he fails, we simply kick off a rebuild a year from now with a new GM in a place and possibly a franchise QB under contract. Again, I’m not overly excited about this move, but Pace was always going to do something like this at minimum and the long-term risk here is basically zero. Would you have preferred Tyrod Taylor or Alex Smith instead?

100% agree. Foles was a horrible move from the get-go and this only cements that. And I would have loved to gamble on Winston on a one year deal instead of Dalton, but I’m assuming that wasn’t possible. Personally, short of a Wilson or Winston trade, I’m just glad we’re not committing multiple years or major assets to a B or C tier option.

I don’t think you realize that I’m complete Pace hater and have zero faith in him. That being said, I just don’t think giving Andy Dalton $10M is the end of the world IF we draft a QB. If Wilson or Watson weren’t available, what would you have done exactly?

Because Dalton is likely better than Foles. If you’re trying to make the playoffs next year with a rookie QB in the mix, I’d rather have Andy for 5 to 6 games as the starter and then as my depth / insurance policy option than Foles. Personally, I think that’s worth $10M. Some of you guys are acting like we just signed Mike Glennon to a 3/$45M deal here, when in reality this isn’t a lot of money given how fucked we currently are at the QB position. And as for Foles, the trade for him last year was a terrible move by Pace, but we don’t have to accept him as a viable option just because he is under contract and has dead cap hit if moved. He failed last year in this system under this coaching staff and has lost the benefit of doubt going forward. The focus now becomes who we get in the draft and if Pace doesn’t come out of the draft with one of the top five prospects then he clearly has failed and signing Dalton will prove to be a total waste.

It’s only weird if you view Dalton & Foles as being interchangeable, but I can totally see why Pace might not feel that way. Again, I’m not a huge fan of this move in isolation and obviously it’s a huge letdown vs. a possible Wilson addition, but I will wait and see what the rest of their plan is for the offseason before I totally lose my shit. As long as they land one of the big QB prospects (which is clearly not a guarantee), I’ll be ok with this move.

Because my view is Dalton is likely better than Foles and that Foles will be gone as soon as we draft a QB.

Mitch can’t reliably pass beyond 10 yards and a better line wouldn’t change that.

Look, I didn’t get to watch Dalton enough last year to know what he has left in the tank. What I do know is Foles isn’t the answer and I wouldn’t expect Pace to roll with him as his placeholder QB with his career on the line. I also think if we get Mac Jones we’re in need of a veteran who only needs to start 5 to 6 games before handing the reigns over. Call it a poor use or resources or poor scouting, but if Dalton is better than Foles (and the guy I saw two years ago clearly was) then it’s worth the money given the defense we have in place. It’s probably a long-shot to work, but it’s not going to fuck up our future at least which is my primary fear with Pace in charge.

Why does Andy Dalton stop them from drafting a QB in the 1st?