Ryan Pace spouted some absolutely delusional comments about Andy Dalton
By Josh Hill
Chicago Bears fans will be disappointed to know that Ryan Pace’s comments about Andy Dalton were not an April Fool’s joke.
At every single point where it appears the Chicago Bears offseason couldn’t possibly get more cartoonishly embarrassing, it somehow does.
It’s almost as if the Bears are in a competition with themselves to constantly one-up the zaniness, and there’s almost no regulation to put leadership in check. Ryan Pace is having his Snyder Cut moment, where he’s seemingly been given a blank check to indulge himself to his heart’s content, and oh boy is he ever.
After failing to trade for Russell Wilson, and in the process missing out on free agents like Cam Newton, Tyrod Taylor, and Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Bears made Andy Dalton their starting quarterback in 2021.
It was transparently a move of desperation, but the Bears are twisting themselves into a pretzel to try and convince everyone otherwise.
Bears GM Ryan Pace had overly glowing things to say about Andy Dalton
Let’s just preface this with pointing out that none of this should be shocking. For starters, Pace has demonstrated that if put in a Last Crusade situation he’s always going to choose poorly. But beyond that, no one should have expected Pace to slander Dalton and admit that this was anything other than a last resort in a poorly planned offseason strategy.
That being said, Pace passive-aggressively force feeding Bears fans and media how great of a fit Dalton is just makes things even harder.
“The fit with the offense, the leadership that he provides, his decision making,” Pace told the media in a press conference that was not an April Fool’s joke. “He’s been to Pro Bowls. He’s one of the more complete QBs we evaluated in free agency and we’re excited to have him.”
If that wasn’t a tough enough pill for Bears fans to swallow, the swift kick in the rear came with Pace’s closing statement.
“We feel like we got better with Andy,” Pace said, with a straight face.
What do you do if you’re a Bears fan? The pilot of your plane is convinced that crashing it into a mountain is the best way to land it and cannot be convinced otherwise — there is no escape. There is no other option than to make peace and accept your fate.
Dalton is not a terrible quarterback, and he’s comparatively better than A.J. McCarron, Matt Barkley, and other free agent options still available. His presence also allows the Bears to draft a rookie quarterback and have him sit behind a veteran as he learns the system. But that system — and the coaches that run it — might not be in place in 2022, and the mental gymnastics required to sell Dalton as a missing piece to a Super Bowl puzzle is insulting to the intelligence of fans.