Preseason isn’t necessarily indicative of what will happen in the regular season, but Andy Dalton still isn’t inspiring a lot of confidence for the Chicago Bears.
Dalton played the entire first half of Chicago’s preseason game against the Buffalo Bills, and inspired little confidence. He went 11-for-17 for 146 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. While he did find Rodney Adams for a 73-yard touchdown pass, it was the only real ball movement the Bears had all half, and accounted for half of Dalton’s passing yards.
At one point, Bears fans could be heard booing Dalton and chanting for rookie Justin Fields.
Soldier Field is filled with boos for Andy Dalton and the offense, while chants of "We want Fields!" are coming from parts of the upper deck.
It's August 21.
— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) August 21, 2021
Many on Twitter immediately went after Dalton for his play, as well as the Bears for their handling of the quarterback situation.
Bears preseason game plan:
keep Andy Dalton in the game long enough until he faces a backup DB out of Jacksonville State in man coverage and can throw a TD
ignore his other 7 drives this preseason:
punt
punt
punt
punt
fumble
punt
downs— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) August 21, 2021
What does Dalton get out of being out there with the back up TEs the back up RB the backup Wrs the backup Tackles and RG ??? Who’s he building rhythm with ?
— Olin kreutz (@olin_kreutz) August 21, 2021
Imagine telling your players you're starting Andy Dalton over Justin Fields Week 1. Would be absolutely humiliating.
— Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan) August 21, 2021
Some pointed out that the Bears’ struggles on offense went beyond Dalton, pointing out one play where Chicago’s offensive line essentially folded in the face of Buffalo’s pass rush.
It’s easy to mock Andy Dalton but it’s not all him.
— Armando Salguero (@ArmandoSalguero) August 21, 2021
The Bears trailed 34-6 at halftime. To make matters worse, Dalton was badly outplayed by ex-Chicago quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, who threw for 221 yards in the first half.
Dalton has been adamant that the starting job in Chicago is his, and the Bears have taken that stance publicly as well. However, it’s very hard to take that seriously when Dalton is playing like he did on Saturday. If it continues into the regular season, the job won’t be his for long.
