It has been a rough week for Bears fans.
Chicago faithful held out hope that the team could land either Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson in one of the craziest quarterback free-agency periods in recent memory. Either one would immediately improve a team, but especially a morose Bears offense that was led by uninspiring quarterback play from former Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles and top-10 pick Mitchell Trubisky.
Instead, the Bears signed Andy Dalton to a one-year, $10 million deal after he served as a plug-in quarterback for the Cowboys in 2020. In nine games, he completed 216 of 333 passes for 2,170 yards and 14 touchdowns to eight interceptions, leading the team to a 4-5 record.
MORE: NFL Draft order 2021: Updated list of all 259 picks over seven rounds and sorted by team
You can understand fans' frustrations when Chicago's Twitter team, perhaps inadvisably, tweeted a Dalton photo with the caption, "QB1."
QB1. pic.twitter.com/TuyrAcpoCM
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) March 25, 2021
Obviously you want to show support and appreciation for your newly signed quarterback who, to his credit, has been a more-than-serviceable quarterback for the vast majority of his career. But considering the Bears' recent failings at that position, coupled with the potential players they could have landed on the free-agent market, the move falls flat. Even worse, it looks tone-deaf for a fan base starving for a quarterback who can elevate the team to true Super Bowl contenders.
So it was no surprise when the post was mercilessly bashed by Bears fans and ridiculed by everyone else:
Why was this tweet necessary? Do you not realize how your fan base is feeling? #Clueless #TakeThat https://t.co/Auri2kAKLN
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) March 25, 2021
I can’t fathom the pain of your team passing on Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson to draft Mitch Trubisky, and then still manage to end up with Andy Dalton 4 years later.
— Eagles Fan Problems (@EagleFanProbs) March 25, 2021
Honestly... condolences. https://t.co/Hm0ChktXUS
TEAM32. https://t.co/BLEpb5wR1u
— Tom Crabtree (@itsCrab) March 25, 2021
Feels like the @ChicagoBears are just mocking us now https://t.co/159g0DFvL2
— Johnny (@Johnny_FB13) March 25, 2021
Ryan Pace is never seeing heaven. https://t.co/y327iIlvll
— Ahmed🇸🇴/I have a gambling problem (@big_business_) March 25, 2021
Big Ten fans begged the universe for a Rose Bowl winning QB and boy howdy did that monkey’s paw curl https://t.co/N0HGYaYulF
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) March 25, 2021
Delete this 🤮🤮🤮🤮 https://t.co/dPwfsvnJF5
— Faizan Qurashi (@FaizanQurashi) March 25, 2021
The @ChicagoBears social media team tweeting this. https://t.co/j6zvnVLCnf pic.twitter.com/aPJzYz3pLh
— Bears Nation (@BearsNationCHI) March 25, 2021
Imagine thinking you’re going to get Russell Wilson and then ... https://t.co/IRi4UZ0jOZ pic.twitter.com/cz46VtK25B
— Ian St. Clair (@IanStClair) March 25, 2021
I’m sorry to the social media ppl that had to photoshop this and tweet it out. You matter and we are here for you. You deserve better https://t.co/5ZDMimsLVq
— Tony Gill (@thetonygill) March 25, 2021
#EaglesTwitter: It could be worse https://t.co/lcWTdKxpdx
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) March 25, 2021
Imagine tweeting this https://t.co/VgWzCqxpVy
— Nick Kostos (@TheKostos) March 25, 2021
