NFLBy Matt Clapp on

Chicago Bears fans had hopes of the team acquiring Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks in recent weeks. That fell through, despite the Bears reportedly being “very aggressive” in their pursuit. And not just did the Bears — a franchise that has forever been allergic to competent quarterback play – miss out on Wilson; they signed Andy Dalton. A team that went .500 the last two years and has no real direction, stuck in mediocrity purgatory, went with the guy that would be like the dictionary definition of “mediocre quarterback.”

Well, even with the signing of Dalton, there’s been speculation/hope that the team wouldn’t actually pin their 2021 hopes on Dalton. Maybe the Seahawks/Wilson drama gets worse before the draft, maybe the Bears want to trade up in the draft for Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, or Mac Jones, etc. It’s especially hard to imagine Bears general manager Ryan Pace wanting to enter his hot-seat season depending on Dalton to elevate a mediocre team (and a team that just cut star cornerback Kyle Fuller!), but then again, this is the same guy that decided to give $18.5 million guaranteed to Mike Glennon, traded up one spot to draft Mitch Trubisky- picks ahead of Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes, and went all-in to acquire Nick Foles.

And then the Bears fired off a tweet (and Facebook and Instagram posts) on Wednesday night suggesting that Dalton is indeed the starting quarterback, and that they’re proud of it!

“QB1” with a photoshopped picture of Andy Dalton in a Bears uniform.

Is the Bears’ social media handler fully aware of the organization’s plans? Probably not. Is Ryan Pace telling this person who the team’s quarterback will be come training camp? Probably not.

But still, yikes! Salt. In. The. Wound.

Andy Dalton is nothing to brag about, and the fan base is already frustrated enough. Maybe read the room and stay quiet on that front until at least camp starts?

Naturally, there’s been A LOT of reaction to (mocking) this tweet. Here’s just a small sampling of what’s out there:

So that was an interesting social media post choice by the Bears.

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

View all posts by Matt Clapp