Top 25 most important Bears in 2021: No. 3 Andy Dalton

Leading up to Bears training camp in late July, Shaw Local is counting down the top 25 most important Bears for the 2021 season.

What makes one player more important than another? That’s subjective, of course. But for our purposes it comes down to this: Are the Bears worse off if this player can’t play? Does this player have untapped potential or past greatness to live up to? Is his story going to be one fans follow closely this season?

Justin Fields might not be the best player on the Bears in 2021 (or maybe he will be), but he certainly is among the most important.

No. 3 Andy Dalton

Position: Quarterback

NFL experience: 11th season

Looking back: A decade ago, Andy Dalton started all 16 games for the Cincinnati Bengals as a rookie second-round draft pick. He took the Bengals to the playoffs five times in his nine years in Cincinnati, but went 0-4 as a starter in the playoffs (he missed the end of the 2015 season with an injury).

The Bengals drafted Joe Burrow a year ago and released Dalton in late April. At that point in the offseason – after the draft and free agency – his chances of finding a starting job weren’t great. He settled for a gig backing up Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. After Prescott injured his ankle, Dalton started nine games down the stretch.

Dalton has started 142 regular-season games in his NFL career and has thrown for more than 33,000 yards with 218 touchdowns and 126 interceptions. He brings experience, first and foremost, to the quarterback position.

Looking forward: Dalton signed a one-year contract with the Bears in March with the expectation that he will be the starting quarterback. That is the case, for now. How long that will remain the case is anybody’s guess. Rookie first-round draft pick Justin Fields is knocking at the door.

[ Andy Dalton: For rookie QBs, ‘best thing you can do is play’ ]

The Bears are going to run with Dalton until they can’t anymore. For that reason alone, he comes in one spot ahead of Fields on the top 25 countdown. Dalton’s play – for better or worse – is going to go a long way toward determining when Fields earns his first regular-season start. If the Bears are winning and are in the playoff hunt with Dalton as the starter, there will be no reason to change quarterbacks. As frustrating as that might be for fans, that appears to be the course that coach Matt Nagy and the Bears are plotting.

In case you missed it: Previous installments of the top 25

• No. 25: Damien Williams
• No. 24: Anthony Miller
• No. 23: Sam Mustipher
• No. 22: Bilal Nichols
• No. 21: Kindle Vildor
• No. 20: Germain Ifedi
• No. 19: Danny Trevathan
• No. 18: Cairo Santos
• No. 17: Tarik Cohen
• No. 16: Desmond Trufant
• No. 15: Darnell Mooney
• No. 14: Jimmy Graham
• No. 13: Eddie Goldman
• No. 12: Cole Kmet
• No. 11: Eddie Jackson
• No. 10: Jaylon Johnson
• No. 9: David Montgomery
• No. 8: Akiem Hicks
• No. 7: Robert Quinn
• No. 6: Teven Jenkins
• No. 5: Roquan Smith
• No. 4: Justin Fields