Neither the 49ers or the Bears have happy fan bases these days.
The 49ers (2-4) are riding their first four-game losing streak since 2018 and Kyle Shanahan’s decision-making is becoming a hot topic of discussion. The Bears (3-4) can’t keep Justin Fields upright and just got wiped in a 38-3 Week 7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
San Francisco and Chicago will meet at Soldier Field Sunday with some notable similarities when it comes to the quarterback position. Both franchises traded up in April’s NFL Draft to select their signal-callers of the future. Both franchises have rookie quarterbacks levied with immense expectations. Both franchises are paying mediocre veteran quarterbacks eight-figure contracts.
Here’s a look at how the Bears and 49ers have fared since making their decisions earlier this year.
Draft trades
Trey Lance inherited a lot of responsibility once the 49ers selected him with the No. 3 overall pick. San Francisco traded the No. 12 selection, a 2022 first-rounder, 2023 first-rounder and a 2022 third-round compensatory pick to the Miami Dolphins to move up to the third spot.
The Bears entered the 2021 NFL Draft hungry for a first-round pick after ceding their 2019 and 2020 first-rounders to the Raiders in the Khalil Mack trade. On draft day, the Bears shipped the No. 20 pick, a fifth-round pick, a 2022 first-rounder and 2022 fourth-round pick to the New York Giants for the No. 11 overall selection, which was used on Justin Fields.
The 2021 NFL Draft was hyped for being quarterback-heavy and five signal-callers went in the top 15 picks: Trevor Lawrence (No. 1), Zach Wilson (No. 2), Lance (No. 3), Fields (No. 11) and Mac Jones (No. 15).
Not only are the rookies shouldering heavy responsibility from their franchises and respective fan bases, but the 2021 class of quarterbacks will likely be compared to one another for the rest of their careers.
Trey Lance vs. Justin Fields
Even though he played in just one college game in 2020 for FCS North Dakota State, and 19 college games overall, Lance’s high draft position has created a demand for instant results. NBC Sports’ Mike Florio went so far as to say Lance has been the NFL’s most disappointing quarterback this year.
Fields, meanwhile, has been thrown into the fire and sacked at the league’s highest rate while playing behind a suspect offensive line. Lance returned to practice Wednesday after missing a couple of weeks nursing a left knee sprain he suffered in Week 5.
It’s a bit unfair to compare these two quarterbacks at this juncture of their young careers. Fields has made five starts while Lance has played in just six meaningful quarters of action this year, in addition to some spot plays while backing up Garoppolo.
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For what it’s worth, Fields has completed 57.3 percent of his passes for 816 yards, two touchdowns and six interceptions through seven starts. Those are ugly numbers but at least he’s getting snaps under his belt.
Lance is still developing and doesn’t appear to have earned the trust of Shanahan, who has held firm to starting Garoppolo when healthy this year.
“They know how I feel and I know how they feel,” Shanahan said Wednesday of his quarterbacks. “I get all the questions and everything like that, but we didn't draft Trey to just fix this year. We drafted him so he could be the quarterback here of the future. And I get that’s a matter of time, but we're not playing him just because of what our record is or just because of that.”
Even though the 49ers mortgaged their future for Lance at No. 3, they’re still playing the long game. The Bears passed the torch to Fields in Week 5 and are letting him work through the growing pains of being a rookie quarterback.
By next season or 2023, we should find out which strategy played out better for the young quarterbacks.
Jimmy Garoppolo vs. Andy Dalton
Let’s do a blind test, shall we? Here’s a look at stats for Garoppolo and Dalton since the start of the 2020 season.
Quarterback A: 11 GS, 2,321 yards, 15 TD, 9 INT, 65.7 completion % (243-for-370)
Quarterback B: 11 GS, 2,202 yards, 13 TD, 9 INT, 66.0 completion % (188-for-285)
Pretty comparable stuff from the two vets over the past two seasons.
The biggest difference? ‘Quarterback A’ is making $10 million this season and ‘Quarterback B’ is making nearly $25 million this season.
If you didn’t know by now, Dalton is ‘Quarterback A’ and Garoppolo is ‘Quarterback B’.
Whereas Dalton is being paid like a veteran quarterback who could be serviceable for a team when their young star is unavailable/unready to play, the 49ers are paying Garoppolo like a front-line starter. According to Spotrac, Garoppolo’s cap hit is the fifth-highest in the NFL this season and his average annual contract value is 13th-highest in the league.
The 2022 season marks the final season of the massive five-year, $137.5 million contract Garoppolo inked with the 49ers in 2018, though the team can cut or release him next year and save $25.6 million of cap room. Meanwhile, Dalton and the Bears have a tidy one-year agreement that allows them to cleanly cut ties in the offseason.
Garoppolo has made a fortune off his potential and a quarterback-starved 49ers franchise from a few years ago. Outside of the 2019 season, when he started all 19 games during the team’s Super Bowl run, he hasn’t come close to living up to his paycheck. With more money comes more expectations, especially at quarterback.
Who’s better off?
When looking at the full picture, I think you have to say that the Bears are in better shape than the 49ers. The sky might seem to be falling in Chicago, but the long-term and short-term situations are more dire for the 49ers.
San Francisco gave up an additional first-round pick (2023) for Lance compared to Chicago for Fields, and the 49ers are paying Garoppolo another $15 million compared to the Bears and Dalton. Fields has a headstart on Lance in terms of legit NFL playing time.
Sure, it’s only Week 8 in Year 1 of the franchise quarterback experiments, but the Bears appear to have a more sound foundation under center.
