Andy Dalton not harping on pedestrian Bears debut: 'It's a long season. We understand that'

Dalton is already moving past his primetime showing in Los Angeles

Andy Dalton didn't have a terrible night. Andy Dalton didn't have a fantastic night. What Andy Dalton had was a pedestrian night as the Chicago Bears fell to 0-1 after getting roundly thumped by Matthew Stafford in his debut with the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night, and while rookie first-round pick Justin Fields mostly watched on from the sideline (but was the only Bears quarterback to score a touchdown). Dalton finished with 206 passing yards and was efficient in completing 27 of his 28 attempts, but produced no touchdowns, was intercepted and coughed up a fumble. 

The Rams had Dalton's number the entire evening and didn't allow him to get comfortable, and when he did have time to go through his progressions, nothing resulted in a big play downfield. The longest toss was a 19-yard catch-and-run for wide receiver Marquise Goodwin, in stark contrast to Stafford launching nukes in return -- throwing a 56-yarder to Cooper Kupp at one point and, at another, taking the top off of the Bears secondary with a 67-yard bomb to Van Jefferson.

Dalton was wholly outclassed by Stafford, and even a small dose of Fields, but he's not getting down on himself over it.

"I think just the kind of way this defense plays, they limit the big play and they make you just kind of move the ball down the field," Dalton said, via SI.com. "You're not going to get very many explosives against this team."

The Bears entered the season with quarterback controversy after signing Dalton in free agency and then trading to land Fields in the first-round of the 2021 NFL Draft, but despite doing the latter, sticking to their guns and keeping their promise to Dalton that he'd be the starter this season. With one game down and 16 to go, he doesn't sound like a player worried about his job in Chicago.

"It's a long season," Dalton said. "I think everybody understands that. And I think if you look at the way the division shook out today, we're still in the same position."

Well, not exactly, because now they're 0-1 on the year, and readying to face a juiced AFC North rival when the Cincinnati Bengals march onto Soldier Field on Sunday -- hot off of an electric overtime win over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 1. But, the promise from head coach Matt Nagy to keep Dalton as starter is 1-0, assuming that counts for something.