What if current Bears backup Chase Daniel, not Nick Foles, ran the Philly Special for Eagles?
Nick Foles, who will start for the Eagles on Sunday, and Chase Daniel, the Bears' backup, can't seem to escape each other. What if things had turned out differently?
LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- The question has to haunt him, doesn’t it?
He could have caught the Philly Special, the signature pass in Eagles history, instead of Nick Foles. He could have had a statue built in his honor. He could have stared down Tom Brady and Bill Belichick in Super Bowl LII, and he could be the Super Bowl MVP.
When he drives to work every morning across the flat North Shore landscape, mustn’t Chase Daniel think:
“That could have been me.”
“Oh, no. No. Not at all,” Daniel said. “I’m super happy for Nick. Especially considering his path.”
It seems like Foles, 29, has been following Daniel, 32, all his life. Daniel is the current backup in Chicago, but this isn’t where he expected to be after the spring of 2015.
Daniel went to Philadelphia in 2016 with new coach Doug Pederson to act as Sam Bradford’s primary backup, even after the Eagles mortgaged their future and drafted Carson Wentz second overall.
A year later, after trading Bradford and starting Wentz all season, the Eagles cut Daniel and signed Foles, a free-agent who had started for them in 2013 and 2014. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie longed to re-acquire Foles, who, he believed, was a “big-game player.” Lurie was right. A year later, Foles was the Super Bowl MVP.
Now, Foles, not Daniels, passes a statue of himself every time he plays in Philadelphia, a Bud Light creation that commemorates the moment he and Pederson met on the sideline and mistakenly called the Philly Special “Philly Philly.” Foles got a raise, a book deal, a catchy nickname and the chance to repeat his 2017 feat. With Wentz again sidelined by injury, “Big Game Nick” is leading the Eagles into the playoffs for a second consecutive year.
What does Daniel get? He gets a great view from the Bears' sideline, watching Foles battle franchise quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Daniel harbors no resentment.
“I’m pumped for Nick to get that shot, and he’s playing really well,” Daniel said. “I’m excited about that.”
Of course, he’d be more excited if he were playing, but you get the idea. And don’t feel too bad for him. Over the last three seasons, Daniel has earned $16 million and thrown 77 passes in seven games.
Daniel spent 2017 as Drew Brees' $900,000 clipboard-holder in New Orleans then signed a two-year, $10 million deal with Chicago this season when the Bears hired Matt Nagy, Daniel’s former QB coach in Kansas City. Daniel earned $4 million this season and likely will be a $6 million man in 2019.
He threw all but one of those 77 passes when Trubisky missed Games 11 and 12 this season. Daniel beat the Lions, against whom he threw two touchdown passes, and lost to the Giants in overtime -- an overtime forced by a cousin of the Philly Special.
Trailing by a touchdown with three seconds to play, the Bears dialed up “Oompa Loompa,” a reference, perhaps, to the diminutive stature of its principals. Daniel, the intended receiver, is generously listed as 6-feet tall. Tarik Cohen, the passer, is a Darren Sproles-style running back at 5-6.
Daniel took the snap, handed off to Philly Special passer Trey Burton -- who now starts at tight end in Chicago -- and sprinted toward the right flat. Burton flipped it to Cohen, who looked for Daniel. But Daniel was covered. So Cohen hit a receiver for a touchdown. There will be no statue. The Bears lost in overtime.
It’s as if Daniel and Foles can’t escape each other.
Foles nearly retired from football after the 2016 season. He’d followed his Pro Bowl 2013 season as an Eagle with Chip Kelly with a poor start to 2014, which ended halfway through by a broken collarbone. In 2015, Kelly traded Foles to the Rams, where he flopped, and considered quitting the game. Chiefs coach Andy Reid had just lost Daniel to the Eagles, and he convinced Foles to become his backup in Kansas City for the 2016 season. When Foles became a free agent in 2017, Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman changed course. They swallowed an $11.1 million payroll hit for 2017 -- the money they still owed Daniel -- plus Foles' $7 million.
That seemed like wasted money through the first 13 games as Wentz became an MVP favorite, and Foles calmly waited. It seemed like a bargain when Foles went 5-0 in meaningful games and brought Philadelphia its first Super Bowl title.
That script hasn’t changed since high school.
In 2004, as a high school senior, Daniel led Carroll High School in Southlake, Texas, to a state championship. Two years later, as Daniel took over as the starter at Missouri, Foles was a senior at Westlake High in Austin, where, coincidentally, he was breaking Brees' school records. Foles lost in the 2006 state final to-- who else? -- Southlake Carroll.
It’s as if Foles is Daniel’s 6-6 shadow.
“It’s pretty similar,” Daniel admitted. “Both Texas guys. We always seem to wind up at the same spot.”
Except, he was reminded, that Foles won the undying love of a city forever.
Daniel smiled.
“If you put me in the same sentence as Nick,” Daniel said, “I’m more than happy with it.”