Chase Daniel has made a living out of performing behind the scenes. The NFL veteran has had a successful career serving as a backup quarterback to the likes of Drew Brees, Alex Smith and now Mitchell Trubisky — working alongside them in practices and preparing them for each game.
Earlier this week though, Daniel may have put together his best performance. The quarterback went incognito after the team's training camp practice to seek out some teammates' autographs.
The video of Daniel's high jinks quickly went viral, picking up more than 700,000 views across Bears social media as of Tuesday afternoon. One of its biggest fans was radio host Dan Patrick, who invited Daniel on "The Dan Patrick Show" Wednesday morning to give the play-by-play on the stunt.
"The social media staff here at the Bears had the idea and they were floating it around for a couple of weeks," Daniel said. "At first I didn't really want to do it, but it sort of grew on me and I saw where it could go."
The reason for its success? Most of Daniel's teammates had no idea it was him.
The No. 2 quarterback played the part of an enthusiastic fan and didn't go overboard on the disguise.
"I saw a bucket hat laying around," Daniel said. "I said 'What else is there to wear at camp on a sunny day than a nice little bucket hat?' Got some Nike shades on, put the Mitch jersey on and just rolled."
The getup still fooled a number of Bears despite Daniel's best efforts to poke fun at them while seeking their signatures.
"Is this your first year?" he asked rookie linebacker Kylie Fitts. "How much was your signing bonus? … That's not a lot after taxes, you better save it."
Daniel, 31, may have been a few years older than his fellow autograph seekers, but he didn't use his age or his 6-foot, 225-pound frame to elbow out fellow fans. Instead, the 10-year NFL vet brought his well-known leadership to the sidelines, dispensing advice on how to best get the attention of other players.
"You guys got to be enthusiastic if you want him to come over here," Daniels told some young Bears fans waiting for an autograph from head coach Matt Nagy.
He also led vocal chants to help court teammates into signing.
Daniel harmonized with some fans to chant Trubisky's name, eventually scoring the second-year gunslinger's autograph on the front of his jersey.
"You're the best quarterback ever," Daniel exclaimed at his fellow QB.
Trubisky did a double take before realizing who it was, causing the quarterback to double over in laughter.
"He was so focused in just signing stuff and all of the sudden he just sees this big kid and he told me after, 'I saw you with the beard, but I didn't put two and two together because I was just so focused in on signing autographs.' So his reaction was pretty priceless, and I think it was one of the best things of the video."
Not every Bear was as oblivious, though. Daniel almost had his cover blown by punter Ryan Winslow who commented that he had a "heck of a beard," and offensive lineman Dejon Allen attempted to remove Daniel's bucket hat to reveal who was behind the prank. Wide receiver Josh Bellamy eventually caught on too.
"You look like Chase," Bellamy told Daniel while signing his program, realizing seconds later who it was.
Daniel will trade in Trubisky's No. 10 jersey for his own and swap his bucket hat for a helmet when the Bears face off against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night. This time Daniel and the team will try to pull off some new offensive trickery on the field.
