Jerry Angelo was the architect of a Bears team that, just a season ago, went to the Super Bowl. Far be it for me to suggest Angelo doesn’t know how to do his job (I’ll leave that to the Bears beat writers); but Bears fans had to cringe when they read what Angelo had to say about the QB situation in the Chicago Tribune:
Dan Pompei: Would you be comfortable with the same three quarterbacks in camp next season?
Jerry Angelo: Yes. These three quarterbacks—I said this going into the season and I still say it—they give us the best situation at the position we’ve had since I’ve been here. All three of these quarterbacks have proven you can win with them. What we haven’t done is gotten it 100 percent stabilized in terms of who is the guy. We’d like to see all three back and determine from there who that guy is.
Dan Pompei: You have invested three years of development in Kyle Orton. We’ve seen many quarterbacks like him—David Garrard and Tony Romo for instance—emerge after similar beginnings. Is there a feeling that you owe it to the organization to give him a chance to start?
Jerry Angelo: It’s a good point. There have been a good number of players who have been picked on the second day of the draft, who, given time, have produced and become winning starters. I felt like the last two games of the season Kyle performed very well for us. Obviously Rex [Grossman] is still involved, but he’s an unrestricted free agent, and Brian [Griese]. But we certainly feel very good about Kyle.
OK, either Angelo is simply posturing JUST IN CASE the Bears have no luck securing help at the QB position, OR Bears fans are in for another LONG season in 2008. Assuming the Bears have better luck next year on the defensive side of the ball (there were a ton of injuries), and presuming they can add help at the RB position (not very hard if you draft well), the most glaring problem area remains at quarterback.
| Name |
Age |
Games |
Comps |
Atts |
Cmp% |
Yds |
TDs |
INTs |
YdPerAtt |
PassRating |
| Brian Griese |
32 |
7 |
161 |
262 |
61.5 |
1,803 |
10 |
12 |
6.9 |
75.6 |
| Rex Grossman |
27 |
8 |
122 |
225 |
54.2 |
1,411 |
4 |
7 |
6.3 |
66.4 |
| Kyle Orton |
25 |
3 |
42 |
79 |
53.2 |
475 |
3 |
2 |
6.0 |
73.5 |
Rex Grossman is an unrestricted free agent, and it would be surprising to see Rex return to Chicago. I’m sure Grossman thinks he could benefit from a change of scenery and Chicago fans won’t miss him. Is there a veteran QB out there who makes sense? I know Bears fans were hoping Donovan McNabb would become available but that’s no longer in the cards. Chad Pennington also appears set to return to New York. At the very least, you have to think Angelo will draft a higher upside QB in April, with the idea that Orton or Griese can hold down the fort for a season.
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