OK, that's a stretch, but I do feel like a hypocrite.

I am a Bears fan. For the past couple of weeks, I've been calling Jay Cutler a bad name because of the way he handed that situation in Denver. But now that he's a Bear, I can't help getting a little excited.

You have to understand what it's like for Bears fans, when it comes to quarterbacks. The franchise's all-time leader in passing yards is Sid Luckman, with 14,686 yards. It takes guys like Peyton Manning 3 1/2 years to get that many yards. Their all-time leader in quarterback rating is Erik Kramer (80.7). This franchise is snake-bitten when it comes to QBs.

How about this? Here are their annual leaders in passing yards:

2008 Kyle Orton
2007 Brian Greise
2006 Rex Grossman
2005 Kyle Orton
2004 Chad Hutchinson (remember him?)
2003 Kordell Stewart
2002 Jim Miller
2001 Jim Miller
2000 Cade McNown
1999 Shane Matthews

I could go on ... but you get the point. Also, the Bears have not had a pro bowl QB since 1985 (Jim McMahon). They haven't had a QB throw at least 25 touchdown passes in a season since 1995 (Erik Kramer, who had 29 that season).

So, maybe the Bears overpaid for Cutler, by giving up two first round picks and a 3rd rounder, not to mention a serviceable (at best) quarterback in Orton. But now that you see the context of the franchise's history with quarterbacks, can you blame them?

1 Comments

SH in dallas said:

you might be a hypocrite... but i get where you're coming from.

April 2, 2009 6:14 PM

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