Chicago Bears fans can’t help but keep asking the question. What have they done to deserve such an incredible run of inadequate quarterback play? It’s true. No other franchise in the NFL has hit such a sustained level of mediocrity at the most important position in professional sports. The Bears have one Hall of Famer and he died decades ago. No man since has even made it to more than one Pro Bowl.
They felt the trade for Jay Cutler would end their misery. It came close but failed. Then they trusted that the bold move for Mitch Trubisky would definitely usher in a new era. Instead that all too familiar sour taste of disappointment lingering every time they sip a drink while watching a Bears game. Trubisky looks like yet another in a long line of failures.
So why? What could possibly have kept this uncanny streak of awful going for so long? Most people would like to think there is one simple answer to this question. It’s awful ownership. A bunch of people in the McCaskey family who have never actually played the game and merely inherited what George Halas left behind.
If we’re being honest, it goes way beyond that.
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Chicago Bears QB misery comes from many directions
Bad evaluating:
The first and most obvious explanation is they just haven’t had the right people in charge who know what good quarterbacks look like. Think about the men they’ve had in charge over the course of the Super Bowl era. Jim Finks? Jerry Vainisi? Bill Tobin? Rod Graves? Mark Hatley? Jerry Angelo? Phil Emery? Ryan Pace? Of those eight men, only one of them had an extensive background on the offensive side of the ball. That was Finks. The rest were either defensive guys while one was a former accountant and the other a strength and conditioning specialist.
A persistent theme has haunted the Bears in their evaluation process over the years. They haven’t put enough emphasis on size. Yes, there are shorter quarterbacks having success in the NFL but they are not the norm. History shows guys who are on the bigger side, typically 6’3 or taller do the best. Look over many of the top draft choices Chicago has made. Several of them like Gary Huff, Jim McMahon, Cade McNown, and Rex Grossman were 6’1 or shorter.
One of the reasons this was a persistent issue was that smaller quarterbacks can be susceptible to injuries. It’s not a coincidence that all of those names encountered such issues throughout their careers. To say nothing of their overall lack of talent. They may have been great leaders or could run well. Yet none of them had the biggest arms or the most natural accuracy when throwing. The Bears could never seem to find the total package.
They’d also have a terrible habit of taking on former big names who had already proven they were garbage in then NFL. They traded a 1st round pick for Mike Phipps in 1977. This after posting a masterful 51.0 passer rating in Cleveland. Then sent a 1st rounder to Seattle for Rick Mirer in 1997 after seeing him flounder for four years. Despite seeing what the great ones look like every year, they just seem to keep repeating the same mistakes.
Bad valuing:
Up until the past decade or so, there was a legitimate argument to be made that this franchise didn’t put much stock in quarterbacks. Not like other organizations had for several years. Here’s a little stat for you. From 1966, the start of the Super Bowl era, through 1981 the Bears used a total of one 1st round pick on a quarterback and that was the previously mentioned trade for Phipps. They used just two 2nd round picks on the position as well. In a span of 15 years.
Is it any wonder the Bears had just two playoff appearances in that time?
Perhaps no story better illustrates how tragically archaic the Bears’ thinking was than in the 1979 draft. They reached the 3rd round and had eyes on Notre Dame star Joe Montana for their next pick. They even had his name written on the card. Then at the last second Finks, who feared the team didn’t have enough depth behind Walter Payton, chose a running back instead. Payton would be 25-years old that season. Montana went to San Francisco and ended up costing the Bears two trips to the Super Bowl.
Or what about 2005? The Bears have already seen two underwhelming seasons from Grossman in 2003 and 2004. One of which ended with a knee injury. They had the 4th overall pick. It seemed like a perfect time to bring in some competition. A young kid named Aaron Rodgers was right there for the taking. Angelo instead channeled the ghost of Finks, feeling the team needed more help at running back despite having Thomas Jones already in place. So they drafted Cedric Benson. Rodgers casually slipped down the board to Green Bay.
We all know the rest of the story.
Even in recent years, the inability to value the position properly is there. Yes, the Bears sank massive resources into Jay Cutler and Mitch Trubisky. However, outside of them, the Bears have drafted just three other quarterbacks between 2009 and 2019. Three. None in the first four rounds. By contrast, the New England Patriots, who already had Tom Brady, drafted six.
Bad timing:
One of the reasons that 2017 was such a disappointment is because it marked the first time in maybe forever that the Bears actually managed to get into the top 5 of a draft when the quarterback class appeared strong. Since 1970, they’ve been that high a total of eight times. Of those eight, only two are remembered today as strong quarterback drafts: 2005 and 2017. One of those was impacted by the other part of the issue.
The Bears taking their shots at the wrong time.
That is to say, going after their franchise guy too soon. Two prime examples of this came first in 1982. The Bears made McMahon their top choice. Good call right? Well, maybe. McMahon was a solid player for a few years in Chicago, but one has to wonder if the team had only waited one more year. The 1983 draft saw John Elway, Dan Marino, and Jim Kelly all go in the 1st round. With the 6th overall pick that year, the Bears would’ve had their choice of the latter two.
Fast forward to 2003. This time the Bears end up making Grossman their cornerstone. He did end up helping them to a Super Bowl three years later, but at what cost? In 2004, the draft saw the likes of Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, and Ben Roethlisberger arrive. These were the sort of situations that have haunted the franchise for years. Not being able to look far enough forward and recognize which years might not be the best for getting a quarterback.
Bad luck:
This last one is the biggest variable. One that teams simply can’t control. Plain luck. The Bears have had a number of opportunities to acquire difference-makers at the position yet for one reason or another, something got in the way. Perhaps the most glaring example came in 1970. The Bears had a chance to gain the #1 overall pick in the draft but lost a coin toss with the Pittsburgh Steelers for that honor. They took Terry Bradshaw and went on to four Super Bowls.
They finally seemed to get it right with McMahon in the ’80s. He was a field general and could put up numbers when required. However, he suffered an uncanny string of injury problems that limited what his career should’ve been.
Fast forward to 1997.
The Bears are rebuilding the position and have an interest in a young free agent named Kurt Warner. They tried to set up a workout but the quarterback’s wedding and honeymoon got in the way. The two sides finally settled on a date but Warner then suffered an allergic reaction to a bug bite while returning home that caused his throwing arm to swell up. When he tried to reschedule again, the Bears lost patience and just moved on. A few months later, Warner signed with the Rams. By the end of 1999, he was league MVP and a Super Bowl champion.
That same year the Bears were a loss away from challenging for the #1 pick in the 1998 draft. However, they managed to win an incredibly sloppy 13-10 game against the Rams with a 4th quarter comeback that pushed them to 4-12. This handed the pick to Indianapolis who used it on Peyton Manning.
Sometimes the winds of fate are just against you and it feels like they’ve been against the Bears for way too long.
