With the unlikelihood that Cutler will be traded for (and even if he was), the Bears are going to need a veteran QB to step in if Orton gets hurt IF they truly believe this is a playoff-caliber team. Whether or not Basanez or Hanie can be good NFL QBs does not matter. Neither has had enough field-experience to carry an offense on their shoulder and do enough to pull out games. If Hanie wins the back-up, this just means that if Orton goes down with another ankle injury, that the offense will slow down more, and the chances are more likely that Hanie will have a couple of good games (or, gulp, plays) before defenses will totally adjust to him.

I have faith that Orton can play well enough to get the team in the playoffs, and I believe the defense will return to a Top 10 defense IF we shore up the safety position. Urlacher will be fully healed from his neck issues (psychologically he seemed to have a tough year), and I believe Lovie will put him back in the proper positioning. I keep reading about how Urlacher has lost a step, and I saw him play a step behind and try to arm tackle last year rather than run people over, but I don't think that is because he somehow is that much slower. As I just stated, I think it had to do more with two things: 1. His neck/back issues (mentally and physically), and 2. He was out of position on a majority of the plays last year -- since childhood, having played and watched the game for a couple decades, I have assumed that LBs, especially MLBs, start most of their snaps playin 5-7 yards off the line of scrimmage. Urlacher was forced to move around, and up on the line, way too much last year. 

Babich over-schemed Urlarcher and the defense, and there was way too much motion at the LB positions. If Urlacher is allowed to set his feet and react from a standing position in the middle, rather than running back and forth on the line faking blitzes, then I think he'll have his step back. That means the middle will be patrolled again, unlike last year, and that means better defense in the 5-10 yard range. I see Urlacher having a "comeback" type year if Lovie utilizes him like the old days.

That means that the offense will need to be efficient , at least in the top 20. Orton can do this, but I am not sure Hanie or Basanez can. They are scramblers, and though I was impressed with Hanie in the pre-season, the QB position is the most pressure-filled position. Both of our backups are hindered by their escapability because neither has had to endured game after game of NFL defensive pressure. Those wonderful scrambles and spins we saw out of Hanie in the preseason are high-risk plays. More often, those risks will not pay off...unless Hanie is somehow the reincarnation of Brett Favre. Our offense has proven it cannot handle that type of risk, over the long haul of a game, and a season.

We don't have the scheme or the play calling to overcome high risk plays. The thing with Orton his first two years was that he dropped the ball off a lot from the pocket. He got rid the ball quickly. I don't see that our of either of these guys, and part of it is that they have legs to "make plays." 

This is why we'll sign a veteran before June. The only way we don't is the Bears have fallen in love with Josh Freeman and secretly plan to, and then do draft him. This assumes Sanchez and Stafford are gone, of course. I don't see the Bears, if they truly believe the team is good enough to make the playoffs, sticking with inexperienced backups. Most teams that expect to make the playoffs (Cowboys, Giants, Steelers, for example) have an experienced back-up, or two, to their starters.

So, who will be available come May?