Now that the offseason is officially started, teams have started releasing players as they see fit to their situation, and teams are getting ready to start serious contract talks (such as Ray Lewis with the Ravens).
The Chicago Bears haven't made any big moves just yet (other than Ruben Brown's retirement) but they will likely have to make a few moves to try to move into position to overtake the Minnesota Vikings and stave off the Green Bay Packers for supremacy in the NFC North.
This is going to be a running series for my first set of articles for WCG where I break down each position in two different ways, how good our current players are, and who they could go after in the offseason. Time to start with the most important position on the field, the quarterback position.
Time to get the ball rolling.
How good we currently are:
The Bears have always been starved for good quarterbacks. The list goes on and on and I'm sure you see the list every time the Bears have a quarterback having at least three consecutive good games on Fox. The Bears woes at QB greatly exceed the Cubs troubles at third base since Ron Santo.
In case you haven't, it is full of names like Peter Tom Willis, Dave Krieg, Steve Senstrom, Jonathan Quinn and Craig Krenzel. Now, if you will excuse me, I must vomit.
Okay, time to finish this story.
Kyle Orton had a few good games at the beginning of the season, and the Bears were looking like they were ready to be playoff contenders. Then the Detroit Lions, the Detroit frickin' Lions, injured Orton and he was never the same this past season.
However, Orton was average, which is just as good or better than any Bears quarterback in recent memory, here are his stats for the past year.
They aren't great, but he had more touchdowns than interceptions, which is more than Rex Grossman can say, excuse me, I think there is more vomiting that needs to be done.
Who could they go after?
There are always rumors about Donovan McNabb going to Chicago, we deal with them every year, I am about ready to name him the Brett Favre of being traded to the Chicago Bears (I hope that makes sense).
Kerry Collins and Kurt Warner both have expiring contracts and both would be attractive, but I think that both players are either retiring or staying with their current teams.
I have a feeling that the Bears are going to keep Orton at the QB position, but if they do look for somebody in free agency, they would likely go to Chris Simms, who has been on the Chicago Bears' radar for a while and who might head to the Bears.
Although Simms isn't great, and he likely isn't better than Orton, but if he does sign with the Bears, there would probably be a competition between Orton and Simms for the starting spot.
However, the Bears will likely be unable to fix their never-ending quarterback troubles with this year's batch of free agent quarterbacks, and the Draft doesn't feature any sexy QB picks that would be there for the Bears, so look for another year of mediocrity from the Chicago Bears at quarterback next year.