Needs More Ditka

The Chicago Bears missed out on the playoffs last year. This is a fact. A sad one for Bears fans, but a fact nonetheless.

Lovie Smith is on the hot seat. Jerry Angelo can’t get a seat at any restaurant. Needless to say, the Bears need to have a winning season.

That won’t be easy though. The Bears lose several key components, components that might not have been obvious to the casual viewer, but key to the knowledgeable Bears fan. How they replace these players will define how their season goes.

Let’s take a look at what the Bears need to address this off season

Quarterback

Kyle Orton is the starter. That saga is over with the departure of Sexy Rexy. And while Grossman might be someone else’s problem now, his departure does bring up a problem for the Bears: backup quarterback.

Orton has been injury prone, and Grossman was a safety net for the Bears last year. They had two quarterbacks capable of starting (not very well in one case) every game. That’s a luxury. And despite the problem that neither could ever truly pull away from the other in the competition, the Bears were never in a situation where they didn’t have a quarterback with experience take the snap, as had been a problem in seemingly every year past [cough] Craig Krenzel. I’m sorry, I had something in my throat.

So the Bears have their guy and then have former Colorado State in no way standout Caleb Hanie ready to take the snaps after him. That sound you just heard is a million Bears fans googling Caleb Hanie. Needless to say, the Bears need a veteran backup quarterback.

But who should the Bears go for? John Kitna, an attractive option was taken off the market earlier this week. But a player like JP Losman could be attracted to the Bears as a free agent. Jeff Garcia has done well in Tampa Bay and is looking for a job. His veteran leadership would be a plus for the Bears, plus, he’s not bad under center either. Ryan Fitzpatrick and JT O’Sullivan are very similar quarterbacks and legit career backups. And Byron Leftwich flirted with the idea of coming to the Bears when he was decent, perhaps they can persuade him to come for very little compensation and some awesome season tickets. Oh, and he’d play if Orton went down, but they can worry about that later.

If the Bears are really looking to make a splash at the Quarterback position, they can try for Mark Sanchez in the draft, though they would have to trade up and they really should save that first round pick for player of skill, specifically at the wide out position. Basically, if they don’t draft an adequately reasonable Wide Receiver, I say we storm the offices.

Another splash the Bears could make is to make a trade. Matt Cassel has moved to Kansas City, leaving the Chiefs with one too many potential quarterbacks. Brodie Croyle or Tyler Thigpen are both solid players with significant weaknesses, and the Bears could easily acquire one for a nominal fee. Thigpen is incapable of running anything but the shotgun, but had great success in the late part of last year. Croyle is made of plaster but has all the ability in the world. The Chiefs would have to cho-cho choose one as the backup to Cassel, and they would love to get something in return for one of them. (BTW- I call shenanigans on that trade, but I love it as a Chiefs fan.)

Or, if the Bears want to get super saucy, they can make a move on Vince Young. Young might be mentally unstable and incapable of running an NFL offense to fully, but aren’t all backup QB’s? Young has been ostracized by the Titans, as if to say to the league, “You can have a possible franchise quarterback for the right price.” And that price is definitely not a first round pick. For all those who don’t believe that Orton is the best option, this is the plan for you.

All in all, the Bears must get a backup quarterback of merit and Jerry Angelo has several ways to get it done. Knowing Jerry, he’ll find the one way no one thought of and do that.