Coming out of UCLA two years ago, the word on Cade McNown was not that he had the strongest arm of the top five college quarterbacks, nor that he was the most athletic or the best runner or even the most competitive.
What was said and said consistently about McNown, who started 44 games for the Bruins, was that he was the most ready. Ready to step into the NFL and handle the responsibility of running a pro offense.
McNown said he was wary of the praise.
“I had a good feeling coming in that it was going to be tough,” he said Wednesday. “It’s lived up to that.”
In the immediate wake of being benched for the season finale in place of a free agent-to-be in Shane Matthews who has said frequently he probably will not return to the Bears next season, McNown said he still sees “good things on the horizon.”
But Bears management must decide how big a commitment to make in bringing in a new quarterback, either through the draft or a scarce free agent market. Bears vice president of personnel Mark Hatley said that will be one of the major decisions to be made after the season ends, though team sources said they are still committed to McNown at least through next season.
Bears coach Dick Jauron, who said Wednesday that McNown will most likely not go into training camp next summer with the No. 1 job as he did last July, agreed that the Bears quarterback situation is as unclear as ever.
But he would not go so far as to say that McNown is no longer in the development stage of his career and now will be expected to perform like everyone else.
“He’s still very young in the league,” Jauron said. “He’s trying to learn how to play in the league and how to succeed in the league.
“That development phase, I think continues for everybody through their whole career, but obviously for a young quarterback. He’s still in the development phase.”
Jauron has been under almost constant scrutiny regarding his handling of the Bears’ franchise quarterback, drafted 12th overall in a class last year that included standouts Daunte Culpepper and Donovan McNabb. But it escalated this season, when Jauron gave McNown twice as many reps in training camp as second-stringer Jim Miller, then started McNown and stayed with him the first eight games of the season as the Bears went 1-7.
When Jauron kept McNown out of the lineup two weeks after he was physically cleared to played after separating his shoulder, the question became: with the Bears eliminated from playoff contention, why not play McNown for development purposes?
But Wednesday, Jauron objected to that characterization of the situation. “I never felt like I threw him out there and said, `Come on, get better,”‘ Jauron said. “We all wanted him to improve but that was never my thinking. I always felt like I put him on the field with a chance to win and thought we’d win the game.”
Bears players have complained about what they perceive as McNown’s lack of appropriate preparation in practice and even during last off-season, which has showed up in games in the form of mental and physical errors.
Ironically, McNown’s preparation for pre-draft meetings was lauded early on by former offensive coordinator Gary Crowton. But his difficulties began soon after he signed with the Bears.
A contract holdout caused him to miss 10 days of his rookie training camp and when he arrived, there were immediate rumblings from teammates who did not appreciate what they read as McNown deflecting blame away from himself.
Jauron’s so-called experiment to spoon-feed McNown the offense in doses of one or two series a game the first five games of the ’99 season was at first deemed a success. But when McNown had his chance to start and the Bears lost the first two under his command, led the offense to just one touchdown in six quarters and was benched in place of Jim Miller, the questions began.
The following week, McNown threw three touchdowns in the second half of a blowout loss to Washington. But McNown came back strong with a 300-yard passing game and four touchdowns in a victory over Detroit in Week 14, and built up enough confidence in coaches that he went into training camp as No. 1.
“Last year, if you remember, we only had one quarterback under contract when I said he’d be the starting quarterback going into training camp,” said Jauron, defending his decision. “Jim was a free agent and Shane was a free agent with a clause in his contract.”
Jauron’s decision to start McNown in this year’s season opener over Miller was not questioned when McNown completed 27-of-41 passes for 290 yards and two touchdowns in a close loss at Minnesota.
But when the Bears were shut out against Tampa in Week 2, with McNown completing just 15-of-29 passes for 96 yards and two interceptions, questions of his competency as field general accelerated.
Curtis Enis said McNown was put in a no-win situation.
“A commitment is one thing, but Cade was put in a situation where Coach Crowton was on his way out; there was no offensive continuity from the standpoint of calling the right plays; and Cade took the heat of it.
“He was learning on the fly, we played four tough teams right off the bat and once they realized they could blitz him, he got real shook, his feet got happy, he started running and what would you do? It’s the NFL; it’s the first time you’re going against this stuff.
“Somebody should have sat him down and explained it to him as best they could and go from there. But they didn’t.”
Matthews said the expectations placed on McNown were perhaps unrealistic.
“You have to go through growing pains,” Matthews said. “I still like to look at Brett Favre’s situation in Green Bay. It’s not like he lit it up his first couple years there. He struggled through, throwing three, four interceptions a game, and now look at the player he is.”
“Some guys play well earlier in their career but it just hasn’t happened for Cade. But he has all the talent and he’ll be a good player in this league.”
McNown does not just agree with that logic. He is counting on it.
“Peyton Manning was on track to set the record for interceptions his rookie year,” McNown said. “I haven’t even started a full season [he’s 3-12]. But I’m learning and I know we’re going to be good and I know I’m going to play well and it just takes a little time, but people are impatient.”
Bears players like offensive tackle James Williams are simply frustrated with the Bears instability at quarterback.
“We need a quarterback,” Williams said. “We need somebody that’s going to lead us and lead us for awhile and tell us, `This is the way it is, this is the way it’s going to go and let’s run with it,'” Williams said.
