It has come to this:
The Bears’ starting quarterback Monday night in St. Louis against the Super Bowl runner-up Rams will be whoever is less injured: Jim Miller or Chris Chandler.
And not under consideration for a starting role is Henry Burris, the other quarterback on the roster.
And the Bears are not bringing in veterans such as Scott Mitchell, Kent Graham or Dave Brown in the wake of Sunday’s
33-30 loss to the New England Patriots that saw Miller finish with his elbow tendinitis flaring and Chandler unable to move his strained neck.
Instead, the Bears signed Cory Sauter to be their No. 3 quarterback. Sauter was waived by the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday after serving as their third quarterback for the first eight games this season. Sauter, 6-4, 216 pounds, from the University of Minnesota, has never played in an NFL game in stints with the Arizona Cardinals (1998), Detroit Lions (1999-2000) and Colts (2001-2002).
If Miller has another bout with pain like he did after Sunday’s game, the growing belief is that he will receive a cortisone injection to treat the inflammation and would likely miss the final six weeks of the season. Miller finished Sunday’s game with eight completions in 18 attempts, with one touchdown pass and one interception.
Chandler, who was knocked out of the New England game in the first half, wore a neck brace afterward, but coach Dick Jauron said it did not appear that playing Sunday would cause more damage.
The issue for Chandler will be his pain tolerance and whether he can move his neck enough to scan the field.
“I think it’s muscular, the strain,” Jauron said. “The x-rays were negative, so we ruled out all the potentially really bad stuff.”
