The performance of Chad Hutchinson last Sunday brought into sharp focus a fundamental NFL reality that hasn’t always been obvious. The Bears have been hurt over the past decade by a succession of quarterback changes, but the team’s problems actually have little to do with that. Those problems arise because they are changing to bad quarterbacks.
“Continuity,” the buzz word for what teams want but lose when position players are shuffled in and out, gets the blame. But Hutchinson, the antithesis of quarterback continuity with little time on the Bears, proceeded to ignite the offense and consequently the whole team.
Craig Krenzel for Jonathan Quinn, Bears win. Hutchinson for Krenzel/Quinn, Bears win. Jim Miller for Cade McNown, Bears win. Jim McMahon for Bob Avellini/Vince Evans, Bears history.
Continuity had nothing to do with success.
“Even if a guy makes mistakes, if he can make a play, it doesn’t really matter,” said center Olin Kreutz, the veteran with the best view of Bears quarterback changes since 1998. “People can talk about whatever they want–sacks, continuity, whatever–as long as we’re winning, it doesn’t matter. We had five sacks, but Chad made plays.
“Does continuity help? Of course it does. [But it’s] not the most important thing.”
The Bears’ success with this year’s quarterback changes is nothing short of an NFL anomaly. In the cases of Krenzel and Hutchinson, the backups further down the depth chart turned out to be to better players.
No. 3 (Krenzel) was an improvement over No. 2 (Quinn). No. 4 (Hutchinson) improved on No. 3. And No. 5 is veteran Jeff George. That doesn’t happen often in the NFL.
“Every team has core players,” general manager Jerry Angelo said. “You have to have [them] stay healthy because they are the difference-makers on Sunday. You’ve invested so much and how much can you pay for the backups? There are just so many core players around.
“You’re not going to get the kind of play from [the replacements], usually, because you are winning because of [core players], not just with them.”
When Miller succeeded McNown, the offense approached franchise records immediately.
Likewise, when McMahon supplanted Avellini and Evans, albeit after some rough spots. That McMahon was a rookie, or that continuity was undercut, did not matter.
“You can have a guy who’s a great teammate, like Steve Fuller, well-liked in the locker room and a good guy,” former McMahon teammate Tom Thayer said. “But he doesn’t have the ability of McMahon to read downfield defenses or even have youth on his side.
“You have guys like Peter Tom Willis who, when they get the opportunity, it just didn’t click. A lot of it is self confidence in the quarterback and players’ confidence in the quarterback. If you don’t have that confidence, you won’t make certain throws. And that builds confidence in the rest of the team.”
Extra points
George took the practice snaps this week with the No. 2 offense, virtually assuring he will be the backup to Hutchinson on Sunday in Jacksonville. Right tackle John Tait has been downgraded to doubtful and is not expected to play for the second straight week, putting Aaron Gibson again into the starting lineup.
The remaining question mark is tight end Desmond Clark, who led the Bears in receptions in the upset of Minnesota but has been unable to practice all week because of shoulder and rib injuries. Clark will be evaluated up until game time and would be replaced by Dustin Lyman if he can’t play..
