Kurt Kittner spent last fall working out in Champaign and this spring playing in Europe. When you’re a quarterback trying to get another shot in the NFL, you do what you have to do.
The former Illinois star hasn’t lit up NFL Europe, but he at least has done his share to get the Amsterdam Admirals into Saturday’s World Bowl in Dusseldorf, Germany. The title game matches the two teams with the best regular-season records. The 6-4 Admirals meet the 7-3 Berlin Thunder (11 a.m., WFLD-Ch. 32) for the title.
Win or lose, it appears Kittner has done enough to earn an invitation to training camp with the Bears.
“I’m just trying to take care of business here and when I get back to the States it’ll be something else to worry about,” Kittner said.
The Bears are the sixth team to give Kittner, 25, a chance. But this time he will have a head start on the offense because offensive coordinator Ron Turner was his head coach at Illinois.
“He hasn’t been in the right situation,” Turner said. “Given an opportunity in an offense that fits him, he’ll do what he’s doing over there, playing well.”
The Atlanta Falcons drafted Kittner in the fifth round in 2002. In 2003, a Michael Vick injury gave Kittner a chance, but he didn’t capitalize on it. He started four games, completing 44 of 114 passes (38.6 percent) with two touchdowns and six interceptions.
“I got a chance to play and I didn’t play well, there’s no other way to put it,” he said.
The Falcons cut him in the spring of 2004. Last year, he had a short off-season and brief training camp stays–ranging from 10 days to three weeks–with Cincinnati, the New York Giants, New England and Pittsburgh. He didn’t play in the NFL last season.
“In the other places, I didn’t get a chance to compete and it’s hard to do if you’re only there for two weeks,” he said.
So when Kittner took the field in Europe, it was his first live action since 2003.
“It has been good just to get over there and play,” Kittner said. “And it has been a good experience, being overseas. I played well in some games, not so well in others; on the whole it has been good.”
Former Indiana quarterback Gibran Hamdan began the season as Amsterdam’s starter, but an injury gave Kittner a chance to start the last six games. He finished the regular season as the sixth-rated passer in the six-team league with a rating of 67.4. He has completed 54 percent of his passes with nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
The league’s No. 7 passer was the other quarterback the Bears sent to Europe, Ryan Dinwiddie. He completed 47.l percent of his passes with a 58.4 rating for Hamburg.
Dinwiddie already is working out with the Bears and Kittner returns next week. The Bears spent their fourth-round pick on Purdue’s Kyle Orton this year, so they have six quarterbacks. They will take four or five to training camp.
Rex Grossman is No. 1, Chad Hutchinson No. 2 and Orton is the favorite for No. 3. Craig Krenzel, who started five games last season as a rookie, decided not to go to Europe, preferring to stay home and learn Turner’s system. Krenzel and Dinwiddie are eligible for the practice squad, but Kittner isn’t. That means the Bears couldn’t keep him around if the first three stay healthy.
Kittner, a Schaumburg High product, led Illinois to the 2001 Big Ten title under Turner.
“He’s a fun coach to play for,” Kittner said. “I haven’t been around a coach like him with any of the teams I’ve been with in the NFL.”
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tabannon@tribune.com
