Why does Josh McCown deserve a start? He won’t be here next year.
— Keith
It’s not about McCown “deserving” a start. It’s about the Bears deserving a better performance at the quarterback position than Caleb Hanie has been giving them. McCown may prove no better than Hanie, but the Bears have nothing to lose by trying and might even end up in a better position. And I wouldn’t say it’s a foregone conclusion that McCown won’t be in Chicago next year. In fact, if he performs well in Green Bay, I’d say it’s almost a slam dunk he will be in Chicago next year.
Wouldn’t it make more sense for Bears to play Nathan Enderle during the final two games and make sure they don’t need to draft another QB?
— TJ Searl, from Twitter
You would not be able to tell much about Enderle in these last two starts. I don’t think it would be prudent to give him his first start in a nationally televised road game at Green Bay. Young quarterbacks need to be developed slowly and methodically, not thrown to the wolves. Enderle isn’t ready to try to outduel Aaron Rodgers. Depending on how things play out in Green Bay, it might make some sense to get his feet wet against the Vikings on New Year’s Day.
Out of curiosity, I perused some old Bears mailbag questions. In retrospect, many of the questions seemed awfully nitpicky of Jay Cutler. Now that we’ve gotten a good dose of Bad Hanie, are you seeing a shift in perception of Cutler and what he means to the Bears?
— Matt Presnell; Terre Haute, Ind.
Most definitely. Cutler’s popularity is at an all-time high in Chicago. I would attribute this to two factors. First, Cutler played his best football and was winning games in the five-game stretch before his injury. The second factor is you don’t really appreciate what you have until it’s gone. Now that Cutler is out, everyone remembers the touchdowns and has forgotten the interceptions.
To what extent do you believe the presence of Hanie as QB contributed to the two recent mistakes by Marion Barber? Namely, lining up wide left but off the line of scrimmage, and running out of bounds, stopping the clock and costing 30 or more seconds of game time. Would a more experienced and savvy quarterback, like Cutler, have corrected Barber’s position in the first case before the ball was snapped, and cautioned him to stay in bounds in the second case?
— CVD, Flossmoor
It is possible a veteran quarterback might have been able to prevent Barber from committing his illegal formation penalty by verbally communicating with him when he saw him lined up incorrectly. I’m not sure the quarterback could have done anything about Barber running too close to the sidelines. It’s not like Barber intentionally ran out of bounds. And for all we know, Hanie might have said something to him in the huddle.The bottom line is Barber is a very well paid professional. He needs to know the rules and the game situations and shouldn’t need to have his hand held. The quarterback should not have to be responsible for ten other players doing what they are supposed to do.
Everyone seems to agree that had the Bears been able to claim Kyle Orton off waivers, they would have had a better chance to win at least a couple of games. If the Bears wanted Orton so bad, why did they not try to make a trade with Denver instead of hoping he would clear waivers so they could claim him? It seems to me Jerry Angelo dropped the ball in that respect … what do you think?
— Dave
I received this question from a number of readers. The NFL trading deadline was Oct. 18. On that day, Tim Tebow had yet to start a game for the Broncos and as far as I know, the Broncos were not trying to trade Orton. Jay Cutler was healthy and the Bears were not looking to acquire another quarterback. After that day, no trades have been possible.
During the Patriots-Redskins game, Tom Brady was caught cursing at his offensive coordinator on the sideline after an interception. This is no different, if worse, than what Cutler did a few weeks ago in the game against Minnesota. Just because Brady has better credentials than Cutler doesn’t justify it any more. I find it strange that you haven’t come out and questioned Brady’s leadership and/or respectability.
— Shaun Canady; Victorville, Calif.
I didn’t have to question what Brady did because Brady owned up to being wrong. He and offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien hugged it out on the sideline after the exchange. Then, Brady admitted to the media after the game that he was out of line. And he was.
What position should the Bears address in the first round assuming all positions are equal? I say get a No. 1 wide receiver or secondary help.
— Ty Weidner, from Twitter
There are a lot of ways the Bears can go with their first round pick, and it’s too early to zero in on needs because we don’t know what will happen in free agency in terms of additions and losses. As it stands now, you could see needs at receiver and cornerback, as you suggest, and linebacker, defensive line and offensive line. If all things are equal, I always lean towards going big. And I think the defense really needs a young player to build around. So put me down for a defensive end.
What are the odds the Bears clean house with their front office this off-season?
— Onlinesportsfreaks, From Twitter
I would say maybe 10%. There is a slight chance Jerry Angelo may retire, which could lead to more changes The other X-factor is this is George McCaskey’s first full offseason as chairman of the board. No one really knows if he wants to put his stamp on this team. But based on what I know, I’d be surprised if McCaskey or Ted Phillips would endorse radical change. I don’t believe McCaskey wants to stick his nose in the football end of the operation. The Bears always have been about stability, and it’s a little harsh to blame the front office for injuries to Jay Cutler, Matt Forte, Gabe Carimi, and everyone else. Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel made a great point in a recent column when writing about Cutler’s injury: the Packers haven’t had to deal with a quarterback injury like Cutler’s for the last 20 years, since Brett Favre first became the starter. If Cutler had stayed healthy like Favre and Aaron Rodgers have, I don’t think there would be questions about cleaning house.
If the Packers beat the Bears on Sunday, that would be four times in one calendar year. Would that be some kind of NFL record?
— Dick Hoffman, Libertyville
It has been done before, believe or not. The last time was in 1994, when the Raiders beat the Broncos four times — once at the end of the 1993 regular season, once in the 1993 playoffs, and twice in the 1994 regular season.
When was the last time the Bears had a six-game losing streak? That is the direction they are headed. Yep, I think Minnesota will beat them, too.
— Bud Vesta; Hopkins, Minn.
The 2002 Bears of Dick Jauron lost eight straight after starting out 2-0 and going 13-3 the previous season. They finished 4-12.
I just read this week’s mailbag and wanted to expand on the question regarding the OC. If Mike Martz leaves next season, what are your thoughts on promoting Mike Tice and trying to bring former Bears stud offensive lineman Tom Thayer out of the radio booth to coach the O-line?
— Jared Smith
Interesting proposition, Jared. Tice might be a logical replacement for Martz were Martz to leave. Thayer is a true student of offensive line play and probably would be a good coach if he wanted to be one. I could see him coming down from the booth one day.
Don’t you think that the Bears should start Corey Graham and Zack Bowman in place of Tim Jennings and Charles Tillman for the last two games? We already know what we have in Jennings and Peanut, but the same cannot be said of the other two. We really need to see if Graham and Bowman can hack it as starting corners since they’re both about to become free agents. Jennings in particular has not been up to par lately and perhaps an upgrade over him is already on the roster.
— Walt; Aiken, S.C.
I think the Bears know what Graham is by now. He’s been with them for five years, and he played quite a bit on defense this year when D.J. Moore was injured. No harm in getting him some more time at the nickel spot, however. As for Bowman, I would like to see him get more of a chance. It might make sense to have Bowman and Jennings split time in the remaining games.
dpompei@tribune.com
Twitter @danpompei
