Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Thinking about the draft tonight It is hard to wrap my head around how few "franchise" quarterbacks the Bears have had. I think it has been over seventy years since Sid Luckman played, and they have had Lujack, Layne, Blanda, and Jim McMahon, but there are not many who have kept opposing defenses awake at night.

My favorite Bears QB growing up was Bobby Douglas, who almost ran for 1,000 yards in 1972. Fun fact, he led the Bears to upset wins over both the eventual SB champion Dallas Cowboys and that year's wildcard team, the Washington Redskins, in 1971. The Bears were the only team to beat both clubs that season. They also beat the Central Division champion Minnesota Vikings, but went 3-8 versus the rest of the league.

After Luckman in 1942, on only seven occasions has a Chicago Bears quarterback been selected by his peers to appear in the Pro Bowl: Johnny Lujack (1950-51), Ed Brown (1955-56), Billy Wade (1963), Jim McMahon (1985), Mitchell Trubisky (2018). That's seven times in the past 78 years.

Packers? 24 times
Vikings? 17
Lions? Also only 7 times, with Bobby Layne filling five of those spots.

I think Rudy Bukich led the NFL in passing efficiency in 1965, or maybe it was just passing TDs. Either way, Bukich was great at flipping a short pass to Gale Sayers and letting Sayers do all the work.

Erik Kramer threw for 3800 yards for them one year. Harbaugh led the Colts to the AFC Championship after he left the Bears. I grew up a Packer fan so I know the Bears fairly well. This may sound crazy, but I think Vince Evans would have made a very good quarterback long term. This will sound much crazier, but I was very relieved when Chicago traded Kyle Orton for Jay Cutler. Orton wasn't a great quarterback but he was one of those guys who annoyingly nudged the ball downfield and actually found a way to beat us at least 2-3 times. He's also the quarterback who beat the Packers the year they went 15-1. My thought has always been that the Bears haven't always played the right guy.

When you have longstanding issues like this the only thing you can really do is look at any potential constants throughout. And in this situation the Bears have a major one and that is ownership.

In 1979, they were all set to take Montana in Round 3, but Jim Finks changed his mind at the last second because they had Bob Avellini and Mike Phipps along with Vince Evans, who had possibilities for the future.

Well we will see how Justin Fields does there.

Cutler wasn't the same player after leaving the Broncos due to his diabetes. He had a strong arm but not like Elway-Favre class in my opinion. Rollout bootlegs were his strength, not throwing from the pocket, though the Bears never built the kind of line he needed. Like Stafford, he just couldn't rally everyone around him, hence, the losing record, while McMahon, with lesser talent, had the opposite affect.

Evans had a strong arm but was inaccurate and couldnt take advantage of having the best player in NFL history.

I can remember when weak-armed Steve Walsh won a playoff game for them.

Cade McNown, Kordell Stewart and Rex Grossman were busts. Tomczak never wanted the starting job, while Kramer and Orton were tough but limited, though Kramer had some good passing seasons.

Ed Brown and Bukich had strong arms but inconsistent.

Truly a meat and potatos, three yards and a cloud of dust franchise.

GameBeforeTheMoney wrote:This may sound crazy, but I think Vince Evans would have made a very good quarterback long term.

Evans had some uniquely terrible games with the Bears. He basically started 2 seasons with the Bears (late 79, 2nd half of 80, 81 season), yet the amount of 0 TD/multiple INT games he had in that short period of time is incredible. He started 32 games, and had a 0 TD/multi INT game 14 times. When the Bears made Evans the unquestioned starter in 1981, it was a disaster. 12th in pass attempts, 20th in passing yards, yet the 8th most INTs and 3rd most fumbles as Chicago finishes a disappointing 6-10 with the 27th best offense.

The Bears had made the playoffs in 1979 and got hosed in their loss to Philly, and those 1980-81 Bears teams should have been much better. The NFC Central was the worst division in the NFL, and the Bears had a good defense and Walter Payton in his prime on offense. Just having decent play from the QB position may have resulted in division titles. I remember when the Bears got rid of Evans, he came back to Chicago and played with the USFL, and was probably the worst starting QB in that league, too.