Apparently, we have become so bored with the Bears that anticipating controversy is what now passes for excitement.
Maybe there’s no dilemma at all.
Maybe Jim Miller comes in for his first start of the season at quarterback Sunday against Indianapolis and the team gets smashed the same way it would have under Cade McNown. Maybe Miller goes on to play in the next several games and the Bears win a few, but nothing so dramatic as to suggest McNown shouldn’t be given his job back when he returns from injury.
It’s certainly plausible. After all, Miller taking over for McNown is not exactly Trent Green stepping in for Kurt Warner.
Marshall Faulk and Isaac Bruce aren’t waiting to help him along. Nor does Miller have the benefit of the 49ers’ offense the way Jeff Garcia did, or the Minnesota Vikings’ weapons surrounding him as Daunte Culpepper has.
Miller takes over an offense that has no real identity. There’s no featured running back. The offensive line might be better than it’s given credit for, but it hasn’t exactly blown anyone away. There are no tight ends to speak of, and the receiving corps sorely misses the steady Bobby Engram.
Miller’s first start comes against the 6-2 Colts, followed by the 4-4 Bills, the 4-4 Tampa Bay Bucs and the 6-2 New York Jets. Meanwhile, McNown could recover from his shoulder injury, slip back into the lineup of a 2-10 team and barely create a blip on Chicago’s sports radar. Honestly, who would care one way or the other at that point?
It’s the alternative that has created more intrigue than anything the Bears have done on the field this season, the possibility that Miller does enough to make Dick Jauron think and fans talk and media froth.
Prevailing wisdom seems to suggest that Jauron comes to his senses, hands the franchise over to Miller and drives McNown to the nearest Greyhound station. But back in the real world there are a few considerations, beginning with the little matter of McNown’s five-year, $22 million contract. Can the Bears afford to put McNown on the shelf for a year or, in the extreme case that Miller looks like Johnny Unitas over the next few weeks, jettison a No. 1 draft pick permanently?
Actually, that part is not as major as it may seem. The Bears would save about $7 million in escalators that would kick in on McNown’s contract if he’s in on 70 percent of the plays in his third season. That money won’t be saved as much as redirected, but the point is the Bears are not at a major financial loss if McNown doesn’t keep his job.
What Jauron must do is figure out two things: Which quarterback gives him the best shot at taking a team to the Super Bowl? Which team would that quarterback be taking, since the Bears can only dream of the playoffs?
Even though Jauron doesn’t like the concept of rebuilding, whatever the Bears are doing suddenly looks as hopeless as it did two years ago when Dave Wannstedt mercifully was let go.
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The franchise running back project looks to be a failure. The franchise quarterback project is on shaky ground. And the team still lacks a consistent pass rush. The worst thing Jauron could do would be to let his ego, or the pride of the front office, get in the way of his quarterback decision–to go with McNown only to show that he was right all along to have faith in his top draft pick.
Is Miller the answer? With a new offensive coordinator coming in next season if Gary Crowton leaves to coach at Brigham Young, a new system is not likely to be created around a 30-year-old journeyman quarterback unless, perhaps, Miller runs the table and takes the Bears to the conference championship.
The Bears know enough about McNown to know the whole scenario is as confusing as he appears on the field. For all the talk about McNown being the most NFL-ready of the top quarterbacks coming out of the draft two years ago, he still does not have command of the offense.
And he does not command the respect of the team.
Miller does. Without starting a game this season, Miller may be the most capable leader the Bears have. If he does anything with the games he has ahead of him, it will once again demonstrate how far McNown has to go.
And yet that still doesn’t make Miller the permanent solution unless Jauron truly believes he can take the Bears to the Super Bowl in the five or six productive seasons he might have left.
If so, then have the guts to ride with Miller. If not, then decide who can.
After all, that’s supposed to be the object here.