NFL

Bears First-Rounder Already a Bust, QB Race a 'Dead Heat'

Posted Aug 08, 2008 12:45AM By Matt Snyder (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Chicago Bears, NFC North

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Chris Williams was drafted 14th overall by the Bears. They knew there were back issues, and as a matter of fact, many teams were scared off by these back issues. When the Bears took Williams, here's who was left on the board that could have helped them: Brandon Albert (yes, hurt now ... but he wasn't at the time and his injury happened in practice for KC ... the Bears draft him and a whole different set of circumstances enters the equation), Gosder Cherilus, Joe Flacco, Jeff Otah, Sam Baker, Felix Jones, Rashard Mendenhall, Chris Johnson ... okay, you get the point.

Low and behold, Williams hasn't really done much but jog in practice thus far, and he had surgery tonight.

What an abomination. Things surely can't get worse, can they?
To respond, the Bears could sign former Bears right tackle Fred Miller off the scrap heap, a desperate move, and subsequently return John Tait to the left side.
Oh, please God, no. I don't think I've ever seen a worse football player than the '07 version of Fred Miller in my thirty years on this Earth. That's not hyperbole. He's that bad. I actually tried to come up with a nickname like "the human penalty" or some creative spin on calling him a sieve or something the like. The problem is that nothing really does justice to how atrocious he is. When one of the worst O-Lines in football can't use you, something is wrong.

Quarterback race:

The Bears scored 20 points in a loss to the Chiefs tonight in their first pre-season game.

Rex Grossman had the better QB rating by virtue of his touchdown pass to little Garrett Wolfe. Kyle Orton was more efficient, completing seven of ten passes, though, shockingly, he only amassed 56 yards. He was as maddening as ever, in that even his completions don't seem like they help the team:
Orton made the same safe, accurate throws we have become accustomed to seeing from him and the familiar checkdowns when the deep routes were covered.
Rex was his notorious Jekyll and Hyde self:
Grossman looked familiar, too, mixing in strong throws such as the 19-yard dart to Brandon Lloyd with enough shaky incompletions under pressure. He completed 4 of 8 for 44 yards for one touchdown and a passer rating of 106.2.

There was a smattering of boos from the crowd of 51,293 after Grossman fell on his backside backpedaling in the pocket that only grew louder the next play when he missed an open Marty Booker downfield.
I'm sorry, gimme the gunslinger who takes chances. You aren't going to consistently win games with a guy scared to throw the ball more than ten feet. I hope you noted the sarcasm above, because the Kyle Orton offense is the most predictable/annoying one I've ever seen. His go-to move is to check-down, hit a RB out of the backfield (shocking that Matt Forte had the most catches from Orton) for two yards, but not chance throwing it down field and exposing himself as the brutal QB he clearly is.

At least Rex tries to force the issue. I'll take that any day.

UPDATE (3:12 p.m. EDT): Looks like November 2 is the target date for Williams' return. Big blow to the Bears offensive line.

Tags: chris+williams, ChrisWilliams, kyle+orton, KyleOrton, rex+grossman, RexGrossman

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