The Tragic History of Chicago Bears Quarterbacks

[Music] certain Milestones seem to mean something to us when you're 29 you're still in your 20s you got plenty of time and then you turn 30 and holy hell you're old this same sort of logic applies to sports statistics when a running back rushes for 1,000 yards it's considered a career Milestone versus some scrub who mustered 900 yard now let's discuss one for by far the most important position on the field quarterback the yardage number synonymous with success for a signal caller is the illustrious 4,000 yd passing season it's the equivalent to passing for 250 yards on average for 16 regular season games although impressive it's certainly attainable for an above average and sometimes even an average NFL starting quarterback 10 quarterbacks reached this Mark in 2023 and somewhere around 8 to 13 guys reached it every year in the last decade in the ' 80s and 90s however it was much tougher as 0 to Five Guys would reach this Mark yearly but over the span of many decades every single NFL franchise has managed to produce at least a 4,000 yard passer well with the exception of [Music] one there have been 14 quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl only one has been traded before he was 30 which is yourself having to answer questions about Rex Gman and his ability to deal with criticism had taken its toll snap Cutler looks hereit as he throws inter intercepted Bears head coach John Fox didn't know about a plan to draft quarterback Mitchell trabis until until a couple hours before trabis to the end zone and it's going to be picked off it's a Bittersweet moment for many Bears fans across Chicago the quarterback that was drafted in 2021 and hailed as a savior for the Bears franchise is now added to a long list of quarterbacks that did not work out in Chicago [Music] building a team without a good quarterback is a problem waiting to happen kind of like using your devices without a VPN which leads us into today's video sponsor IP vanish use IP vanishes VPN today and access an 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Luckman was one of the best quarterbacks of his era so technically the Bears have one of the goats relative to his time time period Luckman is a Hall of Famer and four-time NFL champ but how are we supposed to Value this time period relative to today we're talking about a time where pro football wasn't that popular players weren't making a ton of money and often worked outside jobs on any given year a team of college Allstars could be the previous year's NFL champion so at the very least this era has to have some sort of asteris other notable pre- Super Bowl era Bears quarterbacks included Ed Brown and Billy Wade overall the pre Super Bowl era was a special one for the Bears as they won 8 NFL championships during this time following the 67 season longtime head coach George halis officially retired he ended his coaching career the winningest coach in league history a record that would stand for over 25 years after halice exited the sideline the Bears entered a new era and if there was one word to describe the next 16 years it would be irrelevant they had four different head coaches in that time none lasting longer than 4 years as for quarterbacks they tried a handful of guys who never seemed to click they brought in Jack and Canon from Philly and he struggled until he had one decent year in 1970 but he couldn't recapture that success the team drafted Bobby Douglas as his replacement and he had success as a running quarterback but he never developed into a decent passer the team strug struggled during his time under Center in 1973 the Bears drafted Gary Huff he lasted two brutal Seasons as the starter before being demoted and shipped out of town they took a flyer in the sixth round of 1975 drafting Bob aini who actually was better than huff and this was the first time the Bears saw success in the Super Bowl era finally making the playoffs in 1977 however this team was built almost entirely on the back of Walter Payton the first 15 years after George H's retirement saw mediocrity at best at the quarterback position aalen's 1977 campaign was the best single season passing by any Bears quarterback in that stretch and he ranked out 18th in passer rating the best Bears quarterback in that time at his Peak was below average that was until the Bears drafted this guy quarterbacks at that time were pretty they were pretty they were respectable and then comes this guy out of BYU he was a 1980s John Hughes movie antagonist for the Bears pressure on the first wide open I love it will Jim McMahon was outspoken irreverent called his own plays pissed off coaches and went rogue at times but despite that he actually performed well and showed major potential after finishing top 10 and passer rating as a rookie McMahon won NFL Rookie of the Year in 1982 and developed into a highly effective passer by 1984 where only Dan Marino and Joe Montana finished ahead of McMahon in passer rating now it's fair to say McMahon was asked to do much less than those other two since the team was built primarily through the defense and on the legs of Walter pton but McMahon played his role as a complimentary piece much better than his predecessors and this paid off in 1985 the truth was the 85 Bears were going to win a lot of games regardless of who played under Center Steve Fuller started five games in place of the injured McMahon and statistically he was atrocious yet the team went 4- one with him as the starter and blew out most of those opponents in the playoffs the Bears only allowed 10 points in three games it's the greatest three-game defensive playoff stretch of all time this isn't to say McMahon wasn't important but he was far from the most important piece on this championship ship roster and his injuries mediocre play and tension between McMahon and members of the Bears organization the following Seasons may have prevented the Bears from winning another 1986 was absolutely insane one year after the Bears won the Super Bowl they once again dominated the regular season they had this 25 game Run where they went 24 and one that level of dominance is what you'd see at a major college program playing cupcake teams every other week not in the NFL but what's even more insane was the fact of just how bad their quarterback play was in 1986 they had four quarterbacks start at least one game under Center and they combined for an atrocious 50% completion percentage thre more than double the amount of interceptions to touchdowns and their combined quarterback rating would rank them near the bottom of the league their main starter was Mike Tomac who had just two touchdowns to 10 interceptions but despite that the team was undefeated with him under Center and The Story Goes deeper than just stats many believe that the 86 Bears defense was better than 1985's however quarterback Jim McMahon showed up to training camp 25 lbs overweight which certainly affected his play and ultimately injuries derailed his season despite a 14-2 finish the Bears would end up in the divisional round their starter for that day Doug fluty completed around a third of his passes in an overall horrific performance considering that the Bears LED at half time if McMahon was healthy and playing at a decent level the Bears may have won that game from 1985 to 1988 the Bears compiled a 52 and 11 record but they were never a balanced team during that time they had zero stability at the quarterback position and still somehow won 82% of their games basically the 85 Bears is what many Chicago fans grip to it was one truly amazing year but in reality the bigger story is how they fumbled away the opportunity to become a d Dy their best quarterback in decades was constantly hurt and the relationship between him and the organization ended on bad terms McMahon was traded in 1988 there have been 14 quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl only one has been traded before he was 30 which is yourself yet you seem to know that this was all going to be inevitable well I felt it come in the last about a year and a half I think it started back in ' 86 I hurt my shoulder the first game of the year I should have never played again I don't think they believed I was hurt and he actually told me that to my face he thought I was faking so I think our relationship started deteriorating at that [Music] point the Bears decided to replace him with another Jim 1987's first round pick Jim Harbaugh he was described by his college coach as the cockiest quarterback he ever had Harbaugh eventually worked his way into the full-time starting role and the team went on a solid 2-year run in 1990 and 1991 and Jim did what he was told to do manage the offense once again the Bears were number one in Rush attempts however by 1993 harbas performance had declined as well as the teams Mike Ditka's 11-year run as head coach ended after 1992 and Harbaugh signed with the Colts in 1994 immediately he was much better with the Colts as he led the league in quarterback rating and made a Pro Bowl in 1995 but Chicago fans weren't losing sleep over Harbaugh's Improv movement because they seemed to have struck gold in 1995 the pass game there you got to go with it they go with it Kramer to the end zone Jennings touchdown Chicago Eric Kramer an undrafted journeyman had spent time in both the CFL as a starter and the NFL as a backup proved to be decent enough in 1994 to be the placeholder starter in Chicago then in 1995 he randomly went off Kramer produced 38 800 yards and 29 touchdowns to just 10 interceptions that yardage and touchdown number still stand as the all-time best marks by any Bears quarterback ever but even in a year with above average Quarterback play the Bears didn't even make the playoffs due to a mediocre defense and an underwhelming Run game essentially this 1995 Squad was the antithesis to how Chicago had built their rosters historically so what followed Kramer's awesome season well he barely played in '96 was less productive in '97 and was injured in 1998 back to the drawing board and by 2001 the Bears reverted back to how they had always built rosters primarily focusing on the defense and the Run game and hoping they hit on a quarterback with the 12th pick in the draft Chicago Bears select Cade mcdown quarterback UCLA here's the rookie Kade mcnown and it looks like he will have to carry the team the rest of this quarter now from the gun guns this one towards the end zone and this is intercepted Kade mcdown went on to become the biggest quarterback bust of the 1999 first round only playing in two NFL seasons for the Bears mcnown was one of 14 different quarterbacks that would start for the team from 1998 to 2005 the Bears had used a combo of free agency signings first round picks and late round picks to see if anything would land in that time but despite no clear answer on the horizon at quarterback the defense by 2005 was once again picking up steam under ly Smith the defense went from 22nd to First in two seasons the team went 11 and5 winning the division before losing in the second round in 2005 and this was with an atrocious offense if they had an average Quarterback they would have been Super Bowl contend Enders that year and average Quarterback play is just what Rex grman served up in 2006 to this point Grossman had been a huge bust a first round pick who had only played in Eight Games in the three years since they drafted him at times he showed he could play but the inconsistencies and lack of play time was killing him in the regular season finale of 2006 he went two of 12 for 33 yards and had four turnovers despite this the Bears finished 13 and three with a stifling defense an excellent two-man Run game and Devon Hester who had five return touchdowns that year as a rookie amazingly this team reached the Super Bowl on the backs of their dominant units Grossman mostly played a less important side character with the aid of Hester's opening kickoff return touchdown the Bears jumped out to a 70 lead on the Colts but after a brutal offensive showing the Bears offense could barely muster anything early in the fourth quarter they were down by five points but then Gman threw a pick six Gman quickly threw another interception and that was all she wrote for the bearers before the 2007 season after throwing 20 interceptions the previous year and turning the ball over three times in the Super Bowl Gman vowed that he would improve his performance by simply protecting the ball however in his first three games of 2007 he committed 10 turnovers Grossman would only only start five more games for the Bears before they declined to resign him despite some success from their former fourth rounder Kyle Orton the Bears were in search of a new answer and began browsing around the league for options and they found their hope in Denver Jay Cutler told ESPN Sunday night that he has asked his agent to formerly request a trade from the Broncos Jay Cutler a dude with a cannon for an arm had the makings of a top 10 quarterback drafted back in 2006 he had developed into a pro bowler by 2008 once Chicago acquired color he easily became the most proven quarterback at the NFL level they had had on their roster since Eric Kramer's one-year run 14 Seasons prior despite Cutler's success in Denver the relationship between him and the Broncos organization had reached a point of no return well the problem is not Jay Cutler he's our quarterback period he has come out and said that he doesn't trust you basically the beers outbid everybody because they were able to throw in that additional third round pick as the 2009 season approached Chicago fans anxiously awaited for this new era to begin with a fresh hope perhaps they had finally found their dream franchise quarterback by 2010 their Hope was becoming a reality well kind of after missing the Playoffs in Cutler's first season they reached the postseason in his second year the defense was back in top five form and Devon Hester was an allpro once again however the offense was mostly mediocre outside of a young Matt Forte Cutler didn't have a great Supporting Cast his number one receiver was Johnny Knox a kick return specialist who had dabbled in the past game and was decent but he certainly wasn't in the mold of a star number one receiver on top of this their run game was largely ineffective and their offensive line was arguably the worst in the league on pff's website the beo line ranked out 31st in 2010 with the opening sentence of their section of the article in indicating just how bad they were despite all of these limitations and being sacked the most of any quarterback in the league Cutler had been pretty good often being the key reason to the team success during the 2010 regular season in a game where Cutler was near perfect versus Dallas he led a late touchdown drive to seal the game later in the season his four touchdown performance versus Philly earned them another win then in a shootout late in the season Cutler went off in the third quarter with three touchdowns to help the Bears outra the Jets to Victory these types of performances helped Chicago win the NFC North clinching a first round buy and a home playoff game however Cutler had saved arguably his best performance of the season for that divisional round playoff game he produced an impressive four touchdown zero turnover showing which helped the Bears get out to a massive lead on the Seahawks eventually leading to the W Bears fans were experiencing Something New by this point playoff success on the back of their quarterback the defense had been really good in the game too but it was just the fact that Cutler was doing what almost all his predecessors could not this win meant Chicago was back in the NFC title game for the first time in Four Seasons which to the fans felt much more promising at the quarterback position than it did back in 2006 but despite this the confidence in Cutler was shortlived in the NFC title game Cutler started rough to say the least he went six of 14 for 80 yards and threw a interception versus the Packers in the first half trailing by 14 at halftime the Cutler lead Bears came out in the second half looking to make up the deficit however after limping off the field after their first failed possession of the third quarter the Bears backup quarterback came into the game the following series while Cutler stayed on the sideline for the remainder of the game this image of Cutler standing on the sidelines would become a major controversy Chicago fans watched their team come up short led by their third string quarterback which was infuriating because the camera kept showing Cutler just standing there on the sidelines the initial response by the public was ruthless and possibly the NFL's first player on player social media attack Cutler was being criticized seconds after the injury by multiple current and former players and angry fans were quick to jump on this bandwagon despite a later MRI showing that Cutler had sprained his MC L and that head coach Lovey Smith was the one who decided that color wasn't going back in it didn't change much of the public opinion for years Cutler's demeanor was polarizing the look on his face and lack of animated reactions or yelling at teammates gave him an appearance to the outside world that he just didn't care his attitude was called into question for years you can't win with it you can't he's not really a leader he's a talent be the company guy with J Cutler now I can talk real Jak C was bad he has earned a reputation as a player that most coaches don't like but he's better than being awful at quarterback what you get is a petulant a a non-energetic lethargic guy that has a big arm who's supremely armed talented but lacks discipline lacks focus and he doesn't motivate me to want to go out there and play at my alltime best for him were there guys that thought he was a jerk absolutely the next six years were filled with constant frustration color was the main starter and hovered around the quarterback 10 to 20 Mark in the league it was described as lackluster due to his performance and the injuries the smug outward expression that he had didn't help eventually the two sides parted ways ending a mostly disappointing 8-year run where the Bears failed to make the playoffs during the final 6 years of the era after releasing color the Bears made a peculiar decision signing Mike Glennon they offered him a 3-year 45 million contract a bizarre move to say the least considering that Glennon had been mostly a backup in Tampa but a much bigger story during the 2017 off season was who Chicago drafted second overall the 2017 NFL draft the Bears originally possessed the third overall pick but then they traded up from 3 to2 to draft their quarterback with the second pick in the 2017 NFL draft the Chicago Bears select Mitchell chabis quarterback North Carolina and this was a move that happened without their head coach even knowing what was happening till just before the pick Bears head coach John Fox didn't know about a plan to draft quarterback Mitchell trabis until until a couple hours before of the three main first round quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes deshun Watson and Mitch trabis they felt like Mitch trabis was going to be the best for them as a rookie trabis took over after an ugly four games by Mike Glennon and trabis struggled finishing 30th in the NFL in qbr a sign of Hope however was that the team performed well in 2018 the team hired mat naggi and their RPO fun Gadget offense was alive and well trabis fell perfectly into the classic Chicago quarterback mold one slight difference however was the Dual threat nature of his ability Tris didn't have a huge arm but he could run the ball pretty decently with the number one defense in the NFL and a decent Run game the Bears shockingly went 12-4 as perhaps the League's biggest surprise but as massive favorites over the Nick FS L Philadelphia Eagles the Bears offense struggled to convert opportunities into touchdowns and finding themselves in a win or lose field goal kick scenario with 10 seconds to go in the fourth quarter their fate was realized on a double dink the The Following season this offense was exposed for all its smoke and mirrors the previous year despite a top five defense the team was woeful on offense trabis regressed tremendously and the team missed the playoffs 2020 went just as poorly for trabis he was benched for Nick Foles and was not resigned following his fourth season just like that it was time to try again in the NFL draft with the 11th pick in the 2 21 NFL draft the my Chicago Bear select Justin Fields quarterback Ohio State unlike trabis Fields had major upside with his amazing physical potential but year one was brutal he finished the year with a 2 and8 record more interceptions than touchdowns fumbled a lot and he took a ton of sacks coach Matt naggie was fired following the season under Matt erlu 2022 was the anti- Chicago year they had the worst defense in the NFL after shipping out all their best defenders and they relied almost entirely on the legs of Justus fields to carry them overall 2022 was an embarrassment but for Fields it was kind of like watching a flawed onean show he led all quarterbacks in the NFL in rushing yards and flashed his talent constantly but as a passer he was not developing the way they had hoped but to be fair to him he was really put in a tough position to succeed three of the Justin Fields experiment could be described in one word frustration Bears fans watched him continue to make the same mistakes and weren't seeing development on his weaknesses by the end of 2023 most were out on fields if the franchise was in a bad spot at this point with draft Capital they might have ran it back one more year with Fields but the Bears had pulled off an amazing trade the previous year with the Carolina Panthers this meant that they had acquired the number one overall pick with that it was pretty clear they were going to take Caleb Williams because of this the Bears ended up trading fields to the Steelers for a sixth round pick virtually nothing is Caleb Williams going to succeed in Chicago only time will tell for Bears fans this NeverEnding search for a franchise quarterback has been agonizing 60 years of hopes and dreams constantly crushed to make matters worse just three hours north of Chicago is a little place known as Green Bay but despite its smaller stature as a city their football team has been much more successful than their southern rival for the last four decades this rivalry has been dominated by the Packers for Chicago fans Green Bay is an all too often painful reminder of the differences between the two franchises Caleb is going to be the 39th quarterback to start at least a game for the Bears since 1992 the pack in that same time span seven quarterbacks and four of them barely played as 97% of those games started in that 32-year time span were by Just Three Guys Hall of Famer Brett Favre future Hall of Famer Aaron roders and now one of the League's Rising Stars Jordan love who in his first season as Green Bay starter passed for over 30 touchdowns and over 4,000 yards the two stats no Bears quarterback to this day has ever reached now we're down to basically this game right here this is that holds a lot of cards as love on Third and one wants to go up top Looks To the End Zone the pass is on the money for the touchdown [Music]

Channel: KTO

Views: 233,679

Keywords: chicago bears, quarterbacks, history, kto, kto videos, nfl, nfl stories, football, jay cutler, justin fields

Id: kcGAjC4x7OI

Length: 27min 3sec (1623 seconds)

Published: Tue May 21 2024