The battle for the starting quarterback spot between Kyle Orton and Rex Grossman began when the two entered the off season training program, splitting reps with the first team offense. During OTAs and training camp they used a coin flip to determine who was first to work with the starters. Both were decent but far from spectacular in training camp. Their performances were comparable in the first preseason game against Kansas City and then the offense could not do a thing against the blitz happy Seahawks. And with that game Orton apparently won the job or Grossman lost it, for now. Orton won the competition without directing the offense to a touchdown or completing a pass of more than 17 yards. The five preseason possessions where he lead the team, resulted in two field goals and three punts. Head coach Lovie Smith hinted that this is just the beginning to another excruciatingly long season for Bears fans:
Orton has a 12-6 record as a starter,with 10 of those wins coming in his surprising rookie campaign in 2005, where he lead the Bears to a 10-5 record. Last year he led the team to a 2-1 record in the final three games, with the two wins coming over the Packers and the Saints. Yet I think Orton should hold back on some of that excitement, after all he is on the team that has had 33 starting quarterbacks in the last 8 and a half seasons.
"Is it over? .... Nothing is ever over with any position. We don’tDid he really just compare Orton to Kreutz and Lance Briggs? When asked how he felt about being named the starter, Kyle answered:
name any guys starters for a lifetime or anything like that. But we feel real
good about Kyle just like we feel good about Olin Kreutz being our center, Lance
Briggs being our will linebacker."
"I’m real excited....This is obviously one of my goals going into
the season. As a team, we’ve got a lot of goals to accomplish and this is just
the start of it....It’s a relief and now it’s just all about the unit and
knowing what everybody’s going to do and just kind of tailoring things to the
way that we like it."
Orton has a 12-6 record as a starter,with 10 of those wins coming in his surprising rookie campaign in 2005, where he lead the Bears to a 10-5 record. Last year he led the team to a 2-1 record in the final three games, with the two wins coming over the Packers and the Saints. Yet I think Orton should hold back on some of that excitement, after all he is on the team that has had 33 starting quarterbacks in the last 8 and a half seasons.
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