Few people are more familiar with the Chicago Bears‘ murky legacy with quarterbacks than Brian Urlacher. He played with so many different ones during his Hall of Fame career. Since retiring in 2013, he has watched several more take up the mantle. Given his knowledge of the game, one would think the linebacker has an educated opinion on who deserves the title of best Bears quarterback since the start of the new millennium. Urlacher certainly has some interesting options.
The most obvious at first glance is Jay Cutler. He has the last playoff victory the Bears hold to date, defeating the Seattle Seahawks in 2010. He also holds every meaningful franchise passing record. If not him, another possibility is Mitch Trubisky. He made a Pro Bowl and won a division title in 2018. Justin Fields set rushing records in his brief time with the organization. Hell, he could make a case for Rex Grossman, who actually got the franchise to a Super Bowl, which those others did not.
His choice was quite a stunner.
Brian Urlacher remains steadfast in his defense of Kyle Orton.
He stated it clearly. Forget the numbers. He’s all about wins and leadership. Orton was an on-and-off starter for the Bears between 2005 and 2008. In that time, he went 21-12 and got them to the playoffs once. Unfortunately, the former 4th round pick had a low ceiling as a passer. His completion percentage was always low, and he didn’t offer much explosiveness in the passing game. He was best managing games through a strong rushing attack, which served that team well enough in the mid-to-late 2000s. Brian Urlacher still believes the Bears would’ve contended for another Super Bowl if they’d kept Orton. Trading for Cutler was unnecessary and hurt team chemistry more than anything.
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This choice is easy to debate, but Urlacher is entitled to his opinion. If nothing else, he is correct on one count. Orton remains underappreciated to this day.