I Guess We Can Relax

Bears fans can rejoice: Kyle Orton has been named the starting quarterback:

The decision was not unexpected, considering how Grossman struggled Saturday night against Seattle. Naming Orton now gives the Bears a chance to work the first-team offense well into the second half of Thursday's third exhibition against San Francisco.

Ending last season 2-1 as the starter didn't hurt Orton's cause either.

"We take a lot of things into consideration," Smith said. "But in the end, it comes down to a gut feeling you have.

Well...hmm. I don't necessarily disagree with the decision; Rex has shown occasional flashes of brilliance, surrounded by heaping gobs of incompetence.

Still...if an employee of mine admitted -- in private, let alone in public -- that he made a major personnel decision based on a gut feeling, I'd fire him on the spot. It should NOT come down to a gut feeling; it should come down to objective analysis.

But for whatever reason we commonly put former athletes in charge of sports franchises, forgetting that most athletes didn't become successful athletes by using analysis (or even by knowing how to spell it).

Criteria for Incompetence

Part of being a leader is making decisions and then sticking to them. If you waffle, nobody will listen to you and you won't be able to lead.

On the other hand, sooner or later if you've made a poor decision, you have to cop to it. You can only insist that it's a great decision for so long before you begin to look ignorant, or arrogant, or both.

At what point, then, do we start laughing at Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo as they continue to insist that either Rex Grossman or Kyle Orton will be the QB we need?

"We have no plans to change anything," coach Lovie Smith said.

The Bears committed to the ongoing competition between Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton. They have won with both players and think whoever emerged would give them a good chance to win in 2008.

I don't get it. Rex has been here for five years; Orton for three. We passed up several quarterbacks in the draft this year; has either Rex or Kyle justified that level of faith?

I understand the attitude of trying to back your guys, but this is insane. It's time for Angelo to come up to the podium and say, "You know what? It hasn't worked out. We were happy when we drafted Rex, and we saw a lot of things that made us think he would help take this offense to the next level. For whatever reason, that hasn't happened. We're not here to knock Rex; we just think it's time to move in a different direction."

See how you do that? Of course, it means taking an ego hit by admitting, however tacitly, that drafting Rex was a mistake.

Take the hit, Jerry. Because right now, you just look ridiculous.