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).