Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Chicago Bears have been bad at the quarterback position.
How bad you ask? According to ESPN’s Quarterback Index, the Bears rank dead last in terms of quarterback production in the Super Bowl era. Chicago has started 50 quarterbacks during that span, which is the most of any NFL team during that time.
Here’s one reason the Bears finished last in the rankings. There are 126 instances of a player throwing 30 touchdown passes in a season, and 186 instances of a player with 4,000 passing yards in a season in NFL history. Yet no Bears player has done either. They are the only franchise never to have a 4,000-yard passer, despite having played 100 seasons. The stat is so mind-boggling, I had to extend it beyond the Super Bowl era.
According to ESPN, the Bears’ best quarterback was Jim McMahon, the only Bears quarterback to win a Super Bowl. Ultimately, it was McMahon’s injury struggles that were his downfall.
As for Chicago’s worst quarterback — and there are plenty to choose from — Cade McNown took the honors. McNown won just 3 of 15 starts with the Bears.
ESPN broke down their rankings by category — overall QB production, Pro-Bowl caliber seasons, QB continuity and overall. You won’t be shocked to know that Chicago ranked in the bottom two of all of those.
- Overall QB production – 32nd
- Pro-Bowl caliber seasons – 32nd
- QB continuity – 31st
- Overall – 32nd
With former No. 2 overall pick Mitchell Trubisky’s struggles and the free-agent addition of Nick Foles, the Bears still find themselves floundering at QB. Whether that will change any time soon remains to be seen.
