Beware, Orton is on the move.

NFL: Issues abound among NFC division leaders

Quote:

---

In 55 games over the past five postseasons, a team won by scoring fewer than 20 points only four times.

That brings us to the increasingly ineffective Orton. His passer rating in three of the past five games has been 43.3, 42.8 and, in Sunday's win over the Green Bay Packers, a mere 23.7. Not surprisingly, his season rating of 60.2 ranks last in the league -- yes, behind even the Lions' Joey Harrington (66.5) and the Saints' Aaron Brooks (69.0).

---

POSTED 4:20 p.m. EST, December 9, 2005
BEARS WANT REX
pft.com

A league source tells us that multiple players on the Chicago Bears roster actively are pushing for the return of quarterback Rex Grossman to the starting lineup, now that he is healthy.

He looks better, we're told, in practice than current starter Kyle Orton, who was a dismal 6-for-17 a week ago, for only 68 yards.

For our perspective, it's hard not to think that there's an implicit punitive aspect to Grossman's current status, since significant injuries suffered by Grossman in each of the past two years led to a mountain of criticism of the team and G.M. Jerry Angelo regarding the absence of a meaningful backup plan.

Regardless of the reason for the reluctance to return Rex to his gig, we think it's a mistake for the Bears not to give him a shot. It would be different if Orton were having an MVP season, or even if his passer rating wasn't 32nd in the league. Though we don't think that a guy should always keep his starting job after suffering an injury, we'd like to think that, say, a rating of below 61 is enough to warrant a hook, especially when the player who entered camp as the starter is ready to go.

Besides, getting Grossman onto the field now gives him four full games to get ready for the postseason. We can't imagine Grossman playing any worse than Orton, and if Grossman can ignite the passing game, the Bears could be ready by February to pose a seriously challenge to the Colts or the Bengals or whoever comes out of the AFC field.

Grossman is the far better QB of the two. I hope they stick with Orton because I feel we have a much better chance to win with Orton throwing picks and fumbling the ball.

Grossman's Career Stats:
In 6 games over 2 years he is 85/156 for 1044 yards, 3 TDs and 4 INTs. That gives him a passer rating of 71.1. He's also run 14 times for 47, 1 TD. He's fumbled twice, but both were recovered by his team.
Interesting note: his first appearance came in week 15 of 2003, against the Vikings in Chicago. They beat us that day, 13-10. His last appearance was in week 3 of 2004, against the Vikings in Minnesota. We beat them that day, 27-22.

Orton's career stats:
In 12 games this year, Orton is 165/309 for 1591 yards, 9 TDs and 13 INTs. That gives him a passer rating of 60.2. He's also run 20 times for 34 yards, and fumbled 5 times (losing two of them).

So, Grossman's completion % is only one point higher than Ortons. His YPC is about 1.5 yards better, but their TD to INT ratio is almost identical. Plus, Grossman hasn't played in a regular season game since 9/26/04. I know Orton hasn't been the best QB, and there's good reasons to look at other options. However, there are a lot of Bears fans that are sure that Grossman is the answer when there seems to be just as many questions about him as there are Orton. Should be interesting to see this play out.

neither of the two are that good... Orton has the worst pass rating the the league. grossman's only good game was a few years back when he had a great first half, and got injured 2nd half...

beware, orton loses.

LOL in 2 years he only has 3 TDs passing and 1 rushing?! Now that's funny

Who cares who they have at quarterback?

They've got a defence as good as the 85 Bears remember?

:pukeright:

Just kidding. The Bears offence is so terrible and even though their defence is pretty good, they've played nobodies and don't stand a chance if they make the playoffs.