In Kyle I Trust

I am a Chicago sports fan. With the exception of the White Sox I consider myself a fan of all the other major sports teams in the city. This includes, The Cub’s, the Bulls, the Blackhawk’s and of course the Bears. Over the last ten years or so it has not been easy being a Bears fan. Other then the 2001 aberration this team has been pretty bad. That was until this year.

This season started off with no expectations. When Rex Grossman (our perceived messiah at Quarterback) went out in pre-season with a knee injury all hope appeared to be lost. Then out of absolutely nowhere a fourth round draft pick rookie stepped up and was named the starter. With no one, including myself giving the Bears or Kyle Orton any chance they have done the unthinkable. They have reeled off eight straight wins and now find themselves 9-3 and the playoffs look like a given. No one in their right mind would have thought this was possible in September.

I admit that it is the Defense that has spurred us on to this winning streak. This is the best defensive unit I have seen sine the hey day of the 80’s Bears. They are simply dominant. They score points on their own and rarely give them up. They can sack the quarterback, stop the run and they have a ball hawking secondary. It is a thing of beauty for us football-starved fans to watch. The one negative side effect of all this is that now the expectations have risen to ridicules levels.

Now, everyone is expecting this team to go to the Super Bowl. It seems every couch potato, armchair quarterback seems to think that the only thing stopping the Bears from achieving such a lofty destination is Kyle Orton. You see, in today’s instant gratification, microwave society no wants to wait for anything. Orton while showing flashes of brilliance is more or less playing like what he is, a rookie. The fans want more out of him. They all want him to be something that frankly he isn’t yet. Given time to develop I think this kid could be something special. However, he has been put in a no-win situation.

The only way he is going to get better is by playing. The more he sees from opposing defenses the better he will become at reading them. Sure, his accuracy leaves something to be desired at times, but in a number of games when the kid needed to make a big throw he did just that. This guy has a big heart and has taken every hit and picked himself up off the ground and stood in there the next time he was needed.

So, we as Bears fans have to ask ourselves are we trying to win this year or are we trying to build something? If we pull this kid out and put in the now healthy yet very fragile Grossman I think it would be a huge mistake. All the progress this kid has made would be shot. You can’t make him guy-shy. He is going to make mistakes and we are going to have to live with them. Brett Favre in his early years made more bad throws then good ones. Yet, Mike Holmgren stuck with him and eventually he became St. Brett, and a superbowl champion. The Bears since 2001 have had nothing but a quarterback scuffle with no one ever taking the reigns and playing with any success. This kid has started all twelve games and has done enough that we have won nine of them.

With all that said I implore all impatient Bears fans to try and show this kid a little love. I understand all the suffering we have been through over the last decade and trust me I want to win more then anybody. But, I don’t want this to be another 2001. I want to build a team that is going to be good for years to come. We have not developed a quarterback since Jim McMahon. Personally, I don’t think Grossman is ever going to be healthy enough to ever fully trust. So, let’s get behind this Orton kid and realize he is a rookie and at times he will play like one. However, lets try and develop him and see what happens.