(Photo: ESPN.com)

Prior to the season, I was one of those Bears fans that was
happy Kyle Orton chose "heads" in the pre-season coin toss to become the Bears'
starter. At this point, the Orton-backers look right. However, I can say that I
was dead wrong in how I wanted Kyle
Orton to be the starter: I supported the proverbial "maintenance quarterback"
mentality. I told people that Orton will not make mistakes - he will keep them
in the game. I told anyone who would listen that Rex Grossman was a loose
cannon, despite is calm demeanor, who made up for his lack of size and patience
with desperate - and most often - disastrous downfield heaves. Yes, I said,
Kyle Orton can keep this team in games and give the Bears a chance to win every
week. 

Now, after three consecutive stellar performances capped off
by a masterful performance in a 48-41 victory against the Vikings on Sunday, we
have realized that, yes, Virginia (McCaskey), there is a Bears quarterback that
can win games too. 

This newfound confidence in Orton was evident in the third
quarter following the Bears third interception of the afternoon on a seemingly "ho-hum"
play. With 6:45 left in the quarter, Orton wound up and struck Greg Olsen with
a pass over the middle. Now, this seems rather insignificant - it was only a
12-yard gain and two plays later Orton fumbled the ball away - but it painted a
striking contrast between the Bears offense we grew to tolerate and the Bears
offense we are beginning to love. If you have watched this team at all, you
know that following the interception, the Bears would have been resigned to
dish Minnesota a healthy helping of Matt Forte, pounding the defensive line,
squeezing the clock for all the seconds it was worth. Orton would have gone
into that "maintenance mode" where we would praise him for not screwing up. Maybe
it would have worked, but that's not the issue. Orton is no longer the
maintainer; Orton is the accelerator.

With that, the way teams approach the Chicago Bears has
changed. A confidence in Kyle Orton has a trickle-down effect. Notice how
Minnesota avoided kicking to the Bears' returners during the game. This was
always due to the fact that those returners, most notably Devin Hester, was the
greatest offense threat the Bears could brandish. Now that defenses are having a
hard time stopping the Orton-Forte-And-Whoever-Feels-Like-Catching-a-Pass-Today
trifecta, teams may start kicking more directly to Hester and it seems only a
matter of probably that he will rip one off to dazzle us once again. This team -
like any good team - works well when each part is helping the other phases of
the game. How refreshing is it to watch a Bears team with a legitimate
quarterback?  

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Jeremy Shermak
Jeremy Shermak has been a Chicago sports fan since Harry announced for the Sox, Wrigley bleacher tickets were $5 bucks, Soldier Field had Astroturf, the Bulls wore short-shorts, and people really care More