ORTON GETS THE JOB
I was going to title the post ‘Orton Wins the Job’ but then that wouldn’t be quite accurate, would it? He didn’t win anything.
Consider this: “Orton won the competition without directing the offense to a touchdown or completing a pass of more than 17 yards. His five preseason possessions resulted in two field goals and three punts.”
Lovie said this: “To come to a decision like that, we’ve taken a lot of things into consideration—last year, how we finished the season, OTAs, training camp, preseason games,” Smith said. “In the end it comes down to a gut feeling that you have, and I feel good about Kyle leading our team.”
That gut feeling didn’t start a few days ago. It was last year.
Orton runs slower than erosion. His mobility is on par with glacial speed. Nothing in his career to date stands out. I don’t particularly care for his deep throws. He’ll be behind a bum line, with a mish-mash group of receivers, a rookie running back and no one that defensive coordinators fear–not even Hester.
But so many years ago, I broke into a steady, loud clap when the Bears selected him from Purdue. That year he had 31 TDs against just 5 picks and he seemed super-cool in the pocket. He deserves his chance.
Here’s hoping Ron Turner and co. design some roll-outs and move the pocket for him. Otherwise we’ll be seeing Grossman in no time. The Bears will hope that Orton ‘manages’ the game–I hate that term–and Forte becomes a star. Add to that excellent defense and special teams and that’s your Bears 2008 formula.
Will it work? I’m tempted to say get ready for a lot of 13-28s with 129 yards passing. But we’ll give it a look.
