QB, or not QB?
The Bears Quarterback Hall of Lame: a sad history of concussions, sprained limbs, and getting barred from the Playboy Mansion
By Jeff Ruby
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| Before | Result | After |
| Jim Harbaugh (1992-93) | ||
| "I think I am one of the best now at the quarterback position," he boasted before the 1992 season. " . . . I think I am good enough to take this team to a Super Bowl." | Harbaugh led the Bears to last place, got Mike Ditka fired, and effectively ended an era. | "When the player knows more than the coach, you have a problem," Ditka said after Harbaugh called an errant audible. "I'm not going to put 47 guys' careers in the hands of somebody who thinks he knows more than I know." |
| Steve Stenstrom (1995-98) | ||
| "Steve's mechanics are right on the line with Joe [Montana]," gushed Stenstrom's coach at Stanford, the three-time Super Bowl champ Bill Walsh. "So when you watch him, you'll notice that." | On his first play from scrimmage in 1996, Stenstrom broke his ankle. He eventually lost his job to a washed-up Dave Krieg, who was 38 and on his fourth team in four years. | "There is a new verb in the language," Bernie Lincicome wrote in the Chicago Tribune: "It is ‘to Stenstrom.' It means to delay making a decision until the world ends, or you are sacked, fumble or throw an interception." |
| Rick Mirer (1997) | ||
| "He's got to know his teammates, coaches, and fans have confidence in him," said head coach Dave Wannstedt before the 1997 season. | Threw zero touchdowns in his first six games and lost all six games. Fans booed him mercilessly; Wannstedt benched him, and he was cut before the 1998 season. | Lincicome: "Mirer is to quarterbacking what nose hair is to coleslaw." |
| Moses Moreno (1998) | ||
| "Moses-I just have the feeling watching him-is a guy who makes things happen," said Wannstedt before the 1998 season. | In his first start, Moreno sprained his ankle and ended up on crutches. | "When he sets to throw, he has a peculiar habit of dropping his right shoulder," Skip Bayless wrote in the Tribune. "It's as if he's throwing straight up out of a foxhole." |
| Cade McNown (1999-2000) | ||
| "The good thing about Cade is that he has no vices," said Gary Crowton, the Bears' offensive coordinator. | Before his Bears tenure was over, McNown had alienated his teammates by not preparing for games, blown off a charity event, and gotten himself barred from the Playboy Mansion. | The Springfield State Journal-Register referred to him as "one of the biggest failures and most despised sports figures in recent Chicago history." |
| Chris Chandler (2002-03) | ||
| Bears GM Jerry Angelo said that Chandler-so prone to concussions he had earned the nickname "Crystal Chandelier"-would remain healthy due to the Bears' quick passing attack. | Chandler got knocked out of four of his first seven Bears games. | "He could be brain-dead," remarked Glen Kozlowski, a former Bear. "Honestly, [he] could be scrambled for life." |
| Henry Burris (2002) | ||
| "Whatever the situation is, I'm ready to step in and do my job," Burris said during his first year with the Bears. | The former Saskatchewan Roughriders standout was given a chance during the final game of the season. He went 7 for 19 with 78 yards and four interceptions. | "I can do this," he said afterwards. "I know I can." |
This article appears in the December 2005 issue of Chicago Magazine.
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