It is commonly known that the Chicago Bears have never had a stellar quarterback room. The Bears all-time leading passer, Jay Cutler, threw less yards for the Bears than Patrick Mahomes already has in the NFL. That’s only counting Mahomes regular season yards, when you come to think of it, this is quite sad. In fact, the Bears single game passing leader is Bill Wade, which may leave many NFL fans asking, “who”? Some would say that the Bears have never had a real franchise quarterback, but a select few have been serviceable. This list will run down the minute amount of standouts that we have seen along the years.
Jay Cutler
Many Bears fans believe that Jay Cutler is the most successful Bears quarterback to date, which I certainly don’t disagree with. I mean, Jim McMahon won a Super Bowl, but he certainly wasn’t good by any stretch of the imagination. Over his 8 year career with the Bears, Cutler racked up 23,443 yards with 154 touchdowns and 109 interceptions. Throughout these 8 years, Cutler maintained a passer rating of 85.2, which isn’t necessarily bad by any means. Cutler’s touchdown to interception rate was also above average but nothing special. There seems to be a common theme about these Bears quarterbacks, that they carry a certain level of mediocrity with them. However, there isn’t much to compare him to when it comes to the Bears; as the rest on this list were also subpar.
Sid Luckman
The oldest on this list by a far stretch, Sid Luckman was one of the pioneer quarterbacks of the NFL. At the time that Luckman played, stats were much harder to come by. Passing wasn’t a huge part of offensive game plans, meaning that it’s hard to figure out how good he really was compared to others. However, we can all agree to put Luckman on this list based solely off of his accolades for the Bears. Luckman was a 5 time all-pro, 4 time pro-bowler, and managed to win 4 championships before the pre-bowl era. Obviously it was easier to win NFL championships at this time due to the number of teams. This is often the same treatment that the Boston Celtics receive about their NBA rings. All that really matters though, is that Luckman was able to win something for Chicago. This is something that many Chicago quarterbacks can’t say, except for the likes of Jim McMahon, who was also a below average quarterback. Something quite interesting about Luckman is that he also punted for over 8,800 yards. That’s something quite niche that many Bears fans may not know about, but Luckman was technically a multi-tool player.
Erik Kramer
Despite playing in the 90’s, many reading this will not know who Erik Kramer was. Kramer had a decently short stint with the Bears from 1994-98, in which he played the best football of his career. Most notably in 1995, by some beliefs the best season ever by a Chicago Bears quarterback. In the 1995 season, Kramer put up 3,838 yards and passing 29 touchdowns, 30 total with his one goal line plunge. Surprisingly, this is the most passing yards and touchdowns a Bear has ever put up in a season, both franchise records. Kind of shocking, as to many other franchises, those seem like nothing but baby numbers. However, with only 10 interceptions, a near 3/1 touchdown ratio bolsters this season up higher as the best ever by a Bear. He had one more 3,000 yard season, but nothing really else to show for it.
Conclusion
When all is said and done, the Bears really are lackluster when it comes to talent in the field general position. Never having a 30 touchdown or 4 thousand yard season, which nearly every other franchise has accomplished. For the allotted time that they have been in the league, this continues to bring sorrow to Bears fans year after year. Hoping one day a golden boy will step in to save this franchise. There’s still hope that Justin Fields can be that guy, and with time we can only hope to make the best of it.
Jim McMahon not being on this list is a catastrophe.