Rick Mirer, who probably didn’t realize he was this terrific until the Bears told him so, could join them officially Friday, the most important moment in franchise history until their next quarterback crisis.
Which could occur quickly if he bombs, in which case Mirer will be remembered as the St. Valentine’s Day Mannequin.
Yet another possible scenario finds the Bears ready, willing and able to give Mirer the ball, only to discover he has fled to the San Francisco 49ers, a team that has this annoying knack of getting what it wants.
More than ever on this day, life is like a box of chocolates for the Bears.
“There’s a risk-reward situation whenever you attempt to do something like this,” coach Dave Wannstedt says. “But in Mirer’s case, the chance of reward is far greater than the risk. Look at his first two seasons. His numbers were better than Aikman, Bledsoe, Favre. . . .”
Here we go again. Rick Mirer is the best quarterback the Bears never had, and if you don’t believe it, you don’t even have to ask them. They volunteer the notion, and a strange way that is to negotiate for a lad whose risk-reward ratio last season in Seattle was 12 interceptions for every five touchdowns.
Usually it’s the athlete trying to sell himself to the team. Mirer has done some of that, fantasizing aloud about how wonderful it would be as the last piece to the championship puzzle in a city so steeped in football lore.
But whenever he pauses for air, the Bears finish his sentence. Rarely have they fawned over such an expensive experiment, and it’s not like this is uncharted territory. Mirer stands to be the Bears’ third gunslinger of the future in Wannstedt’s brief tenure.
This is called rebuilding the five-year rebuilding plan.
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Conventional wisdom is that, no matter who leads the Bears to war next September–Mirer, Jeff George, Elvis Grbac, Erik Kramer, Philander Rodman–Wannstedt’s job is on the line.
There are two problems with that theory. The only people applying the pressure are those of us in the hard-working press. Also, Wannstedt holds in his grubby little hands a deal until 2000. We can’t remember the last time Michael McCaskey took marching orders from the media or the last time he ate a contract of that size.
“This has nothing to do with me,” Wannstedt says. “It’s about getting us where we want to go, the Super Bowl, with a significant addition at the most important position.
“The line is fine between winning and losing. A couple plays here, a couple plays there. Look around the NFL and see who are the guys making those plays. The most highly skilled quarterbacks. Besides, what’s our alternative?”
One suggestion would be to draft a hotshot prospect and bring back Dave Krieg to support Kramer, who, when healthy, did everything the Bears wanted him to do but were afraid to ask of Jim Harbaugh, who preceded Steve Walsh.
Kramer is a solid guy, he knows the offense, and he already has a TV show. Put that No. 11 choice to another use. It’s not like the Bears have only one vacancy. There’s room at the inn for more help.
“That’s the key phrase, when healthy,” Wannstedt says. “If Erik didn’t go down with that injury last year, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing. But he’s 32. Mirer is 25. Risk-reward. This would be a huge, bold step for us.”
This also feels like the good old days. The Bears create more excitement when they aren’t playing than when they are.