With his start Sunday in Green Bay against the Packers, quarterback Cade McNown appears to have his best chance yet to stop being the future of the franchise and become its present.
Last Sunday, McNown completed 22 of 38 passes for three touchdowns in the second half against the Washington Redskins, and also ran in a two-point conversion. More important than the numbers, he showed the Bears’ decision-makers several things they wanted to see. In the process, McNown stands perhaps two good quarters of football away from the No. 1 quarterback spot.
Coaches wanted to see McNown truly run the offense, establish a rhythm and get the players into it with him. They wanted him to demonstrate a control of himself and the ball. To their thinking, he did all of that.
“I was happy with the way he played in the second half,” said offensive coordinator Gary Crowton. “He made some big plays, was in control, had a little more rhythm and all those kind of things. So everybody around him started to function well. When he’s in control and he’s in rhythm, everybody else gets a rhythm. That’s the nature of the quarterback.”
It’s immaterial that there was some public debate over the validity of McNown’s second-half production. Many pointed out that the game was virtually decided and the Redskins seldom blitzed, indeed spending much of the half using three pass-rushers.
There is little debate in the only place it matters–the Bears’ coaching staff. The Bears believe McNown played his best second half. Now, if he adds a first half to that and shows that Washington was indeed a preview . . .
“I’m anxious to see an early part of the game,” Crowton said, not with skepticism but rather with anticipation. “That was a late part of the game. Let’s see how he does in an early part of the game. I felt he made great strides in the later part of that game. Now he’s going to get in the early part of the game, and we’ll see how he does.”
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McNown’s performance contrasts with one of the worst for Shane Matthews. Matthews moved the Bears reasonably well the first time they had the ball, but then threw his worst pass of the year, one that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Matthews directed drives of minus-15, 16, minus-15, 27 and nine yards before he was injured just before halftime.
The offense performed well under Matthews in Minnesota before his hamstring pull. But the Bears were shut out for the first 58 minutes with Matthews against New Orleans.
McNown struggled against Philadelphia and stumbled in Tampa. But in Washington, he and his offensive line appeared to mesh for the first time. McNown began to have a sense of the pocket, and his blockers began to have a sense of him.
“You get used to holding your blocks for a certain amount of time, and now you’ve got to hold them a little longer,” said guard Chris Villarrial. “Cade’s a great athlete, he likes to scramble. But we’ve never really had a scrambling quarterback, and that’s something we’ve got to get used to.”
Former Bears defensive tackle Steve McMichael once observed that with his own lack of speed and a certain rival’s abundance of it, “If he’s even, he’s leavin’.” The same could be said about McNown, with his upside, and Matthews’. If McNown draws even with Matthews, Mc-Michael’s theorem may apply.
“The more Cade gets practice, the more prepared he’s going to get,” Crowton said. “What we need to do is make sure we go with whoever gives us the best chance to win.”