Half of the NFL’s starting quarterbacks are playing for their first team. The other half are on at least their second team.
“The way the league’s going, quarterbacks are almost like kickers, where they almost have to fail at a couple of places and then they find themselves,” Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said.
Does that mean the Bears, who didn’t chase Drew Bledsoe, will take a hard look at possibly available quarterbacks from other teams such as Kordell Stewart, Jake Plummer, Mike McMahon, Kelly Holcomb and Doug Johnson?
Examine the two halves. Here are the home-grown starters, drafted and developed by their original teams:
Tom Brady, Joey Harrington, Daunte Culpepper, Peyton Manning, Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, Drew Brees, David Carr, Steve McNair, Plummer, Chad Pennington, Brian Griese, Jeff Garcia, Tim Couch, Chad Hutchinson and Chris Weinke (unless retread Rodney Peete returns).
Here’s the other group, all signed or obtained through trade by other teams after failing to stick for various reasons at former destinations:
More Top Picks Irlen Syndrome And Adhd How The Symptoms Overlap
Chris Chandler (or Jim Miller), Trent Green, Jon Kitna, Jeff Blake, Aaron Brooks, Brett Favre, Kerry Collins, Tommy Maddox, Marc Bulger, Matt Hasselbeck, Mark Brunell, Ray Lucas, Rich Gannon, Shane Matthews, Drew Bledsoe, Brad Johnson, Peete (if healthy).
Into which pool would you rather dive? Which group as a whole gives you the best chance of succeeding? Isn’t Favre the glaring exception rather than the rule? Three of those second-career starters–Brunell, Hasselbeck and Brooks–were traded by Green Bay simply because Favre was already there.
Bledsoe is having a wonderful second career in Buffalo, but he led his original team, New England, to a Super Bowl.
Angelo comes from Tampa Bay, where the Bucs had first-round picks Vinny Testaverde and Trent Dilfer and watched both enjoy more success elsewhere. He arrived in Chicago, where he saw first-rounder Cade McNown fail.
With Miller and Chandler on board, the pattern is set for Angelo to follow the blueprint of former Bears general manager Jim Finks. Although Finks was a Hall of Fame executive, his track record with quarterbacks was checkered. A former quarterback himself, Finks maintained quarterbacks came “from all walks of life.” His strategy was to assemble a solid team, then plug in what Angelo refers to as a “managed” quarterback.
Finks followed the strategy in Minnesota and later in New Orleans. In Chicago he tried it with late-round picks Bob Avellini and Vince Evans. He traded for Mike Phipps. Not until he drafted Jim McMahon in the first round did any of his teams win a Super Bowl.
Bleak and blue: The NFC North is the worst division, which is the best news for the AFC East, especially the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. It’s both good and bad news for the Green Bay Packers, the only NFC North team with a winning record.
Starting Sunday against the Bears, the 4-4 Patriots have a chance to jump back into the thick of the playoff race because three of their next four games are against the lowly NFC North. They’re home to 2-6 Minnesota on Nov. 24 and go to 3-5 Detroit for Thanksgiving.
The Bears, Vikings and Lions have yet to beat a team from the AFC East this year, standing 0-5 collectively.
That means contending AFC East teams New England, Miami and Buffalo have a distinct advantage on AFC West teams Denver, San Diego, Kansas City and Oakland in the wild-card race. The AFC West must play the NFC West, where San Francisco, Arizona and St. Louis have offered more resistance than the Bears, Vikings and Lions.
The weakness of the NFC North is good news for the 7-1 Packers. They have compiled the best record in the league with only two of their wins coming against their poor sisters in the division. Over the next five weeks, they meet Detroit, Minnesota twice and the Bears.
Here’s how bad the Bears, Vikings and Lions have been. Of their collective seven wins, four have come against each other.
This also means the Packers must be careful of salivating too much. While they could coast to home-field advantage, their record would be misleading, padded against three of the 12 teams with the worst records in the league.
Packers safety Darren Sharper sounded a note of caution after his 89-yard interception return sealed their win over Miami.
“You know when I’ll have a feeling we’re a Super Bowl team?” Sharper said. “When I’m holding up that [Lombardi] trophy. I want us to be hitting on all cylinders in January. I’ve seen too many times where the team that’s expected to win doesn’t win. I want us to always feel we’re the underdog and have something to prove.”
Maybe not: The Patriots need the NFC North to aid their uphill fight. As one of eight 4-4 teams, they have less than half a chance to make the playoffs. During the last four seasons, 22 teams started 4-4. Only eight (36 percent) made the playoffs.
Something different: In Sunday’s Canadian Football League semifinal between the Toronto Argonauts and the Saskatchewan Roughriders, two African-American coaches face each other: Michael Clemons of the Argos and Danny Barrett of the Roughriders. “It’s a historic moment,” Barrett said.
Old acquaintances: Three QBs face former employers: Baltimore’s Jeff Blake against Cincinnati; Miami’s Ray Lucas against the Jets; and Pittsburgh’s Tommy Maddox against Atlanta.
Maddox has the best story. Drafted by Dan Reeves 10 years ago to be John Elway’s successor in Denver, Maddox followed Reeves to the Giants and the Falcons before the two parted ways five years ago under the mutual pressure of being teacher and pet.
After selling insurance and making a comeback through the XFL, Maddox remains Reeves’ guy.
“No one’s happier than I am for Tommy,” Reeves said.