Other fans around the league are probably saying Chicago is overselling this quarterback problem. More likely we’ve just been using that as a crutch for not being able to build good enough teams for long stretches during the Super Bowl era. They don’t understand. How could they? They’re like the ignorant citizens reading about a far off conflict elsewhere. Chicago has been a city full of war journalists, forced to witness the carnage first-hand.
How can one possibly explain it? It would take hours upon hours to assemble enough video evidence to get the message across. Then again football enthusiasts love their numbers. What better way to illustrate Bears quarterback ineptitude than by showing it in their stat lines from every playoff defeat the team has suffered since the league merged in 1970.
1977 Divisional Round
- Bob Avellini – 177 yards, 1 TD, 4 INTs, 55.3 rating
1979 Wild Card
- Mike Phipps – 142 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs, 30.1 rating
1984 Conference Championship
- Steve Fuller – 87 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT, 48.9 rating
1986 Divisional Round
- Doug Flutie – 134 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, 33.5 rating
1987 Divisional Round
- Jim McMahon – 197 yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs, 45.4 rating
1988 Conference Championship
- Jim McMahon – 121 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT, 45.3 rating
- Mike Tomczak – 55 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 62.8 rating
1990 Divisional Round
- Mike Tomczak – 205 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs, 42.0 rating
1991 Wild Card
- Jim Harbaugh – 218 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, 53.0 rating
1994 Divisional Round
- Erik Kramer – 161 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs, 94.5 rating
- Steve Walsh – 78 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs, 23.5 rating
2001 Divisional Round
- Jim Miller – 23 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT, 31.7 rating
- Shane Matthews – 66 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT, 17.9 rating
2005 Divisional Round
- Rex Grossman – 192 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 54.1 rating
2006 Super Bowl XLI
- Rex Grossman – 165 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, 68.3 rating
2010 Conference Championship
- Jay Cutler – 80 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT, 31.8 rating
- Todd Collins – 0 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 39.6 rating
- Caleb Hanie – 153 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, 65.2 rating
Sensing the pattern yet? Sure it wasn’t always just the fault of the quarterback that the Bears lost some of those games, but it was always a major contributing factor. The average passer rating for all Bears quarterbacks throughout their 13 playoff defeats in the Super Bowl era is a cringe-worthy 64.8. Keeping in mind the going number for average passers is in the low-to-mid 80s. That’s not good at all.
For those who believe that the 1985 Bears championship run was all about the defense and Walter Payton, they’d be wrong. Look back at the three games Jim McMahon had during that stretch. He produced passer ratings of 120.3, 96.1 and 104.2 respectively for an average of 106.8. That would be considered above average these days.
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In fact, the average passer rating for all Bears playoff victories in the Super Bowl era is 97.6.
Make no mistake. People can talk about defense and running the ball being enough but if it’s about winning championships there is no getting around reality. This organization will continue to win nothing until they solve the quarterback position. They don’t just need good play. They need consistent good play. That’s been the deeper part of the issue. One week they can get a great performance, and an utter manure show the next.
Winning a Super Bowl may be a team effort but at the end of the day it’s most often the team that has the better (or at least hotter) quarterback. This is a hard lesson they’re still trying to learn. Perhaps this is the year they start studying harder.
