Most Successful Chicago Bears QBs Share Something In Common
By Erik Lambert
Based on stats one would say Jay Cutler is the most successful quarterback in Chicago Bears history. Of course that is not the way of the NFL.
Everybody knows the measuring stick of a QB is winning championships. Cutler does not have one. Besides that he wasn’t drafted by the Bears. No the history of this team, at least its brightest spots were forged by men selected and groomed by the franchise straight out of college. If really pressed for answer, who would the most successful quarterbacks in team history be?
The easiest answer is Jim McMahon and Sid Luckman. McMahon is the most recent of the two. He became a star at BYU, was drafted 5th overall in 1982 and led the Bears to a monstrous Super Bowl beat down of New England in Super Bowl XX. Luckman was the #2 pick out of Columbia in 1939. He led Chicago to four championships in the 1940s and became the teams’ only Hall of Fame quarterback to date.
It’s been a long time since the Bears have enjoyed the same level of success those two brought. People have pondered for years on what must be done to get it back. Many different methods have been tried. None have found the right formula. That was why the trade for Cutler occurred. However, there is one area of outside exploration not considered. Where those quarterbacks came from. Many fans and people may not know this, but it turns out Luckman and McMahon were born in almost the exact same area.
Luckman came out of Brooklyn, New York. McMahon arrived from Jersey City, New Jersey. That is a distance of just 42 miles apart.
They also both graduated from notoriously tough academic colleges. Luckman came from Columbia (ranked 5th among national universities) and McMahon came from BYU (68th).
These are two men who came from the east coast and were well-educated. In the absence of being able to scout quarterbacks properly, maybe the Bears should lean on history. Pay close attention to QBs coming from out east and pay close attention to their academic scores. This of course sounds silly but given the recent history Chicago has at the position, what’s the harm in giving this a shot?