To say that the Bears start to the 2007 season is a disappointment is a huge understatement.  Some where George Wendt is drowning is sorrows in his 18th beer after today's loss to the Vikings.  The easy culprit at the beginning of the season was Rex Grossman who clearly has more guts sometimes than brains.  Rex seems to have all of the natural gifts to be a quality NFL QB but just makes inexplicable decisions that leave Bears fans choking on their deep dish pizza.  Lovie Smith finally did the right thing and turned the reins over to 10 year veteran Brian Griese.  Griese is not going to be mistaken for another Michigan Quarterback that is busy writing his resume for a hall of fame career, but he has the experience and is efficient in the passing game.  The two games since the disaster in Detroit, Griese has been good, if not great, and the offense is playing well enough for the Bears to win. 

However, 3 out of the last 4 games the defense has given up 34+ points in each game and has lost the ability to stop the run that they displayed so impressively in their first two games.  The Bears just spent this past Sunday handing Adrian Peterson the Rookie of the Year award by allowing him to run all over and around them for over 200 yards (2 runs of better than 65 yards).  An obvious problem to point to is their injuries and the Bears have had their share.  If you throw in the loss of Tank Johnson before the season began it is easy to point to the fact that the Bears are playing a bit undermanned.  However, after watching the Cowboys pick them apart, the Packers run on them and now the Vikings it becomes evident that the bears frequently look out of position and, frankly, they look slow.  The first signs of these problems were seen last year when they had trouble stopping the run and it was blamed on the absence of some key defensive linemen.  That fact aside, what did the organization do to fill those holes (even though the Tank came back, they knew he had a suspension coming at the start of the season)?  What has the coaching staff done to make adjustments?  Injuries are part of the game and the Bears are quickly taking themselves out of the playoff race because they cannot stop anyone with any consistency.

The Bears just gave up 34 points to a team that has scored 17, 10 and 16 points in its previous 3 games and this frustrated, but loyal, Bears fan wants to know why and when are we going to see the 2007 version of the Monsters of the Midway?

Bear down!

When examining the quarterback situation for any team in the NFL several things need to be considered. First, and most obvious, you look at how good the starting quarterback is. A team with an all-pro quarterback has a serious advantage. However, this is the NFL and, to borrow a phrase from Jerry Glanville, that can stand for Not For Long for many QBs. So, that takes us to the second criteria for a team with the best quarterback situation and that is the team's depth. Just like the Vice President of the U.S. is one heartbeat away from the Presidency, a backup quarterback is only one injury away from taking over the team for the rest of the season. So, it is important to note if a team is one play away from losing their whole season (see: AZ Cardinals). Finally, how dependent is a team on their quarterback to win games for them? In other words, does the team depend on their quarterback to run the offense and consistently make great plays to give them the chance to win or is the QB a caretaker that just needs to manage the offense and not make any mistakes that give away the game (I.e. Baltimore Ravens). So, with this all being said, which team has the worst QB troubles? Read on . . .

Green Bay, Indianapolis and New England all have All-Pro quarterbacks and all 3 rely heavily on their QBs to win games for them. These teams also have no proven backups for their star QBs and are one serious injury away from their offense becoming very ordinary. That having been said, these 3 quarterbacks never get hurt so all 3 ballclubs can rest easy knowing their guys are going to start the next game, and the next and the next . . .

Another category of teams is those who have a high quality starter who will win games for them, but don't rely on him to do so. Basically, if the quarterback doesn't throw interceptions, completes the passes he should and let's the running game work, the team is confident their defense will deliver the win. Best example of such a team would be the Steelers. Big Ben is a good QB but he does not have to win every game for his team even though he is a significant contributor to their offense. Other teams that fall in this category are San Diego, Kansas City (when LJ hits his stride) and the NY (football) Giants. None of these teams rely on their quarterback to win every game for them even if sometimes that is exactly what they will do.

Then there are the teams who do not have any current All-Pro quarterbacks on their roster but they have decent quarterbacks with quality back-ups. Teams that fall into this category would be ones like the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders can start either McCown or Culpepper and feel confident that their offense is in good hands. If both of these quarterbacks go down they still have their first-round draft pick, Jamarcus Russell. Other teams would be the Arizona Cardinals, the Falcons and Carolina Panthers. Not that these teams have an embarrassment of riches at QB, but they don't suffer a significant drop off in talent when their backups come into the game.

Other teams have good, even great, starting quarterbacks with no one to back them up; and those starters are fragile. Cincinnati is a perfect example of this. Carson Palmer is an All-Pro quality QB that is the key to the Bengals success on offense. However, he has suffered injuries in his career and who do they have backing him up? Ryan Fitzpatrick from Harvard or a rookie, Jeff Rowe from Nevada. Let's just say that the Bengals cannot afford to have Palmer injured. The Cowboys only carry two QBs on their roster and 38 year old Brad Johnson is Tony Romo's backup. Denver also only carries 2 QBs and they have Patrick Ramsey (a bust in DC) backing up Jay Cutler. These teams are one injury away from potential disaster. But that hasn't happened yet, so they don't qualify as having the most trouble at QB.

So, which NFL team has the worst quarterback situation in the league? It has to be the Miami Dolphins. The mistakes made by Miami's front office in the off season have led to the current disaster that they have at quarterback. In the off season the Dolphins gave up on Daunte Culpepper after he tried to come back to soon from a serious knee injury. Miami found out that this was a mistake when the Raiders came into their house and Culpepper was responsible for 5 touchdowns (2 rushing) in an Oakland win over Miami. In addition to spurning Culpepper, Miami let Joey Harrington go to the Atlanta Falcons. Harrington, though not great, was better than average for the Dolphins last year when he was thrust into the starting position. This year he is playing well for the Falcons although they aren't winning many games. So, who did the Dolphins acquire to lead their team? The Dolphins got 37 year old Trent Green who was coming off of a serious concussion injury. Green has been a huge disappointment this year and now has suffered another concussion that might end his season. But that is okay, because the Dolphins have a proven backup, right? No, not really. But the Dolphins' front office must have been really busy doing something other than letting two quarterbacks go that are now starting for other teams, right? No, not really. The two backups for Trent Green are Cleo Lemon and John Beck. Cleo Lemon is in his 4th year out of Arkansas State and has attempted exactly 95 passes in his NFL career. His career passer rating is 71.5 and he has thrown as many interceptions as touchdowns-2. John Beck is a rookie out of BYU, a college known for producing good quarterbacks. But Beck is a rookie and despite a good college career is not going to lead Miami to the playoffs. In short, Miami has no one. Some teams might still be able to be competitive in such a situation (see 2005 Bears with Kyle Orton), but not the Dolphins. The 2005 Bears were able to turn their offense over to Orton who played mostly mistake free football and make the playoffs. Their defense was the difference. The Dolphins are not in the same position. They need production out of the quarterback position and are not likely to get it any time soon. There it is. Miami fans are likely to suffer through one of the worst seasons in club history and their number one concern has to be at quarterback.

When Notre Dame hired Charlie Weis to take over for the fired Tyrone Willingham 3 years ago it was a decision praised by many.  Willingham had mixed success while at Notre Dame but had previously proven himself as a winning coach at Stanford so the next coach needed to be a significant upgrade.  The consensus was that Weis, the Super Bowl winning Offensive Coordinator, was it.  I'm not so sure.

Kirk Herbstreit recently remarked on ESPN's College Game Day that Weis simply does not have the players to be competitive and it is a big reason why Notre Dame's offense has been so horrible.  I do not buy it for a minute.  It took until the 4th game of the year for Notre Dame's offense to score its first touchdown.  I blame the coaching staff for not having their offense ready to play.  Otherwise, we need to assume that schools like Central Florida, Ball State, Appalachian State and Troy have better talent than Notre Dame.  Each of the previously mentioned schools has scored multiple touchdowns against top tier programs.  Are we supposed to believe that an offensive genius like Charlie Weis is unable to put his team in a position to score?  Are we supposed to believe that Notre Dame's talent on offense is incapable of executing?  Is there less talent in South Bend than in Orlando, FL or Boone, NC?

 The second reason that many cite as why you cannot blame Charlie Weis for Notre Dame's precipitous fall is that Willingham left the cupboard bare.  There are two reasons why this excuse does not pass the smell test.  First, if Tyrone Willingham was such a horrible recruiter and, as a result, left Notre Dame devoid of talent then how was Weis able to win so many games his first two years with Willingham's players?  All of those seniors that graduated last year arrived in South Bend when Willingham was the coach, not Weis.  This year's incoming freshmen are Weis' 3rd recruiting class (2nd with a full year to recruit).  So, secondly, where is the talent that Weis has been recruiting?  Granted, these kids are young, but isn't it a coach's job to get them ready?  Other coaches are having success with young rosters of kids that they recently recruited.

Finally, when you take a look at all that occurred 3 years ago when events fell into place to bring Weis to Notre Dame we see that maybe Weis does not understand how to handle personnel in the college game.  Let's contrast Weis with two other coaches that were part of an intersting college coaching triangle.  Notre Dame started it all off by arrogantly assuming that Urban Meyer couldn't turn them down but he took an offer from Florida instead.  Florida's job was available because Ron Zook had been fired by the Gators and subsequently scooped up by Illinois.  Notre Dame, after fumbling their attempt to get Meyer then hired Charlie Weis.  What has transpired since is a National Championship at Florida for Urban Meyer and, after some impressive recruiting, a 4-1 start for Ron Zook at previous Big Ten doormat Illinois.  Zook seems to be able to win with the young players that he recruited as demonstrated by the 66 underclassmen on the Illini roster.  Urban Meyer is continuing his success this season with the kids (90 underclassmen) he recruited.  Both teams are led by sophomore quarterbacks.  Contrast these successes with what Weis is doing with the kids he recruited.  Why has Notre Dame given him a vote of confidence with a big contract extension when they were so quick to get rid of Willingham?  Weis a genius?  So far, he has shown that he is as smart as those making the hiring and firing decisions at Notre Dame.