Chicago Bears OK With Only Two Active Quarterbacks

WR Earl Bennett (Andy King/AP)

In Sundays match up against the Washington Redskins, Marc Trestman came dangerously close to putting in wide receiver Earl Bennett as his emergency quarterback.

But, Trestman has  said he intends to continue with just two quarterbacks on the roster, after starting quarterback, Jay Cutler went down for at least a month with a torn groin muscle.

Not long after backup Josh McCown replaced Cutler against the ‘skins, McCown had to get air born to dodge a blow to his knees which could have easily left the Bears without one.

“On the sideline, yeah, guys are like, ‘Hey!’ and you see them talking to Earl and kind of getting him ready,” McCown said, via Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune. “I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, there’s nobody else.’ It’s hard to manage that when you’re running, to think about Earl and that there’s nobody else. But it was a good reminder for me, and tried to slide the rest of the time.  It’s an interesting way to play, thinking I’ve got to stay healthy.”

The Bears have signed Jordan Palmer as McCown’s backup for the next couple of weeks as the Bears try to get Cutler back ASAP. Trestman said he was willing to gamble that would be enough.

“We’ll play the analytics there and go that route again to try to free up another player that can help us in some phase of our football,” Trestman said. “We were getting him [Bennett] ready. But Matt [Cavanaugh, quarterbacks coach] spends a little bit of time getting him ready each week. We’ve got to make sure we’ve got enough going for ourselves to be able to get through it. But that would’ve been a darn shame when Josh went out on the sideline early on.” “You’re asking yourself the question, ‘Could this be the day?’ You’re hoping it isn’t.”

While any number of quarterbacks that are rooming the street right now would be a better option than Bennett (nothing against the guy) in the short term scheme of the bears. But as of now, the Bears plan to roll the dice, and have their fingers crossed for the next 4 weeks rolling the dice, and holding their breath.

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