Orton just hasn't shown enough yet

As usual, the Bears' most pressing off-season evaluation will have to be at quarterback.

It's like that for all teams that don't have a compelling one, and especially is for the team that never has one.

Is Kyle Orton the man or just a guy? Is he an ace or just a No. 1 starter? Is he at best a winning quarterback, a playoff quarterback, a champion quarterback or none of the above?

The questions probably can be answered negatively, since the Bears have had less luck finding a quality quarterback than Illinois has had electing an ethical governor.

But this being America, Orton must be presumed viable until proven otherwise.

Bears general manager Jerry Angelo's requisites for a quarterback are accuracy, instincts and toughness.

Orton is at least OK on all counts but not much better. That means anointing him the franchise's franchise quarterback is settling for less.

As former NFL coach Jim Mora observed to Waddle and Silvy on WMVP-AM last week, Orton isn't anything special.

Orton is a legitimate NFL quarterback, but so are John Kitna and Gus Frerotte.

That might be good enough for you. Heck, it might be good enough for Angelo. Sorry, but it isn't good enough for me.

My entire life has been misspent waiting for the Bears to have a great quarterback, much less a Hall of Fame quarterback.

Angelo himself said during Super Bowl week two years ago that it takes that for an NFL team to sustain a high level of success.

Does anyone around here, off what Orton has demonstrated during his brief pro career, believe he is of that quality?

My amateurish eye expects a couple of things of a quarterback: The ability to manufacture a positive play out of nothing and the ability to make plays moving out of the pocket.

Whatever you think of Brett Favre now, during his prime he could take a Packers breakdown and turn it into a touchdown. All the great ones can.

During last week's Bears victory over New Orleans, NFL Network analyst Cris Collinsworth noted during a replay that Orton is good at finding his primary receiver but not so good at finding a secondary receiver if necessary.

As for making plays on the move, a case could be made that it's undecided because Orton has been playing on a bum ankle. But even when healthy, he didn't flash the mobility to roll out or scramble and throw a completion while on the run.

So what the Bears have in Orton is a quarterback who if given time can find his designated receiver and have a decent chance to hit him.

Otherwise, there hasn't been much else to his game.

For me, the telling signs were against Atlanta's Matt Ryan and Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers.

Watching those two guys operate inside and outside the pocket - inside and outside the planned play - only emphasized what Orton couldn't do.

The Bears can win games with Orton, and the fact is that lesser quarterbacks have taken teams to the Super Bowl.

But for sustained team success, Orton would have to show a lot more than he has to indicate he's that quarterback.

In general, Orton looks like a quarterback whose teammates will have to make better rather than a quarterback who makes his teammates better.

mimrem@dailyherald.com