Struggling Bears QB Hanie refuses to make excuses

After the Bears’ latest offensive fiasco left quarterback Caleb Hanie with an 0-4 record as a starter, 9 interceptions and just 3 TD passes, his NFL future is in doubt.

“You’re always thinking about your future,” Hanie said after being sacked four more times, making it 19 times in four games. “But you can’t do anything about the past, I know that. I’ll look at this week as playing a normal week. We’ve got Green Bay, so we shouldn’t have any trouble getting up for it.”

There’s no guarantee that Hanie will start against the Packers.

Josh McCown mopped up Sunday, and rookie Nathan Enderle has spent nearly an entire season in the system, but coach Lovie Smith wasn’t ready to consider a switch in his postgame news conference.

“It’s right after the game, and we’re disappointed in our performance in the quarterback position,” Smith said. “But I can’t tell you any more than that.”

Hanie, who took over after Jay Cutler was injured on Nov. 20, could certainly blame injuries for some of his problems. He’s had a healthy Matt Forte for just one full game, wide receiver Devin Hester has been hobbled by an ankle injury, and he lost Johnny Knox before Sunday’s game was four minutes old with a serious back injury.

But he didn’t want to make excuses.

“We’ve got a lot of good guys still,” he said. “Those guys we lost are good players, but we have good guys filling in.”

The offensive line has also regressed in recent weeks. In his last four games, Cutler was sacked a total of four times, 15 fewer than Hanie has been dropped.

Against the Seahawks, he was able to scramble five times for 34 yards, but the 4 sacks resulted in losses of 34 yards.

“It’s been tough for him,” wide receiver Roy Williams said. “We haven’t helped him offensively. He’s had his ups and downs. Best of luck to him the rest of the way.”

For the second straight week, Hanie completed just 5 passes to wide receivers, and for the third straight week the offense produced less than 250 total yards.

“Hopefully he can pick up the pieces and bounce back,” McCown said. “That’s the good thing about him. He’s a resilient kid and he’ll be fine.”

Hanie says not to worry about his confidence.

“My confidence is going to be there,” he said. “I came out today and felt really confident; three losses and still felt confident.”

But, after four, it remains to be seen if the coaching staff has that same confidence.