Bears' McCown to start against Packers
Considering that he was out of the NFL for the entire 2010 season and until Nov. 23 this year, Josh McCown had no reason to believe he'd be the Bears' starting quarterback Christmas night against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
“From where I was sitting, it didn't look like it was going to go down this road,” said the 32-year-old McCown, who was coaching a high school football team when the Bears called him following the fractured and dislocated wrist that sidelined Jay Cutler.
Before mopping up for Caleb Hanie last week, McCown hadn't completed a pass in the NFL since 2009. And he hasn't started a game since 2007, when he started nine times for the Oakland Raiders.
But Sunday night, the nine-year veteran will replace Hanie, who went 0-4 as a starter with a 41.8 passer rating after Cutler was hurt on Nov. 20. McCown might be dealing with a slew of emotions in pregame preparations, but he realizes he has to keep his feelings under wraps.
“Just the excitement and the joy of being between the stripes again with the lights on, I think that first snap obviously will be exciting,” he said. “But after that you have a job to do, and that's to go play good football and help your team win. I don't want to get too excited and too amped up.
“Absolutely it's a cool story and cool moment. But at the same time, I'm a competitor. I want to win the game. I want to do right by the coaches and by the other 52 guys in the locker room. So it'll be exciting for a little bit, but we've got to get down to business.”
When it comes to the business of winning football games, the Bears have been bankrupt since Cutler went out. A 7-3 team that looked like a lock to play in the postseason has become a beaten-down bunch with a deficient offense and a defense that isn't good enough to overcome the failings on the other side of the ball.
Coach Lovie Smith clearly has seen enough of Hanie to know that it was time to look at McCown.
“We just felt like we needed a boost,” Smith said. “Caleb had played four games. I felt like that was enough to prove who you are, and if you could help our team win. Josh has been around, knows our offense, has been working against our defense for a long period of time. He's a veteran. We're just trying to give ourselves the best chance to win the game, and we feel that's the direction we need to go.”
McCown takes the reins of an offense that has failed to accumulate 90 passing yards in any of its last three games. He'll be asked to jump-start the Bears' jalopy of an offense after less than a month in the system.
“It's not ideal,” McCown admitted. “For anybody in any offense, it's not ideal to come in this late. But you understand where the other guys are at, and you've got to get yourself up to speed and get ready to play. Everybody expects you just to go play and play well, and that's the expectation for myself also, just to go out and do things to help us win a football game.
“If I keep looking back and saying, ‘I only got here (four) weeks ago,' then it becomes an excuse and you leave an area for you not to play well because you're leaving something to fall back on. I'm trying to refuse to do that and just say, ‘You have to play well. The team's depending on you.' That's my stance.”
The 6-foot-4, 213-pound McCown was the Arizona Cardinals' third-round pick out of Sam Houston State in 2002. He had his two best seasons in 2004 and '05 with the Cards, throwing for 2,511 yards with 11 TD passes, 10 interceptions and a 74.1 passer rating in 13 starts in 2004. The following year, McCown threw for 1,836 yards in six starts, with 9 TD passes, 11 interceptions and a career-best 74.9 passer rating.
McCown played for the Detroit Lions in 2006 when Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz held the same position in Detroit, but he played in just two games and did not attempt a pass, although he caught 2 passes for 15 yards. He was with the Raiders in 2007, and the Carolina Panthers in 2008 and 2009.
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