Bears need to have Orton air it out

Nothing against Kyle Orton, but it was difficult to watch Tony Romo and Donovan McNabb throw for 593 yards Monday night and not wonder what it would be like if the Bears' offense had that kind of firepower.

It's not just the quarterback, but it sure helps when the trigger man can routinely and accurately throw the ball 40 or 50 yards downfield. It also helps to have weapons like Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens and tight end Jason Witten and Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson and running back Brian Westbrook at your disposal.

Regarding Orton and the deep ball and specifically the criticism that he can't chuck it long: it doesn't make sense.

Orton threw 1,336 passes at Purdue. Granted, the majority of them were short and intermediate tosses in Joe Tiller's offense. But it's ridiculous to think a professional quarterback, especially one who's played the position since high school, can throw a 30-yard pass accurately but he can't hit a bull in the backside from 40 or 50 yards.

Orton has literally thrown thousands of passes in games and practices over the past 12 years, and adding 10 or 20 yards to some of them shouldn't diminish his accuracy any more than any other quarterback. He just needs to do it more often.

Getting Devin Hester more involved in the passing game would be the best way to make the Bears' pass offense more vertical, although that may have to wait awhile depending on the severity of his rib injury.

But receivers don't have to be world-class fast to get behind defensive backs, as Marty Booker, whose speed is average at best, proved against the Panthers. Orton's pass was just barely beyond Booker's reach, and every wide receiver on the Bears' roster has enough speed to stretch a defense.

So does tight end Greg Olsen, whose biggest asset might be his ability to outrun almost every linebacker or safety he faces in coverage. He's 6-feet-5 and 255 pounds, and he runs the 40 in under 4.5.

But when was the last time anyone saw a long ball hurled in Olsen's direction?

If Orton is to be evaluated accurately, he needs to be given a chance to prove that he can do more than just manage a game, and offensive coordinator Ron Turner insists that he can do much more.

Orton is 20th on the NFL with a passer rating of 75.9, but he's only 28th in passing yards per game with 149.5.

So, open it up, make it rain, let it fly, bombs away.

Then judge Orton, and whether it's thumbs up or down, start drafting quarterbacks. That's right; even if Orton is the real deal, the Bears should consider taking a quarterback almost every year somewhere in the draft.

If it's the most important position on the field, why haven't the Bears drafted even one quarterback since they took Orton in the fourth round in 2005?

The Bears also failed to select a quarterback in any of the three drafts before they took Rex Grossman in the first round in 2003.

The Packers' Aaron Rodgers is currently the fifth-highest-rated quarterback in the NFL. He was drafted in the first round in 2005, after Brett Favre had posted his eighth 30-touchdown season.

In fact, while Favre was the Packers' QB from 1992-2007 and starting 273 straight games, including the playoffs, the Packers still drafted 10 quarterbacks.

They included Matt Hasselbeck, Mark Brunell, Aaron Brooks and Ty Detmer, and the Pack never went more than two years without taking a quarterback. They drafted two more this year.

You can't have too many good ones.

rlegere@dailyherald.com