Why One Bears Camp QB Battle Is Not Enough

The one certainty in an NFL season seems to be teams need more than one quarterback.

Last year 19 teams had to use backups to start games.

Even more startling perhaps was six teams last year had to use three different starting quarterbacks due to injuries. These weren't players who started the final game when starters were taking the day off. These were third-string quarterbacks actually called upon to start and in some cases multiple games.

The Jets had to run Trevor Siemian out onto the field when Sam Darnold was suffering from mono, then watched in horror las tyear when Siemian left on a cart and Luke Falk had to start.

The Steelers went through something similar with Ben Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges.

The Colts essentially played the whole season with second- and third-string quarterbacks because Andrew Luck bailed on them. The Broncos went through Joe Flacco half a season, Drew Lock and also Brandon Allen, while the Redskins started Case Keenum, Dwayne Haskins and Colt McCoy.

The Bears saw it face first when Matthew Stafford couldn't go against them and first Jeff Driskel played, then David Blough had to start against them when Driskel got hurt.

The Bears go into 2020 with a starting quarterback situation many might regard as shaky, but their backup will be one of the league's better backups because it will between two quarterbacks who have started more than 40 games.

Are they ready for the catastrophe, however?

Tyler Bray is their third-string quarterback and has been since Matt Nagy arrived in 2018. He has never played a snap for the Bears. He took four snaps in 2017 for Kansas City and threw one pass.

Other than that, Bray has only appeared in the preseason.

So the question has to be asked, whether the Bears are prepared in the event of a disaster.

Matt Nagy attaches great significance to Bray's status as a "system" quarterback. He's been in their system, in Chicago and Kansas City for six seasons -- although much of it was spent shuttling back and forth between the practice squad and roster.

It might be time for them to consider bringing in a fourth at least for training camp.

They've rejected the notion of drafting a quarterback this year and also signing an undrafted free agent.

As they've gotten through a week of their virtual organized team activities, the quarterback would be at a disadvantage. There are options who would be less stressed in a group of possible fits for what they're doing.

The obvious quarterback sitting available is Cam Newton. He's been assigned a market value of $15 million by Spotrac.com and they're obviously not bringing in someone who would cause them to start cutting other starters. They have only $8 million under the cap anyway.

So this will need to be a low-budget hire.

Matt Moore

The 36-year-old veteran started two games last year for Andy Reid with the Chiefs when Patrick Mahomes suffered a knee injury. So he knows the offensive concepts well. In fact, if the Bears brought him in it would be difficult to argue Bray beats him out for third quarterback. Moore has 32 starts, a 16-16 record, 55 games played in an 11-year career and in the last four years has a 3-4 record starting. He's capable of being a third quarterback in a sport when it sometimes requires three. And best of all, he played for $1.03 million last year.

Kyle Shurmur

The backup to Moore last year when Mahomes was hurt. He would likely have a difficult time beating out Bray because he couldn't even catch back on as a possible practice squad type this year with the Chiefs. But the son of former Giants head coach Pat Shurmur does have the experience in the KC offensive system as a fallback.

DeShone Kizer

It's been quite the fall for the quarterback who regarded himself as the most NFL-ready coming into the 2017 draft. That's what Kizer said prior to the draft anyway. First the Browns tried starting him in 2017 and it didn't work. They traded him to the Packers and Khalil Mack got ahold of him in the opener. He was waived by Green Bay, then signed by the Raiders and cut last month. What about another stop to compete for a third spot close to where he went to college in South Bend, Ind.

Blake Bortles

Sure he was bad as a starter and didn't get his fifth-year option picked up, wound up backing up with the Rams last year. But this is a player with 73 NFL starts and would come dirt cheap to compete for third string.

Trevor Siemian

The former Northwestern quarterback suffered a bad ankle injury during the early season while replacing Sam Darnold and missed the rest of last year but should be ready to go by camp. He has 25 career starts, was a versatile college player and would fit this offense well.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven