The Chicago Bear Quarterback Curse

And Layne thrived, haunting the Bears and leading the Lions to three titles. When he retired from his Hall of Fame career Layne held the career records for both passes attempted and completed, as well as yards gained passing and passing touchdowns. His old friend Doak Walker said Bobby never lost a game; he just ran out of time. SI named Layne the toughest quarterback who ever lived...in 1995, long after Layne's end.

Bear Bryant's Old Kentucky Kicker Quaterback George Blanda was the Bears' quarterback for much of the fifties, and the fourth quarterback on the Triple L depth chart. But the Bears never won any Championships until '63 when they used a great defense and a less then exciting offense to nip the Giants.

It's been a barren, bad streak in Bear quarterback land. A sixty year dry spell  except for a brief, brutalized oasis named McMahon. Strange how a team can go decades lacking stability at such a key position.

It's whispered Layne cursed the Lions when they sent him to Pittsburgh to end his career. The Lions, Layne said, will never win again.

Then he finished his whiskey and grinned. Maybe he knew his Texas Mojo was strong and the Bears who betrayed him were cursed to be quarterback-less also. 

Or maybe it's not a Layne curse, but just bad Bear luck to be stuck with owners whose very DNA is linked to tightness, an inherited toughness untangling dimes from their tight pockets.

Perhaps it's just ill luck. A six decade run of it. If the Bears win the Bradshaw toss, a broken-down, bald Bradshaw is bouncing at a sleazy Cajun Bar where no one knows his name and not babbling on the boob tube. Some folks are lucky some teams are doomed.

But once the Bears had the three L's, Luckman, Lujack, and Layne and an offensive future ahead of them.

After all these years the offense has still been, well, mostly just offensive. Once, longing for the old L Bear magic or just drinking a bit much, Ditka snatched the legendary Rusty Lisch from a construction site to compete against the man he started ahead of at Notre Dame, Joe Montana. That brief shining Lisch moment against the hated Packers of Forrest lead to the Greg Landry era and the ultimate abandonment of Ditka's Plan L.

Forget the Ls.....that's to much to ask for in the era of Cade and Rex. No, don't be greedy or the Football Gods frown.

George Blanda, the Bears nation turns its lonely eyes towards you.

Or maybe since the Bears have reopened their hallowed Vanderbilt football pipeline with this year's quarterback-less draft: Billy Wade, the Bears turn their lonely eyes towards you...

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