Could Matt Cassel Be The Bears' 2009 QB?

No, don't worry, you don't need to go back to Kindegarten and learn how to read again - you read the headline correctly. If 2008 falls the way I think it will, that is, for both the Bears and the Patriots, then ladies and gentlemen...

Matt Cassel could be your starting QB for the 2009 Chicago Bears.

You may call me crazy and tell me I'm jumping the gun - it's week one! We just beat the Colts behind Kyle Orton, our newly annointed flavor, sorry I meant savior, of the week! We're set! ...right?

Orton was 13 of 21 for 150 yards and a fumble. Oh, I can barely control my excitement... Look, if you want to sit there and convince yourself that a lame duck signal caller is all the Bears need, be my guest. If injuries decimate our 2008 campaign like they did in 2007, a QB that just fills the void between Olin Kreutz's rear end and Matt Forte/Kevin Jones isn't going to be enough, and please, don't tell me that Kyle Orton is going to be more than that.

You have no proof in the world that he can suddenly light it up, and all the proof in the world that he can let you down. Orton's best performance of his career came three weeks ago in a preseason game against a vanilla 49'ers defense that was one of the worst in 2007 - other than that, ladies and gentlemen, you have a QB that has failed, faltered and has managed to disguise it with a 13-6 record.

Here are Orton's career stats:

2,497 career yards with 12 TD's, 15 INT's and a 63.2 QB rating.

Though I'm an avid Rex supporter, it's no mystery that most QB's failure is measured along side Rex Grossman. If you're decent, you're hailed as "not being Rex", if you make some bad throws in a game, it gets dubbed as a "Grossman-like performance". As much as I disagree with it, Grossman has publically become the standard for a bad QB.

With that in mind, here's Rex Grossman's career stats:

5,907 career yards with 31 TD's, 33 INT's and a 70.9 rating.

People... do you realize you're hailing a QB that is statistically worse in every area than the QB you've been trying to run out of town the last few weeks? Keep that in mind when you're hailing the neckbeard for being a bad QB simply because, "he didn't turn the ball over". That's a lousy excuse to root for Orton and a horrible standard to judge a QB by. By that standard, Kyle Orton is better QB than Brett Favre, right? WRONG. The absence of turnovers does not equate to a better QB.

That all tells me one thing: Kyle Orton will not succeed at QB this year. He proved it in week one. He had all the facets of the game working for him, great field positoin, a strong running game, defensive turnovers, time to throw: and he did squat with it - absolutely nothing. I would like to see Rex come back in and take over and kick ass, but he has zero favor with the fans and likely will be gone next season if not by the trade deadline this year.

Meanwhile, in New England, Matt Cassel, a strong-headed QB, has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight and is now captain of the most powerful offense in the NFL. Cassel's week one performance in which he threw for a TD and posted a 116 QB rating - something Orton did not do (I know that's a stale comparison but consider that Cassel hasn't started a game since 1999...) - in short, he played pretty damn good.

Cassel is set up to succeed with that stellar of an offense in front of him. He's got the best line in the league (excluding an odd Superbowl XLII performance), a strong running game, and the best WR's in the game. Even if he plays decent, chances are he'll be one of the better passers in the league - and maybe even better.

I expect Cassel to light it up this season. He's been waiting for his shot, he's finally got it, and he'll take every chance he gets to show the world he can be just as good as the pretty boy who sits ahead of him on the depth chart.

So how is this connected to the Bears? Imagine for a second, that Cassel has an off the hook season and lights it up, getting the Pats into the playoffs, maybe even deep into the playoffs... Cassel has been demanding a leadership role since Flutie was a backup in New England, and once established, he's not likely to concede in sitting back on the bench. He'll want more money, and he'll want a chance to compete.

Belichick will laugh in his face and point over his shoulder to Tom Brady and say, "You want me to start you over him?" Of course, that won't happen. And if Cassel has a stellar season and is ignored after the fact by the Pats, he will demand his release or a trade. This will result in a problem for Billicheck, and he will not be likely to keep two superstars in at QB; he's proven it by keeping Cassel, who's never started an NFL game in his life and a rookie third stringer behind Brady for his QB depth. And after the poor season I'm practically guaranteeing Kyle Orton to have, Chicago will be looking for something new at the QB position.

Enter Matt Cassel... we have a steal at the QB position who's spent 3 years learning from quite possibly the best QB in the NFL right now and is only a year older than Orton at 26.

I know it's a long way off and a weird situation to imagine, but Kyle Orton's "solid" (I guess Grossman's helped in fans labeling crappy with no turnovers as solid...) performance with no big plays, no TD's, and no right to bear that "C" on his jersey went a long way in telling me just how "different" of a QB he really is - which is no different at all than the same lame duck QB we left back in 2005. And with Matt Cassel set up to succeed and no patience to be a backup if he does so, we may well be watching our future QB making his first start this weekend against the Jets.

Keep a close eye on him...