Kyle Orton and His Ankle: Why He Should Sit on Sunday

During the Bears game on Sunday, I was working at my part-time job and was hoping to see good news periodically on how the game was going. My first glimpse of the game was watching Rex Grossman under center—which made me happy until I realized:

Something happened to Kyle Orton.

Sure enough, I saw the play that everyone has been talking about all week—where his ankle was injured from a tackle by Dewayne White of the Detroit Lions. Being carted off the field was not a good sign.

But that's where things get foggy.

Apparently, ESPN reported that Orton was going to be out for at least a month (That's four games, at least!). Then the Chicago Sun-Times reported a similar claim, though Orton's injury isn't as bad as expected.

And the Bears?

Sure, Lovie Smith was hopeful that Orton would return, but he didn't really give a lot of information about this injury (This remind you of The Patriots via Tom Brady's injury or the Colts speaking on Peyton Manning?).

Now, Orton isn't ruling himself out for Sunday's game against the Titans.

That is great. I'm glad the Bears have a starting quarterback who has a desire to play in, probably, the biggest game of their season. But with the nature of this injury that either is unknown or can't be agreed upon, the Bears need to plan on—brace yourself, fans—Rex Grossman starting on Sunday.

I know, the name that current fans just don't want to hear: Rex Grossman. But, here are a few reasons why I think the Bears should take their precautions with Orton's situation.

The first deals with the fact that the injury itself wasn't season-ending (like your usual Mike Brown injury). Orton himself acknowledged that things could have been a lot worse than what they are. For the Bears to rush him back onto the field might bring about worse results...like a season-ending injury to one of the most important players and leaders on the team.

Second, as much as fans don't like Rex Grossman (which I am one of the few that do, sadly), two things should be noted about him. The first is that his relief performance—along with the defense not allowing any points in the second half—against the Lions allowed the Bears to win and, thus, made him 3-0 in relief-duty.

Speaking of the defense, that brings me to my last point. It's been well-documented this season that the Bears defense has hit a rare slump in their play. But Sunday's game against the Titans could be a great opportunity for this defense to make a statement to the NFL about their unit by leading their team by shutting down the Tennessee Titans offense that ranks third in rushing offense.

It might also help that they have an opportunity to play a major role in knocking off the last undefeated team in the NFL.

Whatever happens, though, I am pretty sure of one thing: the Bears will do what they can to keep Kyle Orton on the field as long as they can. Their season depends on that.