The Jesus to Favre's Lucifer.
Something you may have forgotten during last week's Arizona-Green Bay Wild Card holy war: Kurt Warner was nearly ours. The Bears came close to signing Warner in 2005, but he chose Arizona because the Bears wouldn't give him the chance to compete with Rex Grossman for the starting job.
From the Trib:
"I don't want to take a shot at Jerry (Angelo);
I like Jerry a lot. It was just a thing that they had invested a lot in
Grossman and their hope was for him to be really successful," said Mark Bartelstein,
Warner's Chicago-based agent. "I think they looked at Kurt as being a
great security blanket. But that just wasn't the role Kurt was
comfortable with."
Can you imagine how different recent Bears history would be with Warner?
Substitute Warner for Grossman, and I feel safe saying the Bears probably win
Super Bowl 42. Even last years team - the one that went 9-7 and
missed the playoffs with Kyle Orton at the helm - could have been in for a long playoff run.
We need a poll: who screw up everything more, the Bears or the Bulls? I really think this is a coin flip.
Even dumber: the story of
how the Bears lost out on Warner back when he was still baggin' groceries in Iowa. This one is damn near Cubs-like.
As legend has it, the quarterback-cursed franchise also lost out in
1997 when Warner had to cancel a tryout with the Bears because of
swelling in his right arm caused by a spider bite suffered on his
honeymoon.
Worst luck ever?
Also, Will Leitch's
column on Warner yesterday at Deadspin is great. Read it.
Bulls screw everything up but won six titles. The answer in this poll is the Bears.
Read that column on Warner. It was good.
Question: How come nobody in the press EVER holds Angelo's feet to the fire about taking a pass on Warner in '05?
Curt had been to two Super Bowls, won the first, and was MVP of the game. In 2005 all Rex had on his pro resume were multiple stints on IR. And Jerry numb-nuts saw this guy as nothing more than a security blanket for Grossman?
I guess when you spend all your time sucking your thumb, a security blanket is the proper wardrobe accessory.
That is ridiculous, you can't compare Kurt(with a K) now to what he was in 05. In his last two season with the Rams he played in a total of 9 games with 4 tds, 11 ints, and had multiple concussions. With the Giants and first 2 years with the Cards he had 23 td's and 18 ints. And he had some pretty good receivers with the Cards those years. He would not have helped the Bears at all and even if he did have the resurgence we are seeing now he would have been run out of town well before it happened.
There was no point in Warner's career, not even at his worst, that I would ever have considered him inferior to Grossman. Rex has never been, nor will he ever be, in the same league as Kurt.
Only in Angelo's and Lovie's minds.
Just wondering if all of these "potential" coaching and coordinator candidates have been picking up the phone and dialing Ron Rivera's number for a little advice.