Josh McCown will start at quarterback for the Bears on Sunday, something no one could have predicted a month ago, least of all McCown himself.
McCown’s last start was with the Raiders in 2007, and he was out of the NFL for the entire 2010 season and for all of this season, too, until the Bears picked him up after Jay Cutler got hurt and they weren’t awarded Kyle Orton on waivers. McCown said that during that long wait to get a call, he figured his last chance to be an NFL starter had passed.
“From where I was sitting, it didn’t look like it was going to go down this road,” McCown said, via Scout.com.
McCown’s focus now is on beating the Packers.
“I’m a competitor,” he said. “I want to win the game. I want to do right by the coaches and by the other 52 guys in the locker room. So it’ll be exciting for a little bit, but we’ve got to get down to business.”
If McCown can shock everyone and play well enough to give the Bears a chance of winning on Christmas night, he’ll be one of the best stories in the NFL. And it will also raise questions about what took the Bears so long to put him in ahead of Caleb Hanie.