McNabb was expecting Bears to call

Donovan McNabb was expecting call from Chicago Bears - ESPN Chicago

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Donovan McNabb expected Bears call

Donovan McNabb said Friday he was expecting a call from the Chicago Bears after Jay Cutler went down with a fractured thumb Nov. 20, but that call never came and the Bears lost five of their last six to miss the playoffs.
The Bears did put in a claim on Kyle Orton after he was released by the Denver Broncos, but the Kansas City Chiefs claimed Orton before he was available to the Bears.
Meanwhile, McNabb, a Chicago native who was released by the Minnesota Vikings on Dec. 1, watched Caleb Hanie lose four straight games for the Bears, who then turned to Josh McCown in losing their fifth straight. The Bears closed out the season with a win over the Vikes.
"I thought the Bears would call," McNabb said on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "So many people continuously talked about the Mike Martz offense and things of that nature. I personally didn't care about that. If you want to win and win now, you go out and get a better quarterback and you cater your offense to his strengths, and obviously the strengths of your team.
"Obviously it didn't work out well for them. It's unfortunate. I wish things would have worked out, but it didn't. We will see what happens from now on."
Martz and the Bears parted ways shortly after the season ended, and Jerry Angelo was fired as general manager.
"That call (from the Bears) was fully never made," McNabb said. "I think also, just kind of what direction they wanted to go with. When you look at the situation they had, obviously Jay is their guy. I don't know about their backup situation, but you had a solid defense, a defense that was playing well at the time.
"Obviously going forward they have some decisions to make as far as bringing in some youth on both sides of the ball and some talent that will help them get to where they were last year."

McNabb admitted entertaining thoughts of returning as a hometown hero.
"I definitely thought about it," he said. "Growing up a Bears fan, I kind of saw myself playing back home and hopefully winning the Super Bowl ... I think when the situation was there, everyone, friends and family, thought it would happen. It didn't, things didn't work out well for them.
"I got a chance to relax and rest my body, so I don't mind at this particular time what happened, but things could have been different."
The 35-year-old McNabb said he hasn't figured out what he wants to do next season. He said if the new Bears GM calls there would be a lot of factors going into a decision.

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McNabb definitely deserved a shot especially with a QB rating around 83 when he played this year for the Vikings. Considering we had Todd Collins as a backup last year I think you give a hometown player a shot especially a Vet that has produced in the past. We lost four straight because of Hanie. The Vikes still had to pay him that salary anyway. The Bears could have gotten him for a few hundred thousand. Probably another reason why Angelo got fired...

Let's hope the new GM won't re-sign Hanie and finally grab a real vet backup like Kyle Orton. Keep McCown as third string QB.

It was the right decision to give Hanie a shot... but after his 1st game (better said fail), we should have called him

I wouldnt mind McNabb as a vet backup to our backup, but as a starter? Nope.

Besides, most of our losses after Cutler went down usually came down to a couple plays here or there. McNabb wouldnt be able to prevent Barber from fumbling, or lining up in the wrong spot.

No he shouldn't have. he sucked in Wash and was worse in Minny. He's done, finished, kaput. He needs to be right were he is, retired and on a couch.

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Originally Posted by Riczaj01

No he shouldn't have. he sucked in Wash and was worse in Minny. He's done, finished, kaput. He needs to be right were he is, retired and on a couch.

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Next to Hainie, right?

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Originally Posted by GermansbombedPH

It was the right decision to give Hanie a shot... but after his 1st game (better said fail), we should have called him

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I would agree. After Hanie's showing in the NFCC Game last year there is no way anyone could have imagined that he'd struggle like he did. Some of that is on him and his limitations but the other half is on Martz. Caleb Hanie was prepared to operate a pared down offense like he ran in the 4th Quarter of the NFCC Game but Martz never had him prepared to run his complete offense at the level he was expected to. Cutler had all he could do to manage it at times so with far less, if any, practice time what happened should have been predictable to Martz yet he did nothing to simplify his game plans. He did just the opposite and Hanie got worse with each passing game.

It's hard to predict whether or not McNabb would have struggles just as much and because of poor decision making by Jerry Angelo we'll never know. I'm with German's on this one. After seeing Hanie struggle against Oakland we should have put a call into McNabb and at least brought him in for a tryout to see what he could do.

At least enderle didnt get the chance to screw things up...

If it comes down to needing another QB for a playoff run we have Cutty's Kid (expected delivery Nov/Dec) to suit up this time! I'm sure he/she can crap their pants just as well as Hanie did in that stituation.

I still can't belive what actually happened this season... Going so great and then fucking Knox not catching that ball and Cutler is well out for the rest of the season and Hanie starts the losing streak. I do agree, that we should propperly have called him after the first or secound game to see if we could save the season. Hopefully we'll have a good draft this year and get some propper offensive players and then see you in the Superboooooowl. Bear down RAWR!

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Originally Posted by yttocs

Next to Hainie, right?

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Haine was an unknown factor that at least had an inkling of how the offense ran, and his last showing had his arrow pointed up. McNabb's had pointed down to the point that Vince Young, Kolb and Vick were all better options in Philly, Rex Grossman was a better option in Wash(ya let that one sink in for a min), and Ponder(not exactly highly touted) as a rookie was a better option in Minny. Everyone keeps thinking of the McNabb from about 5 years ago, he wasn't that guy anymore.