This season, the Bears found themselves with an unlikely hero in 34-year-old quarterback Josh McCown. The veteran signal caller won’t be the No.1 guy on the depth chart following their sizable commitment to Jay Cutler, but the door is still very much open to him coming back to Chicago. It now seems that the interest is mutual with McCown telling Waddle and Silvy of ESPN1000 (via Jeff Dickerson of ESPN Chicago on Twitter) that “his heart is in Chicago” and it would take a special opportunity for him to leave via free agency.
McCown, who was thrust into the starting role after Cutler was lost to injury, ended the 2013 season completing 66.8 of his passes for 1,829 yards with 13 touchdowns, one interception and a 109.0 passer rating, the third highest behind Peyton Manning and Nick Foles. As Dickerson wrote earlier this month, Bears GM Phil Emery would very much like to have McCown back in Chicago for 2014.
“[I would] love to have Josh back,” Emery said. “I’ve expressed that to him. Josh, through his play, has earned the right to have choices. And he’ll have a lot of them. He does know that he has a home here and we’ll do everything that we can to make it work, if he decides he still wants to play here.”
For his part, McCown was reportedly considering retirement at one point, but Adam Schefter of ESPN.com heard from a source close to the veteran earlier this month that he had no intention of calling it quits. Over the course of his career, McCown has spent time with the Cardinals, Lions, Raiders, Panthers, and Bears, making a total of 38 starts under center. In his five games starting for Chicago this year, McCown filled in admirably with the Bears going 3-2.
I hope McCown stays with the Bears because if Cutler gets injured like he always does we know we have a back up that could at least run the offense and get us some wins
I agree McCown is more than serviceable and I certainly hope he decides to return to Chicago.