Late in the evening on Wednesday, the Chicago Bears dropped a bit of a media bombshell with the news that they would be benching QB Jay Cutler for their upcoming game against the Lions on Sunday and going with their backup Jimmy “Santa” Clausen instead. That nickname is not real as far as I know, but I’m using it.
First, raise your hand if you knew Clausen was still in the league. If your hand is raised and you’re not a Bears fan, I’m calling shenanigans. There is absolutely no reason for you to have known that. But alas, here we are. One of the most storied football franchises in the entire NFL, one that had playoff and perhaps even SB aspirations prior to the season is starting Jimmy Clausen on Sunday and not because of injury. Since Clausen really hasn’t been heard from since the 2010 season, I figured I’d take this time to help us get to know the Bears new QB-1 with some facts about him.
- He was born on September 21st, 1987. After some quick math, I estimate he’s 27 years old, give or take a year or two depending on my own margin for error.
- Didn’t start kindergarten until he was six years old; also repeated 6th grade.
- Is listed at 6’2″, 210 lbs.
- Was the 48th pick in the 2010 NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers out of Notre Dame.
- Had a 58.4 passer rating as a rookie, playing in 13 games and starting 10 of them.
- Has not started a game since 2010, and has played in only three since then, all three of which have come this year in garbage time of blowouts to the Patriots and Packers (twice).
- Was signed over the summer by the Bears for one year at $645,000.
- Won the 2nd string job in the preseason over Jordan Palmer.
- Has 46.6k followers on twitter as of this writing which may or may not be insane to me and I will never understand twitter.
- Is not Jay Cutler.
That last fact may be the most important for Bears fans this morning. Cutler has been getting a good majority of the blame for the Bears’ struggles this season on offense, and perhaps rightfully so. There’s absolutely no reason to believe Clausen will be any kind of answer, but I’m not sure Bears fans are even looking for an answer right now; they’re just looking for something different.
So good luck, Jimmy. Even if it means handing the ball to Matt Forte 40 times, at least it’s something different.
