Columnist Sal DeFilippo: Oh boy, George is back in the league

Sal DeFilippo

Friday, Dec. 3, 2004 | 9:25 a.m.

Sal DeFilippo's pro football picks column appears Friday. Reach him at sal@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4076.

As a member of the media, sometimes I feel the need to come to the aid of my brethren. Such is the case this week.

You see, I've uncovered a huge public relations mistake, and I'm doing my best to help the Chicago Bears front office avoid the kind of embarrassment the team has put forth on the field in the past two weeks.

The Bears sent out a presumably inadvertent press release this week that they actually signed Jeff George to a contract.

I know better. After all, George hasn't played in an NFL game for three years and hasn't played productively for five years. When the Bears called, he was coaching a youth basketball team. That's what retired, over-the-hill, couldn't-even-get-along-with-June-Jones athletes do. No word on whether his players threw the ball 10 feet over the backboard at the first sign of a defender coming toward them.

This has to be an error, doesn't it? In his prime, George had the strongest arm in the league, partly why he was taken No. 1 overall in the 1990 draft. He argued with coaches during a game on occasion, but he was still a sideline saint compared to Keyshawn Johnson.

Still, this curious George signing seems like monkey business to me. He's 37, and while that still makes him five years younger than Jerry Rice and three years younger than Vinny Testaverde, those guys have at least been playing football. What's going to happen when George gets into a game and tries to dribble the ball downfield?

In fairness to the Bears, starter Rex Grossman was injured early in the season and Jonathan Quinn relieved him and was injured and Craig Krenzel stepped in and now he's injured, too.

So now Chad Hutchinson, who started at quarterback for half a season in Dallas two years ago, will start under center on Sunday against Minnesota.

And, yeah, I understand that you need to have backups available -- even more so when you have tabbed Hutchinson as your starter. But let's face it -- the Bears offense is so inept you could throw Boy George out there and not be much worse.

I suppose since the Bears are in the NFC, they're as much in the wild card race as they are in the race for the top draft pick.

And with Hutchinson, Quinn, Krenzel and the like, you can hardly blame the Bears for looking around, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle, even if that bottle has been sitting on a shelf.

And who knows? Even at the delicate quarterback position, Warren Moon managed to play into his 40s and Steve DeBerg played until he was at least 65. Maybe George will launch a second career in Chicago. It's quite possible that even now, he is a better quarterback than anyone in the Bears locker room.

OK, so maybe this isn't a mistake after all. As unpredictable as the NFL is, he'll probably inject the precise veteran leadership the Bears need and lead them to the playoffs.

By George, it's worth a shot.

This week's picks: Another 1-2 week has me sliding back toward .500 at 18-17-1. I'll try to stay above the mark this week with the Panthers plus 1 1/2 against the Saints, the Giants plus 2 1/2 against the Redskins and the Seahawks -7 against the Cowboys.