Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
With all of the recent quarterback injuries and a slew of bye week teams in Week 9, it might be time to get a little crazy. How crazy? What about starting Chicago Bears QB Josh McCown?
Okay, it might be extreme to start a guy who has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns (44 to 38) in a career where he’s mostly served as a backup, but if a backup was ever in a position to succeed in terms of fantasy value, he’s in it.
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First, there’s coach Marc Trestman’s offense, which is as quarterback-friendly as it gets. Before tearing his groin last week, Jay Cutler had been thriving in the game plan, putting up solid numbers all season. It doesn’t hurt that McCown has been in the Bears’ system and knows the offense as well as the personnel just as well as anybody.
And what a personnel he has at his disposal right now. Brandon Marshall has been playing like a Pro Bowler all season, bailing out Cutler with tremendous catches. No. 2 receiver Alshon Jeffery has come on strong, putting up three 100-yard games in the last four. That included a four-catch, 105-yard performance last week that all came after McCown came in the game for an injured Cutler.
McCown finished with 204 yards and a TD in what turned into a shootout against the Washington Redskins, adding another 33 yards on the ground in the loss. That might be the biggest reason to give McCown a look this week; playing against the powerful Green Bay Packers offense with a suddenly porous Bears D, there’s gonna be some points scored in this Monday Night Football grudge match.
It might be a case where the first team to get to 50 wins. That spells nothing but fantasy goodness for everybody on the field.
ESPN and Rotoworld both have McCown ranked as their No. 19 quarterback this week. This seems way low, especially in a week where Peyton Manning, Matthew Stafford and Colin Kaepernick are all on byes. If you’re looking for a sneaky good quarterback fill-in, you could certainly do worse than McCown.
