Bears Name Orton Starter Ahead of Grossman

One of the NFL's quarterback competitions is settled.

The Chicago Bears have named Kyle Orton their starter, ahead of Rex Grossman, for the Sept. 7 regular season opener at Indianapolis.

Orton has made 18 starts in three previous NFL seasons, 15 of them as a rookie in 2005 and three last season.

Grossman helped the Bears to the Super Bowl in the 2006 season but has been derided by many observers for his propensity to make mistakes.

The Bears re-signed him in the offseason to compete with Orton for the starting job instead of bringing in another quarterback to replace him. Neither played overwhelmingly well during training camp and the first two preseason games. But Coach Lovie Smith has decided to go with Orton, who had a 76.4 passer rating in the first two exhibition games to 66.9 for Grossman.

Orton has a career regular season record of 12-6 as the Bears' starter.

By Mark Maske |  August 18, 2008; 4:56 PM ET  | Category:  Bears
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