BEARS BROWN BAG IT
Smith says pre-season finale was 'success' despite performance

By: Gary Zahara

It all counts from here. The Kyle Orton era has begun, unofficially. That status will become official 10 days from now in the Chicago Bears season opener at Washington. But for now, Bears fans caught a glimpse of what might be a true diamond in the rough. After sending drifting beach combing quarterback Chad Hutchinson on the first wave out of the city, head coach Lovie Smith handed the keys to the rookie from Purdue in Thursday's pre-season finale against the Cleveland Browns.

Not soon enough for this winning starved franchise and city.

Orton quickly washed away the nightmare of Hutchinson on the first play of scrimmage. The former Boilermaker hit Mushin Muhammad with a 47-yard strike. But the success was short lived as three plays later, his next completion was to Cleveland's Leigh Bodden. Smith, not wanting another Rex disaster, ended Orton's day after just 11 minutes. He finished 2 of 4 for 60 yards. The cheers turned to jeers and 'here we go again' sighs thanks to Jeff Blake and the vaunted Bears defense. The Browns took over and manhandled a 'content' Chicago team 16-6.

The fourth round draft pick sounded more like a veteran just looking to keep his team on track.

"It's kind of tough when you know you're only going to be playing a couple series," Orton said. "You want to make so much up in that little time and I got too aggressive and threw the pick. But all in all I think it went pretty well."

Cleveland racked up 443 total yards, including 203 on the ground. The Bears mustered only 240. Three Phil Dawson field goals wrapped in a Reuben Droughns 3-yard touchdown run was all the Browns needed.

Smith was looking to keep his team intact for the opener and he did.

"We didn't have any major injuries", Smith said, "so we see that as a win and now it's just full speed ahead for the Redskins."

Cleveland's rookie QB had no problem upstaging his counterpart.

Charlie Frye completed 12 of 14 passes for 186 yards in a last minute start.

"We wanted to see how Charlie would handle the surprise start, and it looked like he handled it pretty good," Browns head coach Romeo Crennel said. "I think his numbers looked pretty good in the first half. He did a nice job."

Jeff Blake on the other hand, looked like 'Hanging Chad'. He was just 5 of 10 for a measly 37 yards. His replacement Kurt Kittner was the lone bright spot going 8 for 13 for 100 yards and the only score, a 45-yard bomb to Mark Bradley with 9:26 left in the fourth. The throw was on the money, but Bradley's catch was spectacular. The second round pick went full extension and slid in the endzone, much to the delight of the remaining 10 fans.

Orton will be part of the Bears record book come September 11th. He will be the first rookie starting quarterback since Zeke Bratkowski took the reigns in 1954.

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