Top 10 Bears quarterbacks of all time

The 2024 NFL season is creeping closer, and as Bears fans get excited for what should be an exciting season, it’s always fun to take a trip down memory lane.

Over the next few weeks, I will be highlighting the top 10 players at each position in franchise history. This will ideally serve as a fun look back at some of the most impactful players Chicago has seen over the years, as well as a nice way to spark some debate in what’s admittedly the slow part of the offseason.

To kick things off, we’ll be looking at the top 10 quarterbacks in Bears history. As the only NFL team without a 4,000-yard passer, the history at the position isn’t particularly fond compared to most other teams in the league. Still, there are a handful of players who made a pretty big impact. Here are my top 10 quarterbacks the Bears have ever had.

1. Sid Luckman (1939-50)

The Bears’ passing records might not be his, but the impact Luckman had is undeniable. He is one of just two NFL MVPs the team has had, having won in 1943. He’s a 4-time NFL champion, a 6-time All-Pro, and he led the league in passing yards, passing touchdowns, and passer rating three times each. He’s the most prolific quarterback in Bears history by a country mile.

2. Jay Cutler (2009-16)

While Luckman may be the greatest quarterback in Bears history, it’s Cutler who holds most franchise passing records. Having been a starter for 8 seasons, he holds the franchise passing yards record by nearly 9,000 yards and holds the passing touchdowns record by 17. He had a respectable 51-51 record as Chicago’s starter, and even when the gunslinging Vanderbilt product didn’t have great offensive talent around him, he managed to put up respectable numbers.

3. Jim McMahon (1982-88)

With McMahon at the helm in 1985, the Bears didn’t lose a single game. They went 14-0 in the games he started, including their three postseason matchups. He ended up named to the Pro Bowl for his efforts that year in a Super Bowl-winning season, the only one Chicago has had as of this writing. He struggled with injuries that made it tough for them to repeat on those successes, but the Bears were always a winning team with him at quarterback. He’s fourth in franchise history in both passing yards and touchdowns.

4. Bill Wade (1961-66)

Wade is third in Bears all-time history in passing touchdowns with 68, despite only being 10th in games played at the position. He led the NFL in passer rating in his first season with the team, he was named a Pro Bowler in 1963, and he led the Bears to an NFL championship that same year. It’s also worth noting that, in 1962, Wade led the league in passing attempts, fourth-quarter comebacks and game-winning drives.

5. Ed Brown (1954-61)

Brown spent 8 years as the Bears’ starting quarterback, and while his passing volume wasn’t as high as some others on this list, he was still a high-quality player. He was a two-time Pro Bowler and led the team to an NFL championship appearance in 1956. His passer rating of 83.1 led the league that year, and all told, he finished with a starting record of 39-25-2.

6. Johnny Lujack (1948-51)

His time with the Bears wasn’t incredibly long, but Lujack’s tenure in Chicago was an eventful one. The former Heisman Trophy winner was a two-time Pro Bowler and a first-team All-Pro in his four NFL seasons, leading the league in both passing touchdowns and yards in 1949, as well as rushing touchdowns in 1950. Injuries cut his NFL career short and prevents him from ranking any higher on this list, but the mark he left on the team’s history was indelible.

7. Jim Harbaugh (1987-93)

Harbaugh wouldn’t play his best football until he joined the Colts in 1994, but he was still a solid starter for the Bears for 4 seasons, playing on the team as a backup for an additional 3 years. They made the playoffs in two of those years he started, and he ranks third in franchise history with 11,567 passing yards.

8. Mitchell Trubisky (2017-20)

As flawed as he was, the Bears were a winning team with Trubisky at quarterback. He remains the only quarterback the team has sent to the Pro Bowl in the 21st century, as of this writing. He was 11-3 as their starter in 2018, helping lead them to an NFC North divisional crown, and he’s fifth in team history in both passing yards and passing touchdowns. His time in Chicago didn’t extend beyond his rookie contract, but there have certainly been worse first-round picks the team has made at quarterback.

9. Justin Fields (2021-23)

Fields might go down as the biggest “what if” in recent Bears history. There’s no denying his physical ability, as his 1,143 rushing yards in 2022 was the second-most in a single season by a quarterback in NFL history. Even with lower passing yard totals by modern standards — as well as playing in Chicago for just three seasons — he’s still 10th in passing yards in Bears history. His ability to make plays despite a lackluster supporting cast helps him crack the top 10, even if his short tenure and lack of winning record prevents him from rising any higher.

10. Erik Kramer (1994-98)

Kramer still holds the Bears’ single-season record for passing yards and touchdowns, having tallied 3,838 yards and 29 touchdowns in 1995. The rest of his 4 years with Chicago weren’t anything to write home about, though he did have another 3,000-yard season in 1997. That said, it’s that one year that helps him sneak into the back end of this list.