On my fantasy football team, I have two quarterbacks, Ben Roethlisberger, signal caller for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Bears' very own Kyle Orton. I usually start Roethlisberger. He has a Super Bowl under his belt, ranks fourth in all time for the passer rating, and fifth in average yards per pass. He has a good corps of receivers to throw to with Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes. He seems like a fantasy football dream. Kyle Orton, on the other hand, hadn't been the Bears main quarterback since 2005. He was known more for his neckbeard than his QB prowess. Why would I ever start him over Roethlisberger?
Starting Roethlisberger is usually the wrong decision, because Orton is a fantasy beast. Read that again. Kyle Orton is a much better quarterback statistically than Ben Roethlisberger.
Roethlisberger isn't the only one who Orton has bested. He has a better passer rating than Eli Manning and the vaunted rookie, Matt Ryan. Heading into the bye week, Orton has thrown for 1669 yards and 10 touchdowns. Donovan McNabb has thrown for less than 1,600 yards and only eight touchdowns.
If you think about the Bears' season so far, it begins to make sense. Even in losses, the Bears have been high scoring, ranking third in the league for points per game with 28. Offensive coordinator Ron Turner has not been afraid to let Orton throw the ball. Orton seems to have chemistry with his receivers, particularly Marty Booker and tight end Greg Olsen.
Still, it seems that fantasy football owners don't trust Orton. He was only started by 41% of owners in Yahoo! leagues last week. Football fans still don't trust Orton. I am no different. I started Roethlisberger, and in retrospect, Orton would have scored me more points. Clearly, I'm thinking of him as the Orton of old, and not trusting our quarterback.
What does this mean for you? If you picked up Orton early in the season, you were smart. I added him just before the Steelers' bye week, but have not used him enough. After the bye week, I just may have to bench Big Ben in favor of the big neckbeard.
