Kyle Orton's outlook shouldn't be quite so gloomy in sunny Miami.

Somewhat quietly, the Purdue Boilermakers football program has become something of an NFL quarterback factory over the last decade or so.  Drew Brees is one of the most prolific passers in the league, Kyle Orton had a breakout season for a moribund Broncos team last season and Curtis Painter, um, well … so Kyle Orton is one of the hot names on the NFL trade market right now.   Thanks to the Broncos love of Eric Crouch … er … Tim Tebow, Orton is expendable, and it looks like he’s headed to the Miami Dolphins.   Miami is a good landing spot for Orton, because the Dolphins don’t have many QB options, and Orton is still young enough, at 28, to build on his progress.

Truth be told, it has been a guilty hope of mine for awhile that Orton would come to Indianapolis to back up Peyton Manning.  Now that he’s in demand, though, it looks like Orton is going to get a relatively unfettered shot at his own starting job on a long-term basis.   Good for him.   Too bad the Colts got the wrong Boilermaker!

Yes!  Kyle Orton is the starting QB for the Bears.  I mean, we couldn’t lose here!  Kyle Orton and Rex Grossman are two of the worst QBs in the NFL.  Either way, the Colts couldn’t have had a better Week 1 team.  The Bears are as dysfunctional as any other team in the league.

In the article via ESPN.com, Orton tries to write off his rookie year as a lack of talent around him.

“People make such a big deal about that, my rookie year and everything, but I think everybody on this team has gotten better since they were a rookie and not just me,” Orton said. “That stuff’s in the past and I’m just focused on playing good football now.”

I don’t know where he sees improvement from the 2005 team, which was very talented.  The running back position was much stronger with Thomas Jones, Adrian Peterson, and Cedric Benson.  The receivers were also much better than the 2008 team, with Mushin Muhammad, Bernard Berrian, and Justin Gage.  To top it off, the defense was much better, with some Pro Bowlers and quality role players like Tommie Harris, Nathan Vasher, Charles Tillman, Lance Briggs, Brian Urlacher, Adewale Ogunleye, Ian Scott, Alex Brown, Mike Brown, and Todd Johnson.

Now they have Michael Forte, Adrian Peterson, Brandon Lloyd, Mark Bradley, and no offensive line.  I don’t like chalk up wins when the games are still on the schedule, but c’mon.  Look at those pictures above.  That’s not a good sign for the Bears.