Background and career
Kyle Raymond Orton (born November 14, 1982) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Purdue, where he started four straight bowl games. He was selected by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL draft. After an injury to Bears starter Rex Grossman, Orton was pressed into service as the starting quarterback during his rookie year, starting the first 14 games of the 2005 season, but was replaced by Grossman for the playoffs that year. Orton did not play at all in 2006, and sparingly in 2007. He regained his starting job from Grossman in 2008, but the team finished a disappointing 9–7 and out of the playoffs. In the offseason of that year, he was traded to the Denver Broncos. Orton spent the next three seasons with Broncos, where he amassed a 12–21 record as a starting quarterback over three seasons. He lost his starting role to Tim Tebow during the 2011 season and was released by the team. Orton was claimed off waivers by the Kansas City Chiefs. He spent the next three seasons as a back-up quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills. Orton became the Bills' starting quarterback in 2014, where he went 7–5. He retired after the season.
Orton attended Southeast Polk High School in Pleasant Hill, Iowa, where he was a four-sport star in football, basketball, tennis, and track & field. At the end of his high school career, Orton was the No. 2 ranked quarterback in the nation by SuperPrep and No. 7 by Rivals.com. His career passing statistics were 208 for 450 (46.2%), 3,176 yards with 24 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions. He earned honorable mention all-state and first-team all-conference his senior year, after completing 95 of 192 attempts (49.5%), 1,366 yards with 12 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions. Orton wore uniform No. 18 in honor of former Nebraska quarterback Brook Berringer, who died in a plane crash in 1996.
Orton committed to Purdue, but considered attending Colorado before ultimately deciding on the former. Orton started in the 2001, 2002 and 2004 Sun Bowl, and the 2003 Capital One Bowl. He is the only Purdue quarterback to start four consecutive bowl games (Drew Brees and Mark Herrmann started three straight). During his undergraduate years at Purdue, Orton was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. In 2004, Orton was the preseason third-team All-American quarterback, behind USC's Matt Leinart and Oklahoma's Jason White as well as a Heisman Trophy hopeful early in the season. After starting the season 5–0 the Boilermakers lost 4 straight close games. During that stretch Orton suffered injuries against Michigan and Northwestern. Brandon Kirsch took over for Orton in the 3rd quarter against Northwestern and Orton subsequently missed the game the following week against Iowa. Orton was able to return to the field in the 4th quarter against Ohio State to help the Boilermakers get the go ahead TD to overcome the Buckeyes and snap their losing streak. The following week the Boilermaker's defeated their rival, Indiana Hoosiers, 63–24. During that game Orton tied former Purdue quarterback Drew Brees' record for number of passing yards in a game (522). That record stood until 2018 when David Blough threw for 572 yards in a game against University of Missouri. Orton makes a cameo in NCAA Football 2006, where he says, "EA Sports, it's in the game", along with Derek Anderson in the game's introduction.
Orton was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL draft. In the 2005 NFL season, he was rushed into the Bears starting lineup as a rookie after a preseason injury to starter Rex Grossman, and the poor play of back-up Chad Hutchinson. Orton started 15 games of the season, but was replaced by Grossman after halftime during the Bears' Week 15 victory against the Atlanta Falcons. After sitting for Week 16, Orton started the regular season finale, Week 17, against the Minnesota Vikings. The outcome of this game, for the Chicago Bears, did not have any effect on their post-season hopes. The Bears had already clinched the NFC North championship and a first-round bye in the 2005–06 playoffs with their Week 16 victory over the Green Bay Packers. Grossman then started for the Bears in their only post-season game. They lost to the Carolina Panthers. Overall, the Bears had a record of 10–5 in games that Orton started, including an eight-game winning streak after a 1–3 start. Despite the team's success, Orton finished with the lowest quarterback rating in the NFL (59.7) among all "qualified" quarterbacks (those with 224+ pass attempts). Despite the low rating, the Bears coaches repeatedly insisted that they were pleased with Orton's performance. The coaching staff asked Orton to minimize mistakes and to let the rushing attack and the defense win ballgames rather than employing an aggressive passing attack. Measuring Orton's victories, his rookie season was successful. His 15 starts and 10 victories are both rookie records for Bears quarterbacks. 10 rookie wins is also sixth most in the NFL since 1970. As of 2017, Orton held at least 5 other Bears rookie franchise records, including completions (190), attempts (368), passing yards (1,869), passing TDs (9), and interceptions in a single game (5 on September 25 against Cincinnati).
Following the 2005 season, the Bears signed veteran Brian Griese as the team's second-string quarterback. Orton, now demoted, became the Bears’ third-string quarterback, and did not see any action throughout the entire 2006 season.
The following off-season, the Bears acquired Chris Leak, who had previously led the Florida Gators to a BCS Championship, shortly after the 2007 NFL draft. Leak struggled in training camp, while Orton, who had trained in the off-season, excelled but was placed at third string. According to the Chicago Tribune, Orton was en route to overtake Griese's (then) second string position. Orton continued to show signs of improvement in the preseason. He completed sixteen of twenty-five passes for 151 yards and one touchdown en route to leading the Bears to a comeback victory over the Houston Texans. After the Bears lost their chances of making a postseason berth, Lovie Smith chose to start Orton over Griese. Orton made his first start in nearly two seasons on December 17, 2007, against the Minnesota Vikings. The Bears lost the game 20–13. Orton finished with 22 completions on 38 attempts, 184 yards, and 1 interception. He improved in the final two games of the season, leading the Bears to two consecutive victories, passing for 294 yards, 3 touchdowns and an interception.
