That is something of a myth. The Bears payroll is not one of the smaller ones in the league. They have spent money (maybe not wisely) but their problems have not come from being too cheap. The reason they did not take Bledsoe was not totally because of the price. Cade McNown was paid big money and the club signed several of their guys to big money contracts last yr. (More than I would have paid for B. Robinson, Azuma, Alfonzo Boone and McQuarters.)
At that time I was sure our qb situation was fine believing Chandler would play like he has throughout his career and that Miller would be around for most of the games in a healthy condition.
Now they will have to sign a veteran and draft a qb. However, given the Bears luck with qbs I would not put all my eggs in one basket and pay one tens of millions. I would look for a Dent-type pass rusher first.
(More than I would have paid for B. Robinson, Azuma, Alfonzo Boone and McQuarters.) Arrrrgh...R.W. McQuarters...the lasting monument to the Dwight Clark era in San Francisco.
I will always be grateful for Clark's excellence on the field for the Niners, but he is a horrible judge of talent. He wasted first round picks on McQuarters and Jim Druckenmiller (factoring in the Druckenmiller selection was the video Jim sent NFL teams in which he pulled a station wagon) among other bonehead moves.
When Carmen Policy went to become President of the new Cleveland Browns and made Clark his Director of Ops, I predicted that the Browns would not make the playoffs until Clark was gone. They canned him last year, and they made it to the wild card game and darn near won.