What happens when your starting quarterback goes down?

Panic? Confusion? Mass hysteria? Maybe. But is losing a starting quarterback really that bad?

Recently in the NFL, there seems to be a parity between starters and their backups. Teams have begun to realize that, at any time, their starter could go down for a prolonged period of time, and they are making quality investments in backups.

Long gone are the days of Bubby Brister, Moses Moreno and Cleo Lemon. Instead, teams are putting in former starters, such as Byron Leftwich or Gus Frerotte, who have legitimate NFL experience and a decent knowledge of the playbook.

Even if the backups have not been as experienced, there have been many instances where backups have come in and become the starter. The best example is Tom Brady’s emergence in 2001, when he took over for Drew Bledsoe and eventually led the team to the Super Bowl. Before taking over the offense, Brady had just one professional completion, but was still able to take the team to the championship the next year.

The Patriots have seen a similar scenario this year as Matt Cassel has taken over for the injured Brady. Even before Cassel came to the Pats, he was a career backup at USC, playing behind Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart. Before Brady went down, Cassel had only had 22 NFL completions, but is leading the Pats to a successful season despite losing the league MVP.

The same thing happened in Dallas, let alone Bledsoe, when Tony Romo took over as quarterback. Since then, the Cowboys offense has gained one of the first legitimate passing attacks since Troy Aikman. Plus, he brings a little extra scenery to Texas Stadium every Sunday.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen a number of starting quarterbacks go down. Just last Sunday, the Bears lost the power of the neck beard in Kyle Orton, and Big Ben Roethlisberger went down against the Redskins on Monday. However, both teams were able to pull out the win behind the leadership of quality starting backups.

Now, in Chicago’s instance, I am not saying things will be as consistent as they may be under Leftwich in Pittsburgh. The Steelers have a solid running game and a staunch defense to support Leftwich for however long Big Ben is out. However, the Bears might have to rely on the schizophrenic Rex Grossman to get them through a few games, leaving Chicago fans wondering who will show up on Sunday: Good Rex or Bad Rex.

But, you will notice there is not any panic coming from Lovie Smith. Sure, the Bears head coach isn’t one to show emotion, but at least he doesn’t have to automatically hand the reins of Ron Turner’s offense over to an unproven rookie. Instead, he can keep the playbook open and hopefully create a game plan to limit Grossman’s mistakes and take advantage of the strong play of rookie running back Matt Forte.

Although teams like the Bears and the Steelers are in decent shape to make a run at the playoffs despite losing their starting quarterbacks, there are teams who are not as fortunate. The Kansas City Chiefs are now relying on Tyler Thigpen, who was drafted out of Coastal Carolina University by the Vikings in 2007 and was picked up as a free agent by the Chiefs in 2008. He is the third quarterback to start for Kansas City this year after both Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard have gone down.

The lowly Detroit Lions find themselves in a bind as well after losing starter Jon Kitna to injury and getting inadequate play from Dan Orlovsky. They have recently signed former Minnesota Viking, Miami Dolphin and Oakland Raider Dante Culpepper to a two-year contract to try to stop the bleeding in Detroit. The Lions are trying to go for an experienced quarterback, rather than an unproven rookie, to try to get a few wins in the second half of the season.

Needless to say, it seems as if NFL teams are trying to prepare for injured starting quarterbacks rather than pray an unproven backup can be an effective game manager while the starter is nursed back to health. This trend should make teams that have had injury problems a little more competitive and prevent a wave of panic from spreading to fans and coaches.

Ben is a senior majoring in journalism. Think teams stress too much importance on their backup QBs? He can be reached at [email protected].