National Football League

Has McNabb lost passion for football?

Published Dec. 5, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

In my endeavor to know what ails Donovan McNabb — or, perhaps, more accurately, what does not ail him — I was distressed to learn that he roots for his hometown Chicago teams. All of them.

“I’d have to say the Bulls, Bears, Cubs and White Sox,” he told his official website.

Wait up. The Cubs and the White Sox?

I thought that was impossible. Biologically, I mean. Like rooting for the Mets and the Yankees. Or the Israelis and the Palestinians.

So I called Rick Telander, columnist for the Sun-Times, and an authority on all things Chicago. "Can this be?" I ask. "Someone who cheers for both the White Sox and the Cubs?"

"Maybe," Telander says. "If you're Mother Teresa."

But not if you're a mere mortal. Telander reminds me that, in Chicago, even politicians declare their allegiances. President Obama is a White Sox fan. Former mayor Daley was banned from local sports stations for his anti-Cubs vitriol. By the same token, says Telander, “I fully expect the former Governor, (Rod) Blagojevich, to be wearing a Cubs hat when he goes to jail on Wednesday.”

As someone who has long defended McNabb, I think this speaks to what’s wrong with the quarterback. I’ve never seen a player, in any sport, go from near-greatness to irrelevance so quickly, or with such little reason (without a cataclysmic injury, a drug problem or a divorce, nothing). I hate to agree with the Philadelphians. But they’re right (most of them, anyway). There is something passionless about Donovan McNabb.

Less than two seasons ago, he was the starting quarterback for a perennial contender in the Eagles. Now, just days after being cut by the Minnesota Vikings (who dumped him after the Redskins, after all), he is without protest or emotion. He should be begging the Chicago Bears for a job.

The Bears — the team he ostensibly rooted for as a kid growing up on the South Side — are still slightly removed from serious contention, but unable to score a touchdown against Kansas City. And McNabb doesn’t seem to want the job, or at least, want the job enough. He’s like the college kid who doesn’t want to send a cover letter. You know, the one who asks, “Do I have to?”

Now you have to wonder how much Donovan McNabb ever wanted it. Way back when he was in Philly, it was argued that the Eagles should dump him (in favor of Kevin Kolb, not Michael Vick, mind you), as he would only go to Chicago when his contract expired. And why not? Chicago was his hometown. Then as now, the Bears needed nothing so much as a quarterback. It was the perfect scenario: after all the abuse he took, from Rush Limbaugh to the fans to Terrell Owens (some terribly unjust, some apparently not), McNabb goes home to win a title.

Problem is, the Bears want him even less than they want Brett Favre (who’s been retired for two seasons, and they don’t want him at all).

“We have our quarterbacks here now,” coach Lovie Smith was quick to say Monday.

Our quarterbacks? Primus inter pares — first among equals, or, in the Latin, those who suck first among equals — is Caleb Hanie, 26, from Colorado State. In his two weeks as a starter, with a season basically hanging in the balance, he is 29 for 60 with six — six! — interceptions.

Then again, it’s not as if Lovie Smith is out there all by himself. Devin Hester — a receiver, by trade, who stands to benefit greatly from an improvement in his team’s quarterbacking situation — said Monday that obtaining McNabb with four games left in the regular season would be “a waste of time.” In other words, Chicago is the first locker room McNabb lost before even getting there.

Perhaps the Bears just didn’t like what they saw from McNabb almost two months ago. That would’ve been Oct. 16, when Chicago was the NFL’s 29th ranked defense. McNabb was 19 for 24 for 177 yards, but so ineffective that his biggest advocate, Vikings coach Leslie Frazier, pulled him for rookie Christian Ponder. The Vikings, who had postseason aspirations of their own, were then 1-5.

McNabb managed to lose his starting job that day. More incredible, however, was a comment he made in the postgame. “I felt like we did a lot of great things today,” he said.

He’d have had an easier time convincing people he cheered for both the South Siders and the North Siders.

Again, passionless.

He turned 35 only a couple weeks ago. By comparison, Jeff Garcia — remember him? — was almost 37 and presumed to be finished when he led the Eagles to five consecutive victories and the NFC East division championship.

At the time, McNabb’s problem was a ruptured ACL. Now it's more difficult to identify a cause. Denial? Diminished desire? Or was it always so? I mean, what kind of guy roots for the Cubs and the Sox? Donovan, we hardly knew you.