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Chiefs Vs. Bears: Chicago Might Be Wishing They Won Kyle Orton Claim On Sunday

The Chiefs ended up winning the bid and now Orton will be starting against the Bears rather than for them on Sunday. It's also clear the Chiefs cannot bring in Orton soon enough.

From an outside perspective, the Kansas City Chiefs got in the way. Kyle Orton had previously played a few seasons as the Chicago Bears starting quarterback before being traded away to the Denver Broncos in the Jay Cutler deal. After Cutler went down with a season-ending injury just last week, Orton was released from the Broncos and his agent publicly floated his hopes to play only for the Bears. It was the sort of transactional karma that would have made for a great NFL story.

Enter the Chiefs who lost their own starting quarterback, Matt Cassel, for the season around the same time. So did the Houston Texans with Matt Schaub. So it was no surprise that multiple teams claimed Orton on waivers. That said, the Chiefs ended up winning the bid and now Orton will be starting against the Bears rather than for them on Sunday. It's also clear the Chiefs cannot bring in Orton soon enough.

Matt Brooks of the Washington Post says that Orton should help remedy the Chiefs QB situation while only frustrating the Bears with what could have been. He writes:

In two starts Palko is 42 for 65 for 397 yards with no touchdowns, six interceptions and one fumble. It’s safe to say Orton will be under center on Sunday when the Chiefs take on his former team — the Bears. And after watching their own fill-in quarterback, Caleb Hanie, toss three picks in Sunday’s loss to the Raiders, do you think the Bears might be wondering "what if" they’d been able to get Orton back?