With Bears, Fuller Must Wait Chance

CHICAGO —  Steve Fuller doesn’t want anyone, let alone the Chicago Bears, to get the wrong idea.

No, he isn’t content with being a part-time quarterback. No, he doesn’t want to ride the Chicago bench. No, he isn’t sitting around hoping starter Jim McMahon gets hurt again.

But.

Yes, he is happy to still have a job in the NFL in his seventh season. Yes, he has learned to live with his role as a backup quarterback with the Bears. Yes, he still wants to play more.

For now, Fuller must sit on the sidelines and wait. Wait for a possible one-sided game. Wait for that injury that could lead him back as a regular quarterback.

“Sure, it’s tough. You don’t want to sit there and want the unthinkable to happen,” Fuller says. “But after seven years in this league, I think I have adjusted. I have learned. If the opportunity comes, I’ll take it.”

Fuller made the most of his opportunity in 1984. When McMahon went down with a lacerated kidney in early November against the Los Angeles Raiders, Fuller stepped in.

Not only did the Bears not collapse, they flourished at times under Fuller. Chicago clinched the NFC Central title and was headed for the playoffs when Fuller injured a knee in a Monday night game against San Diego.

Fuller did return to lead the Bears to a 23-19 upset of Washington in the NFC semifinals and was the starting quarterback in a 23-0 romp by San Francisco against Chicago in the NFC championship game.

Now, McMahon is healthy and Fuller is again the understudy.

“You have to be prepared, be ready,” Fuller says. “But that goes back to what I was saying about accepting your role. I don’t want to say that I don’t want to play and I don’t want to say that I’ve accepted being a backup.

“It comes through maturity. I know Jim is the number one quarterback. I’ve accepted that. I’ve also accepted what I need to do on this team.”

Because McMahon has been injured throughout his brief pro career, Fuller’s value assumes added dimension.

“Steve has done everything we’ve asked him to do,” Bears coach Mike Ditka says. “It’s not easy being in his position.”

McMahon was hurt for the Viking game at Minnesota in September. Fuller started but McMahon relieved him in the third quarter, igniting Chicago to a victory before a nationally televised audience. The replacement may have hurt Fuller’s pride but he did not complain publicly.

Fuller, 28, is a quiet leader and not the sort to demand that he play or be traded. He knows he has yet to prove himself as an established NFL quarterback.

“In my position, being in the league seven years, this is the time when quarterbacks start to come into their own,” he says. “I have confidence in my ability and what I can do. But I am an employee of the Chicago Bears. My job now is to back up Jim McMahon. I’m thankful for that.”

Job security, rare in pro sports let alone the NFL, is high on Fuller’s list. He has a family, has moved to Chicago and wants to set down roots. Traveling from one city to another, searching for a job, isn’t the kind of life for him.

“I like it here,” he says. “Besides, I have a job,” Fuller says. “There are a lot of quarterbacks, good quarterbacks, around who don’t have jobs and wish they could have one, anywhere.”

Fuller wasn’t always a supporting player. The Clemson product was the first-round draft choice of the Kansas City Chiefs in 1979. In his rookie season, he threw for six touchdown passes and 1,484 yards, improving those figures to 10 scoring passes and 2,250 yards in 1980.

But Fuller lost out in a battle with Bill Kenney as the Chief’s top quarterback. He was used less in the strike-plagued 1982 season.

By 1983, he was off to the Los Angeles Rams. That year he did not get in for one play during the regular season.

“A victim of circumstances, I guess, but I didn’t lose faith,” Fuller recalls.

Last year, the Bears got Fuller for two draft choices. The acquisition seemed innocent enough, especially when Fuller went down with a shoulder injury in his first exhibition game one year ago.

But Fuller nursed his way back and when McMahon went down, he was ready. He threw 53-of-78 passes for 595 yards and three touchdowns. And no interceptions.

Still, he must sit and wait.

“Believe me,” he says, “it’s easier to do know than it probably was for me seven years ago.”