Athletes - Cade McNown

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	Athletes - Cade McNown

Cade McNown (born January 12 1977 in Portland, Oregon) is a left-handed former American Football quarterback who played for the Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers of the NFL. He is considered one of the biggest draft flops in Chicago Bears history.

High school

McNown went to high school at San Benito High School in Hollister, California, before transferring as a senior to West Linn High School in West Linn, Oregon, where he played quarterback and free safety. He led his high school to the 1994 Oregon AAAA semifinals, becoming wildly touted by newspapers as a college prospect. He also was active on the school track team, where he set a school pole vault record. McNown based his college selection on the college choice of future NFL quarterback Brock Huard, who, along with McNown, was the top high school quarterback prospect in the western United States in 1994.

College career

McNown became the starting quarterback at UCLA as a true freshman, four games into the season, ranking first among all freshmen quarterbacks in many statistics. In 1995, UCLA was 7-5 and played in the Aloha Bowl. He was less successful in 1996, when UCLA would go 5-6 and he would be ranked 9th in the Pac-10 in pass efficiency. In 1997, McNown announced the team's goal to score an average of 30 points per game. After an 0-2 start, UCLA would win all of its remaining games, to end ranked 5th in the nation. At the season's end, McNown was a finalist for the Davey O'Brien Award, began being mentioned as a Heisman contender, was named an All-American by the Associated Press (third team), The Sporting News (third team) and to the All-Pac-10 team (second team). He led the nation in passing efficiency with a 168.6 rating. His play broke many UCLA records, most of which had been previously set by Tom Ramsey. In 1998, McNown and UCLA went to a 10-2 record, and lost to the University of Wisconsin in the 1999 Rose Bowl. He set new school passing records, finished third in balloting for the Heisman Trophy voting, and was named a first-team All-American by the Associated Press. He would again be considered as a contender for the Davey O'Brien award, as well as Maxwell Award, but received neither, although he won the Johnny Unitas Award and Pop Warner Award.

NFL career

Following the scouting combine, some scouts questioned the strength of his throwing arm. McNown, along with Akili Smith, Daunte Culpepper, and Donovan McNabb,appeared on the cover of ESPN Magazine in the issue highlighting the draft. He was selected by the Chicago Bears with the twelfth overall pick in the first round of the 1999 NFL draft, following a draft pick trade with the Washington Redskins. He was the highest-drafted Bears quarterback since Jim McMahon.

In the months preceding draft day, the Bears had declared that Erik Kramer would be the starting quarterback, but would waive him prior to signing McNown, who they named as the upcoming season's starter. He was a contract holdout most of training camp. Head coach Dick Jauron announced that Shane Matthews would be the starter, but that McNown would play at least one series every game to gain experience.

McNown would start his first game for the Bears on October 10 following a hamstring injury to Matthews the previous week. During the game on December 26, following a poor performance against the Rams, McNown chose to sit out the second half of the game. He would be replaced as starter by Jim Miller, but would once again be named the starter following Miller's suspension. He would finish the season breaking franchise rookie records for completions and passing attempts.

He was named the starter over Matthews (Miller was injured during the preseason), but his performance grew noticably worse through the season; the Bears under McNown would fall to 1-6, leading the home crowd to regularly chant for Miller's return. He suffered a shoulder injured during the seventh game of the season (against Philadelphia), was briefly replaced by Miller, who would himself suffer an injury and be replaced by Matthews. McNown would start (and lose) one more game that season, against San Francisco, and was benched for the final game of the season.

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Athletes - Cade McNown

High school

College career

NFL career

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