A Starter at Last : Former Pierce Quarterback Finds Home With Bears

No longer the quarterback du jour for the Detroit Lions, Erik Kramer is enjoying the stability of life with the Chicago Bears.

“It makes all the difference in the world,” said Kramer, who makes his third start for the Bears Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field.

Kramer shared the starting job with Rodney Peete and Andre Ware during his three seasons with the Lions. It was not a good situation for any of them and none were able to hold on to the job.

It’s been an uphill battle for Kramer, who played quarterback at Burroughs High, Pierce College and North Carolina State before being drafted by the Lions.

Though he led the Lions to the NFC championship game in 1991 when Peete was injured, Kramer was on the bench again the following season and never was able to wrest the starting job away from the former USC quarterback.

Signed as a free agent by the Bears this year, Kramer is getting his chance to prove he’s a first-team player, but he doesn’t feel any extra pressure.

“The expectations I put on myself are the same,” he said. “I’m not concerned with what other people think.”

Kramer got off to a good start, leading the Bears to a 21-9 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the opening game.

He completed 18 of 25 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns.

Last week, the Bears fell behind, 30-0, to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, but Kramer threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter before the comeback fell short, 30-22.

Kramer completed 18 of 31 for 289 yards against the Eagles and ranks second in the NFC quarterback ratings with a mark of 115.3.

During the comeback in Philadelphia, he connected with Curtis Conway on touchdown pass plays of 22 and 85 yards in addition to hitting Conway for a two-point conversion before throwing a 16-yard scoring pass to tight end Marv Cook with 3 minutes 19 seconds left.

However, quarterback Randall Cunningham and the Eagles ran out the clock, denying Kramer and the Bears an opportunity to finish off the comeback.

“I know my job is to prepare and come in and play consistently,” Kramer said. “I can focus on that, instead of the other things that can happen.”

The Bears utilized short passes against the Buccaneers, but after being stifled early, Kramer stretched the Eagles’ defense in the fourth quarter.

“Sometimes they come out on first down and throw it and get about four or five yards,” Eagle linebacker William Thomas said.

“That’s like a good run. That’s how they completed 78% of their passes (against Tampa Bay).”

The Bears will have to improve a running game that mustered only 66 yards in 25 carries against Tampa Bay and was limited to 37 yards in 11 rushes against Philadelphia.

“We hope to take pride in our running game,” Kramer said. “We definitely want to do a better job of that.”

Kramer’s passing could open the gates for the running game. In two games, he has thrown five touchdown passes.

Jim Harbaugh, starting quarterback for the Bears last year, threw only seven touchdown passes all season.