George Blanda eventually replaced Lujack, but Blanda became tired of Halas’s quarterback juggling and left football in 1959. The retirement did not stick, and Blanda played 16 more seasons in Houston and Oakland, perfecting the lovably grizzled quarterback archetype that Brett Favre recently ruined. Billy Wade, the Trent Dilfer of the Kennedy era, stabilized the quarterback position in the 1960s, helping the Bears beat the Giants for the N.F.L. championship in 1963. The Bears drove 14 and 5 yards for touchdowns in the title game, prompting one Giants defender to say of Wade, “If the defense doesn’t give him the ball on the 5-yard line, he’s dead.”

The Bears abandoned the passing game in 1969 by drafting Bobby Douglass, an Age of Aquarius proto-Tebow with matinee-idol looks, a fullback’s physique, a powerful arm and the accuracy of a Farmers’ Almanac. A typical Douglass passing season: 5 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, 30 sacks and a 40.4 percent completion rate. Coach Jim Dooley moved in with Douglass to teach him the finer points (or even the coarser points) of quarterbacking. Douglass, in turn, married a Playboy Playmate. Though not while Dooley bunked with him. That would have been awkward.

The Bears later traded a first-round pick to acquire Mike Phipps: a 30-year-old draft bust, two years removed from a 4-touchdown, 19-interception season. That trade worked exactly as well as you would expect. Phipps spent the next five years sharing a job with the Queens native Bob Avellini. Running back Walter Payton led the Bears to the 1977 playoffs while Avellini looked busy during 10-7 and 13-9 victories. After Avellini threw four interceptions in a 37-7 playoff loss to the Cowboys, safety Charlie Waters said: “We were inviting him to throw. We laid back and made it look like he had men open.” That sort of thing never happens to Tom Brady.