Miami and Minnesota have been mentioned as the likely landing spots for former New York Jet signal caller Chad Pennington. But perhaps the team with the most inept current situation – and thus the biggest need – might be the Chicago Bears.

Kyle Orton completed seven of 10 passes for 56 yards and no interceptions but he did fumble for a 9-yard loss in the second quarter. Rex Grossman, who is slated to start at Seattle next Saturday, was four for eight with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wolfe, but he also threw an interception on the opening drive of the second half.

Orton and Grossman are both hampered by the lack of skilled wide receivers, but they are both of limited skills as well. Grossman has long been capable of the fantastic but has more often shown a penchant for the absurd while Orton has won a lot of games doing little more than managing the offense and attempting not to make mistakes.

If the Bears coaching staff has internally set this season aside as a building year it’s possible a move for the 32-year-old Pennington doesn’t make sense. But if that were the case why wouldn’t the Bears have brought in a young “quarterback of the future” to learn on the job, or at least figure it out from the sidelines? Caleb Hanie really hasn’t ever been mentioned as an heir apparent candidate.

So if the Bears are approaching this season thinking they can rebound from last season’s disaster a step up in quarterback play would go a long way in accomplishing that. Pennington doesn’t have a great arm, but he always completes a high percentage of his passes and he’s considered a good teammate.

At worst he could come in and perhaps offer the winner, err, lesser loser of the Orton-Grossman competition some sage veteran advice. At best he could come in and provide a steady upgrade at the position that could create enough of a passing threat to perhaps open some holes for Matt Forte, Kevin Jones, and a running game that could be fairly decent.

The Chicago Sun Times thinks it’s unlikely the Bears call, but the Chicago Tribune’s David Haugh thinks the subject at least warrants picking up the phone. Don’t you?

EDIT: ESPN News is reporting that Pennington’s agent says six teams have expressed interest in Pennington but the screen crawl does not say who those six teams are.