Chicago Bears veteran quarterback Josh McCown made the most his chance to mount a case for sticking on the roster as the No. 3 quarterback with his strong performance in the preseason finale against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night. McCown completed 20 of 29 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns - including a nice 30-yard TD toss to Dane Sanzenbacher on the team's second offensive possession -- and although he is not battling another quarterback for the emergency role, he may be in a numbers crunch with players on the fringe of the roster at other positions. Here is what McCown told reporters after the 28-20 win over the Browns on Thursday (via CSN-Chicago):
"With the third-quarterback situation, it sometimes goes beyond play, with injuries and other things, so we'll see what happens," McCown said. "But I've got a buddy back home and he hasn't played in 10 years. He's 35 and he'd give anything to be in my shoes tonight. Tomorrow isn't promised to me so I embraced it.
"It's all up to coaches. For me, just go out and play. Turn the lights on and compete. And there are 10 other guys out there with you and their futures are on the line with you as well. You want to give them a chance to make plays."
After the game, Bears head coach Lovie Smith noted that he felt the staff got a good chance to look at McCown at the end of last season, and he went on to call McCown a "capable" QB that can put the team in a position to win. That's all you really want from a No. 3 quarterback anyways, right?
Be sure to head over to Windy City Gridiron for more Bears coverage, and check out SB Nation's NFL hub for more news from around the league.