Bringing in MBT was extremely stupid.
Now we're in a position where we don't know whether we need to re-sign the 36 year old QB and move on from the promising QB, or overpay the promising QB to retain him only for him to potentially flop and start over. The worst part in a weird way is that Ford has shown just enough in limited action to potentially draw a bigger pay day out of somebody despite the small book of work. At this point it might not even matter, he probably wants to move on to an organization that will give him a semblance of clear direction.
This year would have been perfect to test drive Ford for the season to see what he can actually do with a full season as the named starter. If he works, great, if he doesn't, at least we know. Instead they chose not to, then he got hurt after 2.5 games, and now they have to play MBT because they aren't in a standings position to risk a repeat performance from last week by Ford.
Then going a step further - if MBT finishes the season well, is the organization really in a position to potentially go backwards taking a risk with Ford? The "let's just get through the year without losing our shirt" business decision probably leans towards MBT.
The team has shot themselves in the foot at just about every turn with the QB situation, combined with some bad luck circumstances.
I wouldn't say signing MBT was dumb in and of itself. This league has proven over the last ten years that starting QBs rarely get through a season uninjured. Having two capable QBs on the roster is a must. The stupid part was declaring him the starter before training camp even began. It should have been Ford's job to lose; at minimum they should have given him the first couple starts of the season, and it's not like 0-2 would have sunk them. Instead they pissed everyone off by riding MBT to 0-7.
Ford comes in and looks great, but gets hurt quickly. Bad luck...but then MBT comes in and suddenly looks good, going 4-1 to resurrect the season.
It put the organization in a tough spot going into last week. Riding the hot hand would have been the logical decision, but then it forces you to bench a healthy Ford, who had looked good in all showings up to that point. Essentially either QB playing poorly in a loss was going to be met with second guessing, and sure enough it happened.
If you were going to lose though, I think losing with MBT would have put them in a better spot going forward. It would have (likely) meant Ford coming in tonight to try and save the season and almost certainly getting the rest of the starts regardless of outcome.
But what if you win with MBT last week? Well that's great obviously, but then sets you on the path you suggest in your last paragraph. There's a good chance MBT gets the ball the rest of the way (justifiably) if he plays and wins last week, so how exactly do you approach the off-season/signing Ford in that scenario? This is probably the case anyway if MBT wins tonight come to think of it.
They needed to either win last week with Ford, or lose with MBT. Jarious was rolling the dice no matter who he started so I can't criticize the decision in this instance.
There's not really an ideal big-picture outcome left that I can forsee...unless MBT gets hurt, it's doubtful we see Ford start again unless we're eliminated from the playoffs. That's problematic. Making the playoffs with MBT leading the charge is also problematic, but at least not until the off-season...this has been a strange season, to say the least.
