Kyle Orton Kyle Orton ( born November 14 , 1982 ) is an American football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League . He played college football for Purdue , where he started four straight bowl games . He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL Draft . After an injury to Bears starter Rex Grossman , Orton was pressed into service as the starting quarterback during his rookie year , starting the first 14 games of the 2005 season , but was replaced by Grossman for the playoffs that year . Orton did not play at all in 2006 , and sparingly in 2007 . Orton regained his starting job from Grossman in 2008 , but the team finished a disappointing 9 - 7 and out of the playoffs . In the offseason of that year , he was traded to the Denver Broncos . Orton started his Broncos career by winning his first six games in the 2009 season , but injuries hobbled him in the second half of the season . Though Orton threw 21 touchdown s and only 12 interception s , the team finished 8 - 8 and out of the playoffs . Orton started 2010 season as the starting quarterback , though the team was not competitive most of the season , finishing 4 - 12 . After throwing 3 interceptions versus the Arizona Cardinals on December 12 and with the Broncos eliminated from the playoffs , Orton was replaced by Tim Tebow for the final three games of the 2010 season . In 2011 he again began the season as a starter , but he was replaced by Tebow again after a disappointing start to the season . Following several weeks on the bench , in which he did not take a snap for the Broncos , he was released by the Broncos on November 22 , and claimed off of waivers by the Kansas City Chiefs the next day . His contract expired and the Dallas Cowboys signed him on March 13 off of free agency . Early years . Orton attended Southeast Polk High School in Pleasant Hill , Iowa , where he also participated in basketball , tennis , and track and field . At the end of his high school career , Orton was the No . 2 ranked quarterback in the nation by SuperPrep and No . 7 by Rivals . com . His career passing statistics were 208 for 450 ( 46 . 2 % ) , 3 , 176 yards with 24 touchdowns , and 18 interceptions . He earned honorable mention all - state and first team all - conference his senior year , after completing 95 of 192 attempts ( 49 . 5 % ) , 1 , 366 yards with 12 touchdowns , and 5 interceptions . Orton wore uniform No . 18 in honor of former Nebraska Cornhuskers ' quarterback Brook Berringer who died in a plane crash in 1996 . College career . Orton grew up a Husker fan , but chose to attend a program with a stronger passing attack . He committed to Purdue , but considered attending Colorado before ultimately deciding on the former . Orton tied former Purdue quarterback Drew Brees ' record for number of passing yards in a game ( 522 vs . Indiana Hoosiers ) , and is the only Purdue quarterback to start four consecutive bowl game s ( Brees and Mark Herrmann started three straight ) . Orton started in the 2001 , ' 02 and ' 04 Sun Bowl , and the 2003 Capital One Bowl . During his undergrad years at Purdue , Orton was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity . In 2004 , Orton was the preseason third - team All - American quarterback , behind USC ' s Matt Leinart and Oklahoma ' s Jason White . Orton had a nice start to the season , having led Purdue to a 5 - 0 start with 18 touchdown s and no interception s . He was a Heisman Trophy hopeful until a late 4th quarter Orton fumble was run back for a Wisconsin touchdown against the undefeated 12th ranked Wisconsin Badgers , giving the 5th ranked Purdue its first of several losses that season . Later that season , he received multiple injuries , in consecutive games against Michigan and Northwestern forcing him to lose his starting position for a month . Brandon Kirsch then replaced him during that time . Orton makes a cameo in NCAA Football 2006 , where he says , " EA Sports , it ' s in the game " , along with Derek Anderson in the game ' s introduction . Statistics . Note : NCAA passer rating formula is different from NFL passer rating . Professional career . Chicago Bears . 2005 . In the 2005 NFL season , Orton was rushed into the Bears starting lineup as a rookie after a preseason injury to starter Rex Grossman , and the poor play of back - up Chad Hutchinson . Orton started 15 games of the season , however was replaced by Grossman after halftime during the Bears ' Week 15 victory against the Atlanta Falcons . After sitting for Week 16 , Orton started the regular season finale , Week 17 , against the Minnesota Vikings . The outcome of this game , for the Chicago Bears , did not have any effect on their post - season hopes . The Bears had already clinched the NFC North championship and a first - round bye in the 2005 - 06 playoffs with their Week 16 victory over the Green Bay Packers . Grossman then started for the Bears in their only post - season game . They lost to the Carolina Panthers . Overall , the Bears had a record of 10 - 5 in games that Orton started , including an eight - game winning streak after a 1 - 3 start . Despite the team ' s success , Orton finished with the lowest quarterback rating in the NFL ( 59 . 7 ) among all " qualified " quarterbacks ( those with 224 + pass attempts ) . Despite the low rating , the Bears coaches repeatedly insisted that they were pleased with Orton ' s performance . The coaching staff asked Orton to minimize mistakes and to let the rushing attack and the defense win ballgames rather than employing an aggressive passing attack . Measuring Orton ' s victories , his rookie season was successful . His 15 starts and 10 victories are both rookie records for Bears quarterbacks , and the 10 victories are the fourth most in the NFL , since 1970 , behind Ben Roethlisberger ' s 14 victories in ' 04 , Joe Flacco ' s and Matt Ryan ' s 11 victories in ' 08 and Russell Wilson ' s 11 victories in ' 12 . 2006 . Following the 2005 season , the Bears signed veteran Brian Griese as the team ’ s second string quarterback . Orton , now demoted , became the Bears ’ third - string quarterback , and did not see any action throughout the entire 2006 season . 2007 . The following off - season , the Bears acquired Chris Leak , who had previously led the Florida Gators to a BCS Championship , shortly after the 2007 NFL Draft . Leak struggled in training camp , while Orton , who had trained in the off season , excelled but was placed at third string . According to the " Chicago Tribune " , Orton was en route to overtake Griese ' s ( then ) second string position . Orton continued to show signs of improvement in the preseason . He completed sixteen of twenty - five passes for 151 yards and one touchdown en route to leading the Bears to a comeback victory over the Houston Texans . After the Bears lost their chances of making a post - season berth , Lovie Smith chose to start Orton over Griese . Orton made his first start in nearly two seasons on December 17 , 2007 against the Minnesota Vikings . The Bears lost the game 20 - 13 . Orton finished with 22 completions on 38 attempts , 184 yards , and 1 interception . He improved in the final two games of the season , leading the Bears to two consecutive victories , passing for 294 yards , 3 touchdowns and an interception . 2008 . On February 25 , 2008 the Bears and Orton agreed to a one - year contract extension running through the 2009 season . Competition for the starting quarterback job was expected to be fierce with Rex Grossman , during training camp . On August 18 , after deadlock against Grossman in games with the Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks , Bears head coach Lovie Smith named Orton the team ' s starting QB for the 2008 season in Week 3 of the " preseason " , despite not throwing a pass over 17 yards or for a touchdown in the first two preseason games . On September 7 , 2008 , Orton led the Bears to a 29 - 13 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the first regular season game of the season . He threw for a career high 334 yards and two touchdowns , while completing 24 of 34 passes in a 34 - 7 victory over the Detroit Lions . He finished the game with a career high , at that time , passer rating of 121 . 4 . From the start of November 2008 , Kyle Orton passed for ten touchdowns , and four interceptions , leading the Bears to a 4 - 3 record . Orton sustained an ankle injury against the Detroit Lions in Week 9 of the NFL season , and did not start the next week . He rushed himself back into the starting lineup a week after Grossman had a solid outing for someone coming off the bench against the Titans . After his return , Orton threw eight touchdowns , and eight interceptions while averaging a quarterback rating of 66 . 9 , including ratings of 39 . 1 against Minnesota , 49 . 2 against New Orleans , and 48 . 7 against Green Bay . The Bears finished the season with a 9 - 7 record , while missing the playoffs by one game . Coach Lovie Smith was pleased with Orton ' s performance and believed he would be the team ' s starting quarterback for the following season . However , Jerry Angelo , the team ' s general manager , stated he wished to further solidify the quarterback position in the long run . Denver Broncos . 2009 . On April 2 , 2009 , the Bears traded Orton ( along with their first and third - round draft picks in 2009 and their first - round pick in ' 10 ) to the Denver Broncos for Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler and the Broncos ' fifth round pick in ' 09 . On June 13 , Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels declared Orton the starting quarterback for the season . Orton led the Broncos to a 12 - 7 victory in the 2009 season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals . The game was won on a deflected pass that landed in the arms of Brandon Stokley who took it 87 yards for a touchdown . This play has been called " The Immaculate Deflection " in many media sources . Over the next five weeks , Orton led the Broncos to a surprising 6 - 0 record to begin the season . His most impressive effort in that streak came against the New England Patriots , when he completed 35 - 48 passes for 330 yards and orchestrated a 98 - yard drive to tie the game and send it into overtime . He threw his first interception of the season to Randy Moss , who came in to help on the attempted Hail Mary pass , at the end of the first half . It was his first in 173 pass attempts which dated back to 2008 when he was with the Chicago Bears . He led another drive for the game - winning field goal in overtime . On October 13 , 2009 , Kyle Orton was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week , for that effort . On Nov . 15 , Orton suffered an ankle injury on the road against the Washington Redskins . He came out of the game at halftime with a career high passer rating of 134 . 7 . The injury kept him from starting the next game against the Chargers . He did return partway through that game , replacing Chris Simms . For the 2009 season ( playing in 16 games with 15 starts ) , Orton threw 21 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions with an 86 . 8 QB rating . 2010 . Orton was named the Broncos starting quarterback for 2010 . He signed a one - year contract extension ( through the 2011 season ) , on August 19 , 2010 . On September 26 , 2010 , Orton threw for 476 yards against the Indianapolis Colts , a career - high . Less than two months later , November 14 , Orton threw a career - high four touchdown passes against the Kansas City Chiefs . Later in the season , with the Broncos eliminated from playoff contention , Orton played poorly against the Arizona Cardinals on December 12 , 2010 . Tim Tebow was named the starter the following week by interim coach Eric Studesville and played the last three games of the season . Orton finished the season with 3 , 653 yards , 20 touchdowns , and nine interceptions 2011 . Orton entered the 2011 season as the Broncos starting quarterback . The team had a 1 – 4 start with Orton throwing 8 touchdowns and 7 interceptions as the starter , accumulating 979 yards and completing 58 . 7 % of his passes . He was replaced as the starter by Tim Tebow during the week 5 contest against the San Diego Chargers , and Orton never took another snap for the Broncos . Orton was waived on November 22 , 2011 , officially ending his tenure with the Denver Broncos . He had a record of 12 - 21 as a starter during his time with the Broncos , throwing for 8 , 434 yards , 49 touchdowns , and 28 interceptions . Kansas City Chiefs . He was claimed off waivers by the Kansas City Chiefs on November 23 , 2011 , after a season ending injury to starting quarterback Matt Cassel . Kansas City paid $ 2 . 5 million remaining on Orton ' s nearly $ 8 . 9 million salary for the year . Chicago ( looking to replace injured Jay Cutler ) and the Dallas Cowboys ( because of concerns of injuries to backup quarterback Jon Kitna ) also made claims on him . However , since Kansas City had a worse record than the other two teams it was given priority in claiming him per the NFL ' s inverse order of the standings rule on the waiver priority list . On December 4 , 2011 , in a game against his former team , the Chicago Bears , Orton came in to the second quarter to relieve Tyler Palko , but was injured on his first pass attempt . Palko led the Chiefs to a 10 - 3 win over the Bears , but struggled the following week in a 37 - 10 loss to the Jets . Palko ' s struggles and Orton ' s recovery from injury paved way for a quarterback change , and on December 18 , Orton was named the starting Chiefs ' quarterback by new interim coach Romeo Crennel . In his first game as their starter , he led the Chiefs to a 19 - 14 upset of the previously undefeated Green Bay Packers ending the defending 2011 Super Bowl champions winning streak at 19 games , dating back to the previous season . He had completions of 23 for 31 for 299 yards with no interceptions and no passing touchdowns . In the final two games of the season Orton lost 16 - 13 in overtime against the Raiders before returning to Denver to defeat the Broncos in the season finale . Dallas Cowboys . On March 14 , 2012 , Orton signed a three - year contract with the Dallas Cowboys to replace former backup quarterback Jon Kitna , who retired after the Cowboys ' 2011 season . In week 4 against the Bears , his former team , Orton replaced Tony Romo late in the game and threw a 5 - yard touchdown pass to Jason Witten , though the Bears still won the contest 34 - 18 . The Cowboys went on to finish the season 8 - 8 , losing to the Washington Redskins in a do - or - die game 17 contest . Statistics . Through the December 24 , 2011 , Kansas City game against Oakland his statistics are :