Chicago Bears quarterback Josh McCown, who impressed the NFL while playing in place of the injured Jay Cutler, has definitely been thinking about his family this holiday season. He’s even considering turning away offers to play next season for his wife and four children.
In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, McCown said that he and his family alway talk about whether he should continue playing or not every year. Each time, he sits with his children and asks if they’re OK with his father playing.
“But for me, I know that there is a time coming where it’s going to get harder and harder,” McCown further explained. “I kind of have a thought process in my mind of: I don’t know if I want to do this and let her get out of my house having done this the last four years where we live apart.”
“There’s not enough money in the world to justify and make it feel OK” to miss his daughter’s junior varsity basketball games. He called making the decision a "process," adding, "It’s things that we think about, quite honestly, moving forward in my career in the direction, ‘Are we going to keep playing?’ All those things, because it’s a real question, because those things are hard."
McCown and his wife, Natalie, have two daughters, 15 and 6; and two sons, 10 and 9. They live in North Carolina and its clear that he likes being close to his family.
He is an unrestricted free agent after the season and, considering the year he’s had, a few teams will likely be considering him. He had 1,829 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and only one interception.