Way to go, Lovie Smith.

The “gut feeling” that you said triggered the decision the other day to name Kyle Orton the starter under center over Rex Grossman for the Bears’ fast-approaching season opener the night of Sept. 7 in Indianapolis was right on the money.

It’s just too bad you waited so long before settling a QB debate that, as far as this gridiron chronicler is concerned, was never really necessary in the first place.

Orton was the right man for the job all along.

He earned that right, registering an impressive 12-6 record as a starter over the past three seasons, including a 2-1 mark in back-to-back victories over the Packers and Saints that ended a terribly disappointing 2007 season on a high note.

That same sort of note should have ushered in the 2008 offseason instead of the lame announcement that a “wide-open competition” between Orton and Grossman was expected to dominate much of the summer.

Kyle Orton

Orton’s supporting cast is that uninspiring, particularly an offensive line that, hard as it is to believe, presently looks much worse than the unit that stunk up the field much of the time last season.

The all-important left tackle was supposed to be ’08 first-round draft pick Chris Williams, but he went down for the count with a herniated disc, setting the table for journeyman John St. Clair to protect Orton’s blind side.

There are many daily team observers who believe a better move would have been to move John Tait from right tackle back to left tackle, which is where he lined up all of last season. But after witnessing Tait’s ugly performance against the Seahawks last weekend in Seattle, the Bears just might be better off standing pat with St. Clair.

Could it be that the 33-year-old Tait is following in the same shaky footsteps as Fred Miller, the Bears’ previous starting right tackle, who appeared to suddenly just lose it overnight in '07? 

Let’s give Tait the benefit of the doubt for the time being and chalk up his sorry effort in the Pacific Northwest as just one very bad night at the office.

Left guard, meanwhile, also looks like an accident waiting to happen, with unproven commodities Josh Beekman and Anthony Oakley currently battling for the Week One starting assignment.

With the line’s blocking against both the pass and the run close to nonexistent halfway through the preseason, Grossman could be back under center, replacing a bruised and battered Orton, before we know it.

In the meantime, when Orton goes to war Thursday evening in Soldier Field vs. the Niners, a game in which he is expected to play into the third quarter, who knows what to expect from a backfield and receiving corps with many more questions than answers.

 Is raw rookie Matt Forté the real deal as the Bears’ new featured back?

 Can newcomer Kevin Jones triumph over the dreaded injury bug and push Forté for substantial playing time?

 Do the Bears really think Devin Hester can be a legitimate No. 1 receiver?

 Are newcomers Marty Booker and Brandon Lloyd just taking up space?

I wouldn’t be surprised if Orton isn’t somewhere right now asking himself those same questions, over and over again.

It’s just really unfortunate that he couldn’t have begun finding answers to those questions as the undisputed starting quarterback three months ago.