Joe Theismann: 'Tony Romo is not a very good quarterback'

Tony Romo had a bad game in the Dallas Cowboys' Monday night loss to the Chicago Bears.

But does that five-interception effort -- and it's debatable how many of those were Romo's fault -- make him a bad quarterback? Another member of the QB fraternity thinks so.

"Sooner or later we have to come to the realization that Tony isn't a very good quarterback," Joe Theismann said in an interview Tuesday on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. "He throws interceptions that you shake your head. If it's all the wide receivers' fault, then maybe he should get some new wide receivers, or they need to come up with some new route combinations that guys can understand.

"Just because he wears a star on his helmet -- we all think that people who are Dallas Cowboys, 'Oh they're wonderful and ooh they're terrific, ooh they're the next Roger Staubach' or whatever the heck they want to say -- they're full of bologna."

Wow.

Washington Redskins fans are surely getting a kick out their former MVP and Super Bowl-winning signal caller take down their archrival's star.

But criticism of Romo is nothing new, even if Theismann has turned up the volume.

"Tony makes bad decisions with the football. And I'll tell you something else: He missed two wide open touchdowns last night that nobody's talking about. Forget about the five interceptions -- he misses Miles Austin and Dez Bryant with easy touchdown throws, and he airmails the ball over their heads.

"You can say, 'well, everybody has a bad game.' Tony has too many bad games. Tony Romo is not a very good quarterback. Somebody has to say it so I just did. He should be a lot better, or the reputation he's carried should have him play a lot better."

Bryant had several drops Monday and seemed to misread his route assignment on the pick six Romo threw to Bears CB Charles Tillman. By the end of the night, Romo was clearly pressing and making poor decisions while trying to jumpstart his team.

By the numbers, Romo, a three-time Pro Bowler, has certainly been a very good quarterback. He's the highest-rated one in Cowboys history -- yes, above Hall of Famers Staubach and Troy Aikman -- and needs 12 more TD passes to wrest the franchise mark from Aikman.

But Monday night aside, Romo will continue to be dogged by the lack of team success -- Dallas has one playoff win since he became the starter in 2006 -- under his command. Fantasy numbers are nice, but Cowboys fans and Jerry Jones only dream of Lombardi Trophies.

Until Romo can add at least a sixth championship in Big D, Theismann and every other talking ahead will have all the fodder they need to bury him like the Bears did.