Josh McCown has been a journeyman for his NFL career, but emerged as a valued quarterback at the age of 34 while filling in for Jay Cutler last season with the Chicago Bears.

"I don't know why it came together at this point," McCown told the Chicago Tribune. "Maybe it just took me 12 years to figure it all out. Or maybe I needed Coach (Marc) Trestman and Coach Cav (quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh) and Jay (Cutler) and all these receivers. I don't know. I can't explain all that. All I know is what happened."

McCown is a free agent this offseason.

"It's hard to want to be anywhere else," he said of the Bears. "But the balance of that, too, is our reality. This is probably going to be the last time I stand in free agency with this kind of leverage. So there's an understanding of an opportunity here to gain some more resources both to take care of our family and to do more good with.

"I have to be willing to go somewhere