PLATTEVILLE, Wis. -- Last fall's presidential election had nothing on the Chicago Bears quarterback race. George Bush only had to appear before the Supreme Court to beat Al Gore.

Try Chicago football politics. Cade McNown, Shane Matthews and Jim Miller are in their third summer of competition, and coach Dick Jauron still can't distinguish who is the best of the three. Think about it. Three years is a lifetime in the NFL and the only thing the Bears know is that McNown is perceived to be unpopular, Matthews is a precise system quarterback and Miller has bad luck.

	Cade McNown is one face in the Bears' crowded quarterback picture.

In a town known for stuffing ballot boxes in the old days, few are even going to the polls in this election. Indecision 1999-2001 has hanging Cades instead. Jauron isn't alone in distinguishing the clear winner. New general manager Jerry Angelo can only go by day-to-day practice impressions. Receivers are too busy adjusting to John Shoop's more simplified system.

Jauron, in fact, can't give a timetable for when the starter will be named. He may wait until the opener.

"You'd like to have a clear winner, but if we don't have one, we will base the decision on daily practices and who has the least mental errors," Jauron said. "Nobody has clearly taken the job. It's just not ideal. Trying to get reps so three quarterbacks can work with the first unit is hard. I wish it wasn't this way."

From watching practice, the QB battle is hard to predict. McNown is the least accurate of the three quarterbacks, but he had a good couple of days this week. In most drills, he'd have no more than one incompletion, but considering that the Bears are installing their short passing game in early camp, that's not a defining stat.

To say that McNown won't start would be purely guess work, but odds are against him. Miller seems to have the edge with the players because he has a little flair to his game. Matthews is a coach favorite because he exercises the plays precisely but without flair. McNown has made his mistakes in statements and actions that sometimes rub his teammates the wrong way.

"How is Cade among his teammates?" wide receiver Marcus Robinson said while reflecting on the thought. "It depends. Everybody takes some things different ways. My friends on the team and I talk to him and he's pretty cool to us. Everybody perceives him in different ways. I guess it depends on who is looking at him. I talk to him every now and again. The other day he came in while we were playing cards and sat around. He mingles."

The talk of players resenting him probably only covers for the fact that McNown, brought in two years ago as a first-rounder, hasn't won games. He's 3-12 as a starter in two seasons. Coaches and players say that one day McNown will be a good NFL player. Problem is, everyone is running out of patience for the whole quarterback situation.

	“	The glitter is gone. He's fighting now. He's got to go out there and win. ”
		— Bears GM Jerry Angelo on Cade McNown

"That's life in the NFL," McNown said. "This is a tough, tough, tough business that we are in. You have to go out there every week and prove you are worthy to play at this level. There isn't anything that keeps me up at nights. You worry about little things that make your game better."

Angelo enters the Bears' picture with a fresh view. Coming from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Angelo has watched his old team compete against the Three Bears for the past two regular seasons.

"Right now, my thoughts are pretty much neutral on all of them," Angelo said. "I don't see anyone that's changed radically. The biggest positive is our offense will be more quarterback friendly. I don't think we are going to win because of the quarterback in our offense. We are going to win with him."

Angelo said accuracy was the biggest concern with McNown. The Bucs had Matthews but didn't sign him this season when he was available. They went for Brad Johnson. "Right now, Shane looks like he fits better in this offense because it tailors to his strengths," Angelo said.

Miller has had a wild ride with the Bears. He's 2-3 as a starter with Chicago but impresses players with his combination of throwing with a decent arm and working within a system. Unfortunately, his Bears career has been affected by a suspension for using a diet supplement, an Achilles tendon tear and a hamstring pull this summer that delays his entry into the derby to perhaps the third exhibition game on Aug. 18 against Kansas City.

"I have a lot of character builders, but it hasn't stopped me," Miller said.

As for McNown, he appears to be in a no-win situation. If Miller comes back and does well, McNown could end up being the third quarterback. He also could do well and start. Though Angelo may be tempted to bring in former Bucs quarterback Trent Dilfer, he is restricting that move this late in the process, but it's not out of the question that McNown could be cut if he fails this summer.

"He's no longer a sacred cow. He's in the hunt," Angelo said. "The glitter is gone. He's fighting now. He's got to go out there and win. It's not unlike what Dilfer had to go through when we brought in Eric Zeier. Dilfer had to win it and he did. Cade's got to make it happen."

	A hamstring injury is keeping Jim Miller on the sidelines.

Still, the Bears coaches are going with the same formula that worked with the Ravens last year and is being tried in Arizona and other teams. Minimize the quarterback position. Jauron's goal is to run the ball 38 times a game. James Allen gained 1,120 yards and is an every-down back. The Bears have added speedy Skip Hicks and second-round choice Anthony Thomas, the "A-Train" from Michigan.

"We will consistently run it and become a play-action team," Jauron said. "The system is simplified for our quarterback. The reads are simpler. I wouldn't say it's a make or break year for Cade. You want him to perform early. But that position takes some time. I believe the guy will be a good player in this league."

But if he doesn't become a good quarterback in the next month, McNown could be McGone in the next year. Safe to say, though, the success of the Bears will not depend on the quarterback. It will be whether the defense can stop the run and the secondary can stop the big plays allowed last season.

What also will help will be the schedule. Since 1997, the Bears have averaged playing nine playoff teams a season. This year, they face five, and their opponents' winning percentage last year was a combined .488.

Meanwhile, McNown stays on his best behavior. He makes it a point to sign autographs after each practice. He says he is saying more simple things in interviews so it doesn't come back to be a distraction.

"When you have less distractions, I think you can concentrate better," McNown said.

The one distraction the Bears can't avoid is figuring out their starting quarterback.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.