He played college football for the USC Trojans and was the most valuable player (MVP) of the 1977 Rose Bowl after the team's 14–6 victory over Michigan.
Evans played professionally for the Bears as well as Chicago's team in the United States Football League (USFL), the Chicago Blitz, as well as the USFL's Denver Gold, and the NFL's Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders in a career that spanned nearly 20 years from 1977 to 1995.
Despite having the talented Ricky Bell and Mosi Tatupu in the backfield, the Trojans slipped to 8–4 and ranked 17 in the final AP poll that season.
[1] USC's fortunes in the AP poll improved as well, as the team finished 11–1, with their only loss being the season opener to Missouri.
From there, USC defeated their Pac-8 opponents and closed out the regular season with a win over rival Notre Dame 17–13.
He was the fourth player drafted by the Bears, behind tackle Ted Albrecht, defensive back Mike Spivey, and tight end Robin Earl.
[6] Evans finally attempted his first NFL pass in 1978, coming off the bench late in a 40–7 blowout loss to the San Diego Chargers.
He finally earned his first win as a starter that week against the Detroit Lions, going 5-of-8 for 172 yards with a touchdown and an interception while also rushing for a score in the 24-7 victory.
He went 18-of-22 for 316 yards and three touchdowns in a 61-7 win over the Green Bay Packers on December 7, which garnered him a perfect 158.3 passer rating, the first and so far only Bear quarterback to do so.
[15] Evans was signed by the new team owners as the previous ownership group sold their interest to buy the new franchise in Arizona.
New ownership named Marv Levy as the head coach and signed Evans as their starting quarterback.
In that season, he completed 200 passes on 411 attempts in the wide-open offense that featured running back Tim Spencer and former Notre Dame star Kris Haines at receiver.
[18] After that 1985 season, the USFL made their ill-fated decision to abandon spring football and try and play in the fall.
Jim Plunkett was battling with a shoulder issue, and former first-round pick Marc Wilson had failed to live up to lofty expectations.
Wilson ended up crossing the picket line, but the strike turned out to be Evans' way back in the league, where he stayed.
The Raiders turned to Jeff Hostetler, the previous hero of the New York Giants for Super Bowl XXV two years prior.
Hostetler was still the starter, but the Raiders drafted Billy Joe Hobert out of the University of Washington to be the quarterback of the future.
In his first start that season, he led the Raiders to a 30–17 win over the Indianapolis Colts, a team quarterbacked by Jim Harbaugh.
In a game that featured no touchdowns by either team, Evans threw three interceptions, all to Chargers defensive back Dwayne Harper as the Raiders lost 12–6.
[25] After leaving football, Evans built a successful real estate career in Southern California.