The Don’t Care Bear Gets Benched
Man, I don’t think there has been a bigger disaster this year than the Bears. Yeah, they’ve won more games than some other teams, but no team had higher expectations than the Bears, and no team (outside maybe the Skins) has had the public meltdowns and locker room drama as the Bears. The Bears had a terrible defense last season but still managed a overall successful go of it with Josh McCown of all people at Quarterback. Most expected Jeffrey/Marshall/Bennett/Forte and Cutler to tear things up this season, and hopefully the defense would figure it out. Instead it’s gone in the opposite direction and the Bears are a nightmare. Cutler’s own OC called him out, then had to issue a public apology. Trestman has proven unable to adjust his gameplan at any level, the defense has gotten worse, and honestly if there wasn’t so much talent in the offense they’d probably have almost no wins. It’s not like they’ve beaten anyone good as it is. They did make a comeback against the 49ers, but that looks less impressive these days.
Now in the span of one day we get Marc Trestman finding out he’s going to be jobless at the end of the season, and deciding that he’s gonna burn some bridges and start Jimmy Clausen. Pickles. They are starting Pickles. Yeah, the guy who sunk Carolina so low they got the #1 pick and took Cam Newton. The guy who has the famous “kiss the rings” picture where he looks like the smuggest jerk to ever live. I know Jay Cutler isn’t playing well, but if you think Jimmy Clausen is a better QB in any way, I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve seen some arguments that maybe Trestman is doing it to get a QB who isn’t going to funsling it and follow his offense to the letter (After all, it made Josh McCown look like an all-pro last season) but if that’s the case why not start Clausen earlier? If this is an attempt to save his job it’s just another thing Trestman screwed up.
I’ve gone back and forth in my judgement of Cutler over the years. I think he’s better than most Chicago fans (And most general fans) give him credit for, and I think they don’t realize how much they’ll miss actually having stability at QB once he’s gone. He’s not as apathetic as I like to joke he is, either, it’s just a fun character the NFL fanbase has adopted. Certainly one I’ve had a ton of fun with. I’ve run out of big excuses for Cutler though. For a while I defended him much in the same way I defended Romo to haters, but Romo has the pedigree and the numbers to back it up. Cutler, at best, is the best QB in Chicago’s history. But that stat really is sad when you think about it. It’s not really a praise of Cutler, it’s a damnnation of all Chicago QB stability. Cutler has all the talent in the world but I think we’ve seen peak Cutler. For years I’ve wondered when he’d put it all together and become the QB god he was born to be. When he started on the Bears we could blame the O-line. We could blame his lack of offensive stability under a defensive head coach. But in the past few years, they’ve made a better o-line. They’ve surrounded him with unbelievable weapons, and they’ve brought in an offensive mind. He’s still the same Cutler. I don’t think Cutler will ever be anything other than the Cutler we have right now. He will always be Cutler. Cutler is Cutler. I won’t sit back and blame all the other problems for Cutler’s failures. I also won’t call him the whole problem and pretend getting rid of him will fix everything else as a lot of dumb fans seem to believe. I will simply say Cutler is Cutler, and the Bears should focus on other problems while keeping stability, but look for replacements as they go. He’s not the long term answer. But jettisoning him with so many other issues isn’t the answer either.
I hope he sticks around because I like drawing him. he has more Cigs with each go. I’m doing something different for Saturday this week, something special to line up with comic #300, so be sure to check it out.
“Cutler, at best, is the best QB in Chicago’s history.”
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this statement this week, and how much it infuriates me that most people forget Sid Luckman existed.
Cutler could not produce with an elite RB, a solid offensive mind, an improved OL, and two receivers who would be #1 almost anywhere. At the end of the day, he’s a super-deluxe Sexy Rexy; cannon arm, great throwing motion, trusts it too much, poor decision-making, no pocket presence. He forces so many balls that he has only ever had two seasons where he was projected – since he rarely finishes seasons nowadays – to have less than 15 interceptions(2011 & 2007). He’s a turnover machine who either can’t read defenses or chooses not to. And speaking of his apathy, I have never seen a quarterback so sorry in the pocket. Not once have I ever seen him climb a collapsing pocket or scramble to elude a defense. I’ve seen him back up and run away and get sacked, I’ve seen him stand like a statue and get clobbered, I’ve seen him try to shove his linemen as if that’ll help the block, I have never seen him extend a play with his legs, and even Brady and Manning do that, even if it’s just a skip forward in the pocket. Hell, even statues like Eli and Flacco and Palmer scramble on occasion, as awkward and Gump-esque as it looks. He either doesn’t care about getting sacked or he has no feel for pressure.
Cutler’s one of the most talented QBs in the league with some of the highest potential, and because of that he’ll find another job even if Chicago tosses him. But talent doesn’t mean squat if you don’t deliver. Talent is what made six quarterbacks go ahead of Brady. Potential is what made people rate Ryan Leaf as a better prospect than Peyton.
I’m a big Cutler critic, and the fact he’s still underperforming with every excuse he’s ever had taken away is confirmation of my beliefs about him. Is he the sole problem? No. Would Chicago be better off without him? Absolutely. Even if they can’t find a good replacement, that’s why the system of parity exists; they’d have a bad season, draft high, and either trade down for a bunch of picks to build a team, or stand pat and grab a franchise quarterback.
“But it’s tanking a season, you can’t do that in the NFL! It’s wrong!” Wrong my ass, Jimmy Johnson tanked 1989 with Dallas. He sat better players he got from trading Herschel Walker because their value as conditional draft picks if they didn’t play was greater. The value for building a franchise going forward was better than the value of struggling to a 6-10 record that year. He turned those picks he tanked for into Darren Woodson, Emmitt Smith, and two Superbowl championships(Three if you count the one from after he left). I’d say that’s worth a single 1-15 year. You don’t think any GM will happily sacrifice 2014 and/or 2015 if they get Andrew Luck or Cam Newton in exchange, or get to make a move like the Rams for RG3 or the ‘Skins for Ricky Williams to build a franchise from? You’re better off sucking for a few years than you are being stuck where the Bears are: Too good to tank, too bad to win. They’d be better off starting 16 games with Clausen, sucking, and turning that high pick into something great than sticking with mediocrity.
“Cutler could not produce with an elite RB”
WHAT???
Forte is NOT an elite RB, not even close. He is an average RB, with happy feet, who can catch, kinda. Everytime he gets the ball he does the most bullshit stutter step instead of like RUNNING FORWARD that by the time he gets to the hole it has closed up.
I can go on and on about what is wrong, but the short end of it is the Bears can not run the ball. We haven’t been able to hand off and run the ball since Thomas Jones got tossed out of town for Cedric Benson. That is the #1 reason for the BEars failure since the 2006 SB season. If we could run the ball more effectively and limit JCs throws to 30ish attempts per game we would be so much more successful. I hate how everyone keeps saying that the OL is worked out. What???!!! Robert Garbage for a center is a joke, Jerk-wad Bush-League at LT can be interchanged for J. Webb, F. Omiyale or Orlando Pace, past their prime and wasting the Bears’ time. I honestly have no clue who is at LG now since Slaussen went down. Kyle Long is the only bright spot on the line and he is playing out of position at RG and should be getting groomed at LT. Jordan Mills at RT is just a happy surprise as a not terrible 6th rd draft pick.
Look at how Dallas is doing with Romo, IMO the best comparison to Cutler. They have a decent defense and their OL is built of monsters, plus DeMarco Murray > Matt Forte.
I’m not saying he is an elite QB and I am not making excuses for him, his accuracy sucks and he can’t anticipate a receiver being in a spot before he gets there. He does use his feet though, remember the helicopter spin TD his first year here? I don’t want him to run, I want him to have a competent OL that can hold a pocket or pickup a blitz.
My solution then since I know so much… Fire the entire coaching staff, GM included, Phil can’t draft, Mark cant coach Mel looks like he lost his ding dong from lunch yesterday.
Get new GM, who exactly I don’t know, I don’t play fantasy football management edition.
Get Dave Toub back from KC (he was our former ST coach) and make him our HC like he should have been instead of hiring Trestman. Head Coaches should not be the OC/DC in my opinion, they are the game manager and player personnel manager, adding the coordinator job on top of that is too much. Toub has a great eye for talent, always gets his guys to buy into his philosophy and deals with both defensive and offensive personnel.
Hire Rex Ryan after he gets the axe from the Jets. He is a terrible HC but a stellar D coordinator. Plus having him re-build the defense back to success like his daddy did would make for an excellent story.
Beg Marty Shottenheimer to come back to the NFL. He is exactly the OC we need to make what we have work and build for the future, he may not have ever won a SB, but his record of success cannot be denied. His focus is on having a great defense, running the ball (Marty-ball) and having a QB and WRs/TEs that can stretch the field when necessary.
Other suggestions for success…
get a RB who can RUN, and a FB to block for him, not a shitty RT/TE/FB multi position scrub
Draft an OL, stop buying re-treads, this can actually apply to the DL as well, I’m looking at you Jared.
cut the cord on all current LBs, seriously, none of them can play ball.
cut every DB except for Kyle Fuller, that kid can ball.
Draft a freaking Center already, stop converting Guards to play Center
Someone disconnect the Bears’ phone lines for the duration of free agency, seriously.
Forte has a 4.3 career ypc and was 2nd in the NFL in rushing yards last year. And this guy says he can’t run? I question whether or not “Mike” has ever actually watched Matt Forte. He’s been the most solid guy on the team since 2008.
…Are you sure we’re talking about the same Matt Forte? The same Matt Forte who’s probably a few years from being the fourth player to ever have 10,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards? The same Matt Forte who’s never had less than 900 yards in spite of the horrifically sorry state the Bears OL has been most of his career, and if we include this season since I’ll be amazed if he has less than 68 yards in two remaining games, has only ever rushed for less than 1,000 yards twice? The same Matt Forte who’s probably the league’s best all-around back in terms of rushing, catching, and blocking?
Also Romo is worlds better than Cutler. Comparing them is like comparing Flacco to Brady.
have you ever seen film of forte blocking?
it’s like looking for a unicorn
Sure Sid Luckman was good, but we are in a *passing era*, which is something that people don’t really talk about when he’s brought up. He didn’t even play in the SB era.
Improved o-line? Gonna have to agree to disagree on that one. Jay got almost no protection whatsoever. Plus his receivers couldn’t get separation all year long (lack of time? bad route design? sudden lack of talent? I don’t fuckin’ know!). Also the whole “Trestman couldn’t call a good play against a defense made of wet paper bags” thing.
Maybe you’re forgetting that Cutler is the best *since* Luckman, not the best we’ve ever had. By stats alone, Cutler’s been better than Grossman and McMahon, and has broken a few of Luckman’s records himself. To can him would be beyond stupid, since we’ve no one to replace him. Pickles? He’s a backup, like McCown. Fales? We won’t even start him in the last week, and Fales was signed from the practice squad just to keep New England from signing him. Cutler is not the best QB we’ve ever had. He’s the best we’ve had since Luckman.
Someone was saying that Cutler is the second coming of Jeff George.
I don’t think so.
George was never that much of an asshole.
I’ve never seen Jay intentionally peg a WR in the back of the head during a game.
Triple fisting cigarettes? Impressive, Don’t Care Bear.
Sid Luckman?! Seriously?! You mean the guy with a 75.0 QB rating, 137 TDs and 132 INTs in his career?
Get real. He wouldn’t even be a starter in the current league.
Consider the era, friend.
Luckman played in an era before pass interference existed. Receivers were glorified blockers because nobody before Luckman and Halas had ever made the forward pass an integral part of their offense, so they barely knew how to catch, nevermind making difficult, contested catches that Brandon Marshall dominates. Hell, Luckman barely knew what he was doing, there were no route trees or quarterback gurus to make his job easier.
Players didn’t play dedicated on offense or defense until late in his career, so Luckman spent as much time throwing passes as he did defending them as a DB. Do you honestly think Jay Cutler could be a good defensive back?
Padding was thinner. If you got leveled in 1934, you felt every pound of force. Hell, a head to head hot probably did worse than just a concussion with that glorified learner hat. With how fragile Cutler is, he wouldn’t have survived a scrimmage in that era.
Frankly, the same way that a genius like Da Vinci, if he lived today with modern knowledge and science, probably would put many prominent geniuses to shame, if Luckman had today’s offensive gameplanning, receivers, and position coaching, he’d probably put a lot of great quarterbacks to shame. Meanwhile, Cutler wouldn’t even make one of Luckman’s teams because there’s no defensive position he can play.
“With how fragile Cutler is, he wouldn’t have survived a scrimmage in that era.”
I agree with nothing you said above. Sid was just a guy throwing balls in an era that nobody knew how to defend, DBs were a joke back then. But seriously, Jay is a lot of things, but pussy or fragile he is not. That guy has gotten steamrolled over and over and always gets back up. If you bring up the NFC championship game I will scream, Jay had no legs and couldn’t get out of his own way much less avoid a pass rush behind that pathetic line, and Lovie and the bears did him no favors by not saying he was injured, Jay got shot up and tried to play against team doctors recommendations. Sid would have been annihilated in today’s NFL and his head would explode from just flipping through a modern era playbook, the NFL back then was like a backyard scrimmage during thanksgiving family reunion while waiting for dinner to be ready.
I never said anything about the NFC Championship, I don’t know why you’re harping on it. I was referring more to the injuries that took him out for six games last year, or four games in 2012, or ten games in 2011. Jay gets hurt a lot. And don’t use the excuse of a bad offensive line; Rodgers has been hit more times per season, yet he only has one major injury to show for it. Ryan Tannehill has been in the league a third of the time as Cutler, has been sacked more since 2011 than Cutler in spite of not even being in the NFL in 2011, and has yet to miss a single start. Jay is fragile for an NFL quarterback.
I also think you underestimate the complexity of old-school football. Was it the complex dance that it is today? No. But to say that the strategy of it is comparable to a turkey bowl is laughable.
Clarification: Rodgers actually has been hit less than Cutler, albeit barely. Since 2010, Rodgers has been sacked an average of 39 times per 16 games, while Cutler 41. So technically Cutler is sacked more. But two sacks per year isn’t enough to explain the vast discrepancy in their play.
The Notre Dame fanboy in me wants to believe Jimmy Clausen will finally turn his career around and what not, but at the same time I know that’s probably not going to happen haha! As for Cutler I’ve tried defending him over and over, and I’m not even a Chicago fan, but every single time I do it seems he ends up making me look like a fool for doing so. I don’t know what the answers are for Chicago, but I agree Jay Cutler isn’t the long term QB they need to have.
Benching Cutler is like taking the Ferrari engine out of a clunker because the tires were flat.
This is an act of desperation by doomed coaches, nothing else.
With the Titans being the train wreck they are, this year, and believing they will cut bait with Jake Locker after the season is over, I’m afraid they may jump at the chance to get Cutler if he’s available after the season. The starting of Claussen over Cutler feels like it’s the end of the road for him in Chicago and I don’t have much confidence that Mettenberger is the answer in Nashville. Since the University of Tennessee grad (Peyton) wouldn’t come to the Titans, maybe the Vandy guy will. That’s my fear anyway.
Oh my god a Titans fan
ARE YOU REAL OR IS THIS A DREAM
(In all seriousness, what don’t you like about Mettenberger? I’ve liked what I’ve seen of him this season, but admittedly I only watched one or two games)
I’m basing it off results only. I’ve only seen one complete game he’s played (the Monday Night loss to the Steelers, which wasn’t too bad). I don’t have Sunday Ticket and I live in a market (Louisville, KY) that only shows Colts and Bengals regardless of who they are playing and regardless of what must-see matchups are happening elsewhere. I just know they’re losing to weak teams and they’re out of the game before they even score.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Mettenberger, I’m just not sure he’s the long-term answer.
(And yes, we do exist. There’s just not been much to come out of hiding for lately. LoL)
“Cutler, at best, is the best QB in Chicago’s history.”
Now hold on just a damn minute. What about the greatest QB of all time? Where did the love go for Sexy Rexy?
ITT: the most ridiculous & uninformed football discussion I’ve ever seen.