Sunday night, around 7:00 o'clock pm central time, the 2009 Chicago Bears will take the field against the Green Bay Packers. The moment I've waited my entire Bears-fandom for, through all of the PT Willis's, Will Furrers, Steve Stenstroms, Rick Mirers, Cade McNowns, and Jonathan Quinns, will arrive when Jay Cutler, NFL quarterback takes the field for the first time in a regular season game with an orange C stuck on his helmet. Rick Morrissey would have you believe that I'm salivating over my mistaken belief that the Bears will win the Superbowl this year. What I'm salivating over is that they have a chance. This year, and next year. And every year that Jay Cutler takes the snaps for this team.
I'm not a huge fan of Chris Collinsworth (no matter how hilarious the comment about Cutler, Olsen, and Olsen's wife being a threesome was), but I have to agree with what he said during the Denver game, when he said "There are a lot of ways to win games in the NFL. You can win with defense, running games, field position, but the easiest way to win is with the quarterback." I hate Brett Favre more than any athlete currently playing (Bonds is involuntarily retired, so Brett wins), but I saw him take plenty of Packers teams that had less than stellar talent on offense and defense to the playoffs damn near every year. Granted, once he got there he usually was the reason they lost, but fuck that, I'm making a point. Name me one franchise quarterback who didn't make his team vastly better. Hell, Carson Palmer willed the Bengals to 11-5 once. It's time to put the Bears in that category. No more "if Rex Grossman can just play smart football and not lose games...", no more "if Kyle Orton can just manage the game and make a few plays...", no more "If Cade McNown would just fall off a cliff and die...". None of that. It's in the past. From now on its "The Bears may have some issues _____, but with Jay Cutler under center they can never be discounted."
I've got more faith in this year's defense than most, but I also think that even if they struggle, this team's still in the playoffs, or at least playing for a playoff spot the last week of the season. Since the day I was born this team has been 164-171. Considering the first thing I really remember is Wannstedt's first season, they've been 120-136. Say goodbye to that.
I realize some people are screaming that Cutler is 17-20 as a starter and obviously a quarterback isn't the Only thing you need, to which I wonder what record any previous Bears quarterback would have managed with the 29th ranked defense in the NFL. 8-8 is an outstanding accomplishment at that point. There will be down years with Cutler at quarterback. But an 8-8 "down year" is acceptable. Just knowing every year that they may only need to add one or two players to be right back in Superbowl contention feels good. Knowing that those one or two players won't include a quarterback is priceless.
But beyond Cutler, let's focus on some important things about this game-
-The defensive line- Everybody's healthy. Including Tommie Harris. If that, and all of Marinelli's work, doesn't result in a pass rush, nothing will. They'll get Rodgers on the run.
-The secondary- The Bears are playing it coy with Tillman's injury, but Lovie may have accidentally hinted at Peanut lining up at corner on Sunday. With that said, this is still beyond the scariest part of the team. If the defensive line doesn't get a rush, then hope that Cutler's experience with shootouts will come in handy.
-The linebackers- Everyone's claiming that Urlacher looks healthy again, which I'll buy when I see that. Pisa Tinoisamoa is a huge upgrade over the Hunter Hillenmeyer/Nick Roach combo used at that position last year. Lance Briggs is as good as it gets. They're going to be called upon to do a lot in coverage on Saturday. Still, if there's any part of the defense you can feel good about, it's these guys.
-The offensive line- The Packer's first round pick, defensive tackle BJ Raji, is doubtful with an injured ankle. This should hopefully bode well for the Bears run game. If Forte can get on track early, the rest of the offense will flow through him and Jay Cutler will make one hell of a first impression.
Honestly, this has been the longest offseason of my life. The loss against Houston wrapped up a disappointing season that left this team with far more questions than answers. No one knew where the hell this thing was going. Then April 2nd rolled around and Jerry Angelo told the team that it was time to win. On Sunday they get their first crack at it, and its about damn time.
That line, of course, is one of Sean Connery's best in what's possibly the single greatest film of all time, The Rock*. But anyways, our friend Rick is back, and you of course shouldn't be surprised that the whole point is to crap on the Bears. Without further ado, he's in italics:
Sports Illustrated has the Bears going to the Super Bowl this season, raising the obvious question: Where does Lovie Smith find the time to coach an NFL team and write for a major publication?
Yeah, how dare those professional journalists taking an objective look at the Bears determine that with a legitimate offense, a hopefully improved defense, and the league's weakest schedule, they might be a competitor in a wide open NFC.
The magazine's prediction might be bold -- might even be meandering toward insane -- but on the other hand, what the heck. If you can't dream big before the regular season begins, when can you? Autumn and Jay Cutler passes are in the air, and lots of true believers in town already are feeling sorry for the '72 Dolphins.
Who? Who is feeling sorry for the '72 Dolphins. Other than the fact that they're the biggest group of asshats in the football world, who in Chicago is actually predicting this? Is he addressing the meatheads? Because that's DEFINITELY a worthwhile endeavor. David Haugh picked the Vikings. NFL Network picked the Packers. Hell, Mike Ditka picked the Packers. Nobody is buying Cutler=Superbowl. Morrissey just wants them to so that he can say "I told you so!" if the Bears fail to win a Superbowl this year.
Fervor almost always reaches critical mass in Chicago this time of year, but with the reviled Packers first on the schedule and Cutler at quarterback, it might be too much for some of the more excitable Bears fans, the ones with pre-existing heart conditions and/or heat-packing spouses who are tired of being asked to scout next week's opponent.
So he Is talking to the meatheads.
When has there been this much buzz surrounding the Bears? Even their most recent Super Bowl season, 2006, didn't produce the kind of anticipation we're seeing as the team readies for its Sunday night opener in Green Bay. Yes, the defense was exceptional in '06, but the quarterback was Rex Grossman.
Actually I was far more confident going into that season. The division was much weaker, the defense much more stout, and I WAS convinced Rex was the answer.
Might we have to go back to that most holy of holy years, 1985, to find similar levels of excitement? I don't mean to put these Bears on that level because they're not even close in terms of overall talent. But when has a blanket of enthusiasm covered the land like this?
That time I thought I saw Rick Morrissey dead on the street? Turns out it was just a hobo.
Is the galloping optimism warranted? No, but never underestimate the ardor of fans who have been deprived of a newfangled thing called "the forward pass." And here comes Cutler, with an arm like a deranged pitching machine.
I can imagine Rick trying to come up with that sentence. It just made the final cut over "The only passing most Bears fans are involved with involves their own gas!"
Can a quarterback make that big a difference?
Yes. Holy shit, yes. Are you fucking kidding me?
Maybe the better question is, Can a quarterback with Cutler's skills make an average Bears team that much better?
Yes.
First off, the guy is not a miracle worker, though there were off-season reports he could change water into beer. If he can keep his head on straight and if just one wide receiver starts playing like an NFL wide receiver, Cutler is worth one more victory this season and perhaps a wild-card berth for a team that went 9-7 last year.
Oh look, a shot at Cutler for drinking this spring. It's not like he's a single 26 year old with millions of dollars in disposable income and didn't have to work for another two to three months after the fact. Actually, Football Outsiders project the Bears to have the best record in the NFC. Not that I agree, but they use actual metrics rather than a pessimistic desire to tear down Cutler becuase they advocated the team would be better without him.
I know that's disappointing to those of you who wept joyfully and unapologetically after reading the SI prediction. But the defensive backfield remains a big question mark. The good news is that, perception-wise, Charles Tillman has turned into a Pro Bowl cornerback while he recovers from back surgery. If he stays off the field much longer, he can start writing his Hall of Fame induction speech.
Or he's just a solid cornerback with experience on a secondary lacking it. A secondary that every Bears fan, and every expert, I know or have read labels as the team's biggest problem.
And whoever Tommie Harris is these days, he's not Tommie Harris, circa 2005. He's closer to the Miller High Life delivery guy.
The guy had 5 sacks and 37 tackles in a "down" year. He looked good and got into the backfield repeatedly against Denver. He's healthy. He'll be starting week one. The rest of the defensive line has really taken to Marinelli's coaching and also look improved. And Miller High Life sucks, and those commercials should have died out two years ago. The champagne of beers, my ass.
To sum up, hope for a Super Bowl appearance centers on two things not involving psychedelics: Cutler being as good as hyped, which might be impossible even if he were Joe Montana in his prime, and the defense being above average, which is a huge challenge for a unit that talks the talk but walks with a limp.
Cutler hype has become Morrissey's straw man. No one that knows a damn thing about football is predicting him to singlehandedly carry them to a Superbowl. Morrissey's just saying they are so that even when he has a solid 3500 yd, 20+ td effort and the Bears make the playoffs, he can either say "yeah, but he wasn't even in the top 5 in____ and they didn't win the Superbowl! Guess I was right after all!" Meanwhile everyone else will go back to enjoying the fact that the Bears have an NFL quarterback and the hilarity that is Morrissey defending to the grave his statement that the Bears would be better off without him.
Oh, and the Bears are hoping running back Matt Forte doesn't go all Geovany Soto on them in his second year
Statistically most runningbacks improve from their first to second season. Hell, the three names I hear most often compared to Matt Forte are LaDainian Tomlinson, Brian Westbrook, and Marshall Faulk. Tell me if any of those three "regressed" in their second year.
OK, now the good news. Going by the NFL's strength of schedule formula, the Bears have the easiest schedule in the league, with their opponents' combined 2008 winning percentage at .414. When the Bears went to the Super Bowl in the 2006 season, they had the NFL's easiest schedule, as well, with opponents' winning percentage from the season before at .445.
I'm so damn tired of hearing that. You know who else gets to play the Lions twice this year? The Packers and the Vikings. Stop acting like Chicago is the only team that get's to benefit from a shot at Matt Millen's Mistakes.
I'm no mathematician, but the fact that they play 0-16 Detroit twice this season might be a factor in the easiest-schedule discussion. The word "easiest" comes with warning labels: the Bears face six opponents that made the playoffs last season: the Steelers, Ravens, Vikings, Cardinals, Falcons and Eagles.
The Steelers will be tough, as will the game in Baltimore, but they went 1-1 against the Vikings last year, the Cardinals are playing in Chicago in what will probably be cold weather (and their pass defense is, shall we say, sketchy?), they would have beaten the Falcons last year were it not for one retarded decision to squib kick, and they Did beat the Eagles last yar. I'll take it.
Mike Ditka, the buzz killer, says the Packers are going to win the NFC North. There are three possibilities here: A) he's right, B) he's very, very distracted after becoming a part owner in the Lingerie Football League or C) a combination of A and B. He's correct that the Bears won't win the division, but he has the wrong team in first. That would be the Vikings with Brett Favre.
Mike Ditka is a self parody at this point. Hell, he has been since about 1986. He's an obnoxious homer most of the time and I've yet to hear him offer one legitimate piece of football analysis outside of "______ is tough!" and "I'm gonna trade every fucking thing I have to pick up Ricky Williams! That'll work!" I'll survive his betrayal.
We're about to find out if a talented Bears quarterback can carve a passing game out of two tight ends and a running back. What better place to do it than Green Bay and what better team to do it against than the Packers?
Sigh. Back to the receivers again. Why does this seem familiar... let's go back....
From August 11th (the second time I ripped into Morrissey):
And That was already a copy and paste from the First time I ripped into Morrissey, back on July 27th.
Also, here's an interesting piece from Football Outsiders on how Ron Turner has used, and can use, that same offense to create constant mismatches and help Cutler "carve out a passing game."
Come to think of it, Detroit and the Lions wouldn't have been such a bad option.
No shit.
Go to hell, Rick Morrissey
*-The Rock may not be the greatest movie of all time. But it is beyond awesome. If you haven't seen it, or worse, have seen it and didn't like it, you should just cut off your testicles right now, because you clearly don't need them. Since you aren't a man.
Offensive Linemen- Orlando Pace, Frank Omiyale, Olin Kreutz, Roberto Garza, Chris Williams, Kevin Shaffer, Lance Louis, Josh Beekman
Defensive Lineman- Adewale Ogunleye, Alex Brown, Tommie Harris, Anthony Adams, Marcus Harrison, Israel Idonijie, Jarron Gilbert, Mark Anderson, Matt Toeiana
Linebackers- Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Pisa Tinoisamoa, Hunter Hillenmeyer, Jamar Williams, Nick Roach
Cornerbacks- Zack Bowman, Charles Tillman, Corey Graham, Nathan Vasher, Trumaine McBride, DJ Moore
Safeties- Danieal Manning, Kevin Payne, Al Afalava, Josh Bullocks, Craig Steltz
Specialists- Robbie Gould, Brad Maynard, Patrick Mannelly.
Notes- I think they made the right choice on the wideouts. Aromashadu is a more polished and talented receiver than Rideau, and Rashied Davis' solid work as a gunner makes him worth keeping, so long as Aromashadu holds down the slot until Johnny Knox is ready to take it from him. I'm a little surprised they cut Rod Hood and kept Trumaine McBride. All that tells me is that I need to sacrifice even more to C'thulu to ensure that Tillman is healthy enough to go on Sunday.
Not many other surprises other than the Bears actually making the smart move of cutting Brett Basanez and only going with two quarterbacks. Basanez made the practice squad, so he should be there if something should happen. Granted, if anything Does happen to Cutler this year I'll be so far gone from the booze I'll drink to numb the pain every Sunday that I won't even notice Basanez's weak arm out there. Another smart move was stashing Henry Melton on the IR for the year. He's a prospect worth taking another look at next year.
The injury to Kevin Jones hurts as Garrett Wolfe will need to be effective (something he hasn't done at all in his career), lest this team subjects Forte to the kind of abuse he took last year (which would have long term effects, trust me).
Also, Rex Grossman is now officially the back up quarterback for the Houston Texans, and Matt Schaub's already dealing with an injury, so raise your Sexy Rexy Alert to Elevated and keep your eyes on the heart of Texas.
Sorry I've waited until Tuesday to react to this weekend's events (my breakdown of the Bears roster plus mild moping over Kevin Jones' injury to come later today), I was, however, turning 21 years of age and celebrating all that that entails, so f*&k you, you don't own me, and I'm not sorry at all.
Anywho, how my top 25 fared this weekend-
#1 Florida 62, Charleston Southern 3. That was to be expected.
#2 Texas 59, Louisiana Monroe 20. Mildly concerned about allowing 20 points? Not really.
#3 Oklahoma 13, BYU 14. This one's a shocker in many ways. The saddest thing about this game is what may have happened to the future of Sam Bradford. He's elected Not to have surgery on his injured shoulder, and he's currently expected to be out for 2-4 weeks. If he's off his game when he returns, not only will Oklahoma's season be dead in the water, his nearly sure-fire status as the #1 pick in the draft will be kaput. For his sake I hope he comes back strong. Great showing by the BYU defense, though, even without Bradford.
#4 USC 56, San Jose State 3. Well that's nice. They reload with a true freshman quarterback and come out looking like the same leviathan of doom as always. Obviously the game against Ohio State this week will be the true indicator of whether or not this team will be successful, but I have no problem going out on that limb and saying that Ohio State's getting its ass kicked.
#5 Ole Miss 45, Memphis 14. Well, for at least one week my confidence in them (the AP had them at #8) is rewarded.
#6 Ohio State 31, Navy 27. I'm really not going to act shocked that Navy played them so well, or act like anyone should be concerned for Ohio State. Navy's a well coached, hard fighting ball club that runs a difficult triple option offense that few know how to defend well. They'll be alright. They're still getting their asses kicked on Saturday, but they should run the table after that.
#7 Virginia Tech 24, #8 Alabama 34. Shit. I said in my preview that Alabama had too many questions on offense for me to rank them at #5 like the AP did. And I predicted that VT would knock them off. Fail one for me. Alabama looks dangerous if they can score as consistently as they did against a typically stout Frank Beamer defense.
#9 Penn State 31, Akron 7. I have tickets to the Illinois-Penn State game on October 3rd. I was optimistic that Illinois could take them in Champaign. That optimism is dying. Fast.
#10 Oklahoma State 24, #13 Georgia 10. I wasn't quite expecting the low score in this game, but I'm more than confident Zac Robinson will straighten the kinks out of his game on offense, and I'm impressed (but not too impressed with Georgia's offense being a work in progress) with the Cowboys' defense. I'm sure they were all salivating as their potential for making a BCS bowl shot straight up as Sam Bradford was crumpled to the turf.
#11 Oregon 8, #12 Boise State 19. There are meltdowns, and then there are the Britney Spears shaving herself bald style meltdowns similar to what Oregon experienced on opening night. Their biggest concern going into the season was how well their new offensive line would play, and the pants shitting was epic. They couldn't block a damn thing all night, and Boise State made them look like they were moving in slow motion. They lost their star tailback for the season after he lost his cool and cold cocked a Boise State player after the game. They're screwed. Boise State's defense looked pretty solid, though. So they'll be rising.
#14 Cal 52, Maryland 14. Wow. I did not expect Cal to issue a thumping of this magnitude on opening night. The battle for the Pac 10 just got very interesting, even with Oregon looking completely inept.
#15 Georgia Tech 37, Jacksonville State 17. 'Cuz I'm a rambling man from Georgia and A HELL OF AN ENGINEER!
#16 Nebraska 49, Florida Atlantic 3. My biggest reach of the Top 25 (AP- #24), so far they look as good as I expected. I see big things for Pelini's crew in year two. (Big things= soft Big 12 North schedule+ass raping at the hands of Texas in Big 12 title game).
#17 LSU 31, Washington 23. I understand Washington has a new staff and a healthy Jake Locker back to make them a much improved team from last year's winles squad, but LSU should have looked better. We'll see.
#18 Cincinnati 47, Rutgers 15. My Big East favorite comes out looking strong. Rutgers is still struggling in the post-Ray Rice era.
#19 North Carolina 40, Citadel 6. Not really much to say here.
#20 NC State 3, South Carolina 7. Uggh. Dana Bible (NC State's Offensive Coordinator) really sucks at his job. They're gone.
#21 Utah 35, Utah State 17. Solid effort for the Utes.
#22 Iowa 17, Northern Iowa 16. I was listening to this game on the radio in Des Moines, trying to will UNI to victory. They came damn close, having their 40 yard GW field goal attempt blocked....twice. For Iowa, this is extremely concerning. They've already lost their starting runningback for the year and failed to run the ball effectively, and they struggled defensively when UNI spread it out. I've had a hunch for a while that they could have trouble in Aimes against an Iowa State team with a new spread offense and the very mobile Austin Arnaud at quarterback, and it's only getting stronger.
#23 Notre Dame 35, Nevada 0. The 35 points on offense aren't surprising, and maybe even a little low against a weak WAC defense, but the shut out is really surprising against a Nevada offense lead by returning quarterback Colin Kaepernick. I hate to say it, but ND could be making a BCS run this year. (They'll still get their asses handed to them when they get there).
#24 Oregon State 34, Portland State 7. Fair enough.
#25 Illinois 9, Missouri 37. Fuck. FUCK. My homer pick for #25 was supposed to be grounded in some optimism, with so many returning starters on offense, a new offensive coordinator, and adding a second target for Juice in Florida transfer Jarred Fayson, things were looking good for the Illini. Beat Missouri and Illinois State, tread water against Ohio State and Penn State and start 2-2 at worst, then hit a softer conference schedule. Instead this team came out and just shat the bed against Mizzou. They lost their top two runningbacks (one before the game), and arguably the nation's best receiver in the first quarter. They were sloppy and shot themselves in the foot over and over again (Juice's interception which went straight through his receivers hands was typical).
This team, once again, wins and loses solely on talent alone, as the mistakes are always plentiful. I wish I could act like it was just first game jitters and that Zook will clamp down on those mistakes, but he's shown no inclination in any of the previous four seasons to do that. I won't deny his incredible talent for recruiting, and I don't blame him one bit for his 4-19 start at Illinois after how utterly barren Ron Turner left the program, but the only thing that kept Illinois from a bowl game last year was itself. Hell, lost in the euphoria of 2007's Rose Bowl run was the fact that penalties, turnovers, and other easily avoided mental mistakes cost that team wins against Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri.
Ignoring Penn State and Ohio State, this team has four games left that it Should win (Illinois State, at Indiana, at Purdue, Michigan). It has at least five others where they should at least go 2-3 (Michigan State, at Minnesota, Northwestern, at Cincinnati, Fresno State). Even if they lose both to OSU and PSU (and they probably will), that should make them 6-6 and bowl eligible. If that doesn't happen, Zook's ass had better at least be on the hot seat. They can't make the mistake of hanging onto a coach for too long based on one lucky BCS run, like they did with Turner.
My new Top 25- #1 (-) Florida #2 (-) Texas #3 (+1)USC #4 (+1) Ole Miss #5 (+3) Alabama #6 (-) Ohio State #7 (+2) Penn State #8 (+2) Oklahoma State #9 (+5) Cal #10 (+2) Boise State #11 (+4) Georgia Tech #12 (-5) Virginia Tech #13 (-10) Oklahoma #14 (+2) Nebraska #15 (+2) LSU #16 (+2) Cincinnati #17 (+2) North Carolina #18 (+5) Notre Dame #19 (+2) Utah #20 (+4) Oregon State #21 (-8) Georgia #22 (NR) BYU #23 (NR) Miami #24 (NR) Michigan State #25 (NR) Missouri
Some Notes- Yes, Oklahoma is ranked over BYU even though BYU beat them. They'll be better with a week to prepare for not having Sam Bradford, and when he comes back they'll be a threat in the Big 12 again, although their national title hopes are probably shot. Iowa won, but their poor showing drops them out (as well as the fact that they will lose to Iowa State. I HAVE SPOKEN). Illinois falls out because they suck. BYU and Miami get in for impressive showings against what were AP ranked teams. Michigan State gets in because they probably should have been there already. Missouri gets in because their defense looks improved and Blaine Gabbert actually looks like he may be an improvement over Chase Daniel with his stronger arm.
Today is one of the best days of the year. Granted, not as good as this weekend will be when the Big Ten (including Illinois vs. Mizzou) kicks off, or the weekend after when the NFL starts it off, but for the first since February there will be live football that actually counts for something. There are 9 games on tonight, but the two that are actually important are South Carolina vs. NC State (which has ACC title implications, but not SEC, no matter how much Spurrier wishes it were so), and Boise State vs. Oregon, which has implications both on Oregon's challenge to USC for Pac 10 supremacy and Boise State's hopes at another BCS run.
The SC-NC State game will kick off at 6:00 PM central time on ESPN, with the Boise State-Oregon game on right after. Holy shit people, football! Granted, we may all go blind from the sight of those god awful Oregon uniforms on the gaudy blue turf of Boise State's stadium, but it will still be the glorious light of regular season football. Just to refresh I'm gonna post a link to my college football preview here, because I did it way back before anyone else had focused on football yet, and that was probably a bit premature.
Football.
Oh, and the Bears play tonight, but the starters will play only about one series, so it's hardly worth watching in comparison to the college slate on tonight. Final cuts are due on Saturday, so I'll post my response to those as soon as I can. Go Bears.
Today was the mandatory cut down to 75 players (with the deadline to cut down to the 53 man roster coming later in the week). To trim down the roster the Bears cut the following five players-
Dusty Dvoracek, DT John Broussard, WR (I have NEVER heard of that guy. Where the heck was he the last month?) Richmond McGee, P/K Fontel Mines, TE Tyler Reed, G (actually they cut Mines and Reed on the 25th, but whose keeping track?)
They also signed veteran cornerback Rod Hood from the Browns, and cut Derek Kinder, the 7th round WR from Pittsburgh to make room for him.
Hood's got 11 career interceptions and started last year for Arizona, who, umm, lost the Superbowl because of their atrocious pass defense. So, woot! Though he's probably better than Trumaine McBride, who should probably be packing his bags after his piss poor showing in Denver the other night.
I'll keep you posted when they make the big cuts later in the week, including my opinion on who should have stayed/been cut.
So after the Bears impressive 27-17 victory over the Broncos (or the Spurned Lovers, as Al Michaels would call them), here's just a few thoughts on the good, the bad, the ugly:
The Good:
-Jay Cutler. I saved him for last last week, but I'm gonna put him up front where he belongs this week. After a slow start where it was fairly obvious he was nervous (and being, you know, bottled up in his own end zone both drives didn't exactly help), he rebounded to put together some nice scoring drives, topping off with a 98 yard touchdown drive to end the first half, where he went 7-10 for 85 yards and a touchdown. This week the line was struggling to give him the time needed to look downfield, so he did a great job of finding the tight ends (including a throw down the seam to Greg Olsen that was just zipped) for 5 catches and 77 yards. He also did a great job putting the touchdown throw to Forte right where Matt was the only one who had a shot at it.
What really impressed me, however, was Jay's two plays to avoid safeties early in the first quarter. Was anyone else so conditioned by the parade of quarterbacks the Bears have had who completely lacked anything resembling pocket presence (sorry, Rex), flinching every time you saw a rusher coming at him from behind? Both times Jay stepped up into the pocket and got the ball out to Forte. It was nice to see a quarterback without much of a pants-shitting complex.
-Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark. The wide receiver corps has actually looked somewhere around adequate the last two preseason games, but these two will still be the focus of the passing game, at least for a while, and both looked good tonight outside of one drop by Clark. Olsen's really mastered the seam route, which is the most important one for any tight end to run.
-Earl Bennett. The guy made a couple great catches in traffic, and definitely seems to have good hands. I didn't put much stock into the "they played together at Vanderbilt four years ago, so they've gotta click this year!" line when training camp began, but I'm starting to.
-The defense. The run defense was absolutely stellar in the first half, limiting the Broncos to just 9 yards on 8 carries. This forced the Broncos into plenty of long yardage situations, and the defensive backs were able to play off the ball and prevent the Broncos passing game from gaining first downs with the short stuff. The Broncos were forced to punt on 5 of their 7 first half possessions. It'll be good to see how the defense looks once Tillman and Bowman are back in the lineup at corner. One thing that was also reassuring was to see Tommie Harris get significant playing time and see him get some penetration in the backfield on a few of the running plays. If they can keep playing that well against the run, they're going to win plenty of ball games.
The Bad
-Devin Hester. He continued his incosistent preseason. One the one hand, his kick ass punt return was classic Hester, and he made a couple catches and didn't seem to have any communication issues with Cutler this week. On the other hand, he really screwed the team's field position on his first few punt returns. He fair caught one that he definitely should have let go, he let go several that he should have caught, and he put the team in awful starting position.
-Orlando Pace. I'm not going to be too rough on the big guy, since he's played well in the first two preseason games, but last night the much smaller and faster Elvis Dumervil beat him badly on several plays. Fortunately most of the defensive ends and linebackers in the NFL are grown up size, so hopefully he'll match up better against them. If not, Kevin Shaffer is a reliable insurance plan.
The Ugly-
-Denver fans' Bitterness. Let it go, people. It was hysterical following the liveblogs and comment threads around the internet as Denver fans guaranteed a Cutler interception or safety every time the Bears were buried deep in their territory, and to hear them explain how Cutler just isn't a winner (and its not the defense's fault, either, they mave have allowed 374 yards and 28 ppg last year, but that was all because Cutler turned the ball over, which he did mostly after they'd already given up the lead so I just don't see...whatever). The people wearing the Cutler jerseys with the diapers and the binkies were awesome, too. I hope their asses froze to the seats.
-Kyle Orton. God damnit, Josh McDaniels. I know Orton isn't a deep ball thrower (which I still maintain has Less to do with his arm strength than it does his release, as he has too much of a wind-up on the deep ball), but the man can throw it at least ten yards. I've know watched every snap Orton's taken in three preseason games with Denver and can't honestly remember seeing him attempt a pass Beyond the first down marker on a 1st and 10 or 2nd and 10. I wasn't hoping he'd play that well against the Bears, obviously, but it'd be nice if I didn't have to go back to constantly defending the Patron Saint's arm strength.
To summarize: Cutler looked great under pressure and god I hope the first team defense we've seen the last two games isn't a preseason mirage, because this team looks like a god damn winner right now.
See, Rashied? Catch the ball, secure it against the body, like Devin here.
Coming into training camp, the Bears announced that Danieal Manning would line up with the starting unit at free safety. When the Bears switched the nickel package, Manning would move to nickelback (where he actually seemed comfortable last year), and Craig Steltz of all people would line up at free safety. Manning was performing well at FS before suffering a hamstring injury that left him out of much of camp. Who stepped up in Manning's absense? Obviously not Craig Steltz, because that guy blows and everyone knows it. Instead, Kevin Payne shifted from strong safety to free safety, where he's performed well both in camp and in the preseason (especially Saturday night against the Giants where he made a couple great tackles and had a beautiful pass deflection), and rookie 7th round draft pick Al Afalava of Oregon State came in and has impressed most observers at strong safety, where at least one writer compared his skillset to that of Mike Brown (who was good when he was healthy, if you can even remember that far back).
All throughout his absence, Lovie Smith has stated that free safety still belongs to Manning, but most people watching the situation would agree that Afalava and Payne have definitely made things interesting. All told, it could be that a position seen as the team's biggest weakness going into camp may look a little stronger, with three deserving candidates competing for time.
At wide receiver the two starters are Devin Hester and Earl Bennett, and after the Giants game, people seem to have shut up about Earl Bennett and the fact that he didn't catch a pass in his rookie year. That leaves three or four spots open at wide receiver, since no one is quite sure whether Bears will carry five or six wideouts into the season. Those three or four wide receivers have to come out of a pool of Devin Aromashadu, Brandon Rideau, third round pick Juaquin Iglesias, fifth round pick Johnny Knox, seventh round pick Derek Kinder, and, of course, Rashied Davis.
I said last week thought I didn't see the Bears cutting either Iglesias or Knox, since Iglesias is far too high of a pick to cut and Knox, with his 4.34 40 yard dash time would never make it through waivers in order to reach the practice squad (as some of suggested the Bears do with him). Kinder will probably be cut, as he was a 7th round flier and hasn't really progressed as much as the others. That leaves either one or two out of the group of Brandon Rideau, Devin Aromashadu, and Rashied Davis. I figured the smart money was on Rashied Davis getting cut, but Larry Mayer of Bears.com said he figured Rashied to be a lock based on his work on special teams, which I find absolutely fucking ridiculous. Rashied is the most expensive of the three, he's the only one of the three to have finished a season tied for 14th in the NFL in dropped passes, and if you'll notice based on the stats:
If you look, Rashied Davis has by far the fewest receptions and yards of any of the wide receivers on that list. It's not so damaging for Greg Jennings to drop 8 passes when he's probably targeted over 100 times. It's pretty bad for Rashied Davis to drop 7 passes when he's probably targeted 50 times. My point? Rashied Davis sucks, and it can't really be that hard to train someone as fast as Knox to be a returner or gunner on special teams, whatever it is that Rashied does, and cut his ass. Then I'd cut Rideau and keep Aromashadu, because Devin seems to be a better route runner than Rideau, has better chemistry with Cutler, and he certainly impressed with his technique when he caught that fade from Cutler against the Giants.
So my depth chart at wide receiver would go Hester/Bennett/Aromashadu/Iglesias/Knox.
I spent my entire week of work completing this (the server that contains all the data I usually work on was down, so I had nothing to do), so I expect you all to appreciate this. In honor of Cutler's debut at Soldier Field, and the hope (realistic this time!) that the Bears have finally locked down the most important position on the field, I have compiled this PowerPoint (there was an Excel spreadsheet preceding the PowerPoint, because I'm scientific like that) of all Bears starting quarterbacks from Luckman to Cutler. Be careful if you just ate, because some of this shit will make you want to vomit:
The slides are in chronological order, based on when each quarterback made his first start for the Bears. The results are fairly brutal, but I guess thats what you expect from an organization so quarterback deficient that Shane Matthews is its franchise leader in completion % (61.1%).
Let me know what you think, or if it even works for you all, since this is the first time I've used authorSTREAM to upload a PowerPoint.
I mean, after the offense laid a giant turd in last week's game, I ranted and railed against those overreacting and predicting DOOM for all things Bears, so it would certainly be wrong of me to say things like HOLY SHIT! THAT WAS F&%KING AWESOME! DO YOU SEE THE ARM ON THAT CUTLER GUY?? HE CAN THROW THAT BALL OVER A MOUNTAIN! FORTE IS FAST! THE OFFENSIVE LINE OPENED HOLES I COULD HAVE WADDLED MY FAT ASS THROUGH! THIS TEAM IS CLEARLY SUPERBOWL BOUND!
But it's the preseason. So I Won't say those things. No matter how awesome it looked. But by God, did it look awesome. A breakdown:
2. Matt Forte. Any concerns over how he'd be affected by the limited reps he got in training camp and being held out of last week's game should have been answered last night. He hit holes hard and fast, and he even bounced it outside on a nice 18 yard runs. This kid really is the total package. He's got better vision than any Bears runningback I've watched (especially since I only caught the last few years of old, slow Neal Anderson), and his mix of power and speed is even better than that of Thomas Jones, and he figures to get better as he goes on. He also had a really nice catch and made a nice move to move upfield. I wouldn't be surprised if Forte has fewer receptions this year than the 63 he had last year, but it also wouldn't surprise me that with Cutler actually hitting him in stride and giving him room to run, that he could surpass his 477 receiving yards from last year.
3. Earl Bennett and Devin Aromashadu. While there's bound to be some slight concern over the two incidents of miscommunication between Cutler and Hester (Hester broke in on a pattern where Cutler thought he'd break out, leading to an overthrow, and Hester slowed down and misjudged a GLORIOUS deep ball from Jay, leading to another overthrow), its also comforting to see Bennett show off some nice moves and a good rapport with Cutler (he had 2 catches for 42 yards), and I'd be real surprised, after the strong camp he's had and his great diving catch last night, if Devin Aromashadu Isn't the slot receiver against Green Bay on September 13th. All in all it was a pretty solid night from the receiver corps.
4. The defensive line. These guys looked truly spectacular last night. They put in the kind of aggressive work effort we haven't seen from them since 2006. They had five sacks on the night, with the starters contributing two of those. Ogunleye and Brown got to Manning on two consecutive third downs, with Brown forcing the fumble. Mark Anderson later shot off like a bullet and did a nice job blowing up a screen pass, and Dusty Dvoracek also contributed with a nice sack of David Carr later in the game.
5. The defensive backs. Last night was a good example of what I've been trying to say about the defensive backs and the Tampa 2 defensive scheme for a long time. Everyone moaned last year when Lovie tried preaching that "slants don't beat you," and last night was a good example of how the short stuff doesn't beat you if you play the scheme well. Manning completed 7 of 10 for 62 yards, but the Giants still failed to move the ball because the defensive line forced him into taking shorter passes and the defensive backs did a great job of moving up and making plays on the receivers before they could reach the first down marker. The one time Manning did try to throw it upfield, Kevin Payne made a beautiful play to knock it away. He's a player I really think could make some big strides this year, and right now he's locked in a three way battle with Danieal Manning ( who looks to be the starting FS despite his recent hamstring problems) and Al Afalava.
6. Caleb Hanie. I have to give this guy a shout out whenever possible, because he's a real promising prospect. The numbers don't look spectacular for him last night (10/18(55.6%), 120 yds, 6.7 ypa, 0 tds, 0 ints, 76.2 rating), but he overcame some poor play from the back up offensive line (two sacks and one drive where back to back false starts moved it from a 3rd and Inches to a 3rd and 11) and put in a pretty solid effort. His touchdown run was called back by a hold, but the mobility he has is impressive nonetheless. I like where his future is headed. Perhaps some day if he gets a regular season game or two to flash his ability (though here's hoping any injuries Cutler may suffer in his decade long, title filled run in Chicago will be minor), he could bring a Matt Schaub like return in a trade (Schaub, who had only started 2 games for the Falcons, was traded from the Falcons to the Texans in exchange for a swap of first round picks and two 2nd round picks).
7. Jay Cutler. Finally, I reach the big guy, and I'm not really sure what to say. Bears fans have acted this year like they've never seen a strong arm before, and I disagree. Grossman had an arm. Kramer had an arm. But my God, Cutler has an ARM, and he knows how to use it. The two passes he made on roll outs were ones no Bears quarterback has been capable of, at least not regularly. The throw to Earl Bennett (who was on his knees) was just muscled in there, and the bomb to Hester (which, by the way, BOTH sides took the blame for, Rick Morrissey), while on the run was simply mind blowing. Other than one poor decision he made on a slant to Bennett that was nearly intercepted, every decision he made and damn near every throw was perfect. Add onto that his 12 yard scamper for a first down, and you get a good idea of everything this guy brings to the table...and it's all just. freakin'. awesome.
So yeah, a lot of positives to take out of last night. Granted, they could lay an egg in Denver next weekend and the sportswriters will all run out to pen articles about how Cutler can't take the pressure of facing his old team, but I just don't see them looking like they did against Buffalo very often in the future. They probably won't score on every possession like they did last night, but there's really no reason Not to be excited for what's to come.
The Bears broke camp at Bourbonnais yesterday with a final practice where, as is their tradition, the players swapped jerseys (ZOMG! URLACHER AND CUTLER SWITCHED JERSEYS! BFFS 4 LIFE!). Next up for the team is a preseason game against the Giants, where the starters should play most, if not all, of the first half. Forte and Olsen are both expected to play this game, so we should get a much better look at the first team offense (though, please, and I realize I'm barking in vain, try not to read too much into Anything that happens out there). So basically here's a summarization of camp:
-The team arrives and Marcus Harrison brings a spare tire with him.
-Charles Tillman out with back surgery. Not a problem, given the standout nature of the Bears secondary.
-Zack Bowman basically won a starting job, then got hurt and missed the last two weeks of camp, leaving an opportunity for Nathan Vasher to reclaim his starting job and...
-Vasher sucked. I hate to say it, because I loved Nate, but the injuries have really robbed him of his speed and he just looks awful in coverage. There's a strong possibility he may be cut before the season, as he's due to make far too much money for a back up.
-Danieal Manning was declared the starting free safety, but then he pulled a hamstring, and Kevin Payne was shifted to safety with rookie Al Afalava moving to strong safety. The Bears insist that Manning is still in the lead for the FS job, but they're really impressed with Afalava. Does that make Payne the odd man out?
-Tommie Harris has been handled with care, although he may see some action against the Giants. As long as he's ready to go on opening day, I'm not too worried about him missing the preseason.
-Frank Omiyale seems to have locked down the starting left guard job, as expected, although the team says the competition is still going on. Josh Beekman has seen some reps at center, and many feel he could be Olin Kreutz' heir apparent.
-Pisa Tinoisamoa has pretty much been the starter at the strong side linebacker position since the day he arrived, but Jamar Williams has had a great offseason, so it's not entirely inconceivable he could come on strong and make something happen the last three preseason games.
-Jay Cutler did a lot of things, said some things that have been blown way out of proportion, was the subject of a Bobby Wade concoction about an Urlacher-Cutler spat (BUT THEY WORE EACH OTHER'S JERSEYS), but made a hell of a lot of good throws and has impressed even many of his doubters. Except Rick Morrissey.
-The wide receiver situation still has yet to shake out. Hester and Bennett will start, but the 3-5? 6? spots are still wide open. Someone's going to have to go between Devin Aromashadu, Rashied Davis, and Brandon Rideau, because I don't see the Bears cutting either 3rd round pick Juaquin Iglesias (I mean c'mon, he ain't Bob Sapp), or 5th round pick Johnny Knox (who has impressed with his 4.3ish speed and may work his way into that slot role this year), and I don't see the team keeping 7 wide receivers (8 if you count 7th round pick Derek Kinder, but I haven't heard a thing about him and I doubt he'll be around that much longer). My money's on Rashied getting the axe.
-No one's quite sure how the runningback/fullback situation will shake out either. Obviously Forte, Kevin Jones, and Jason McKie will make it, but Garrett Wolfe, Adrian Peterson, Jason Davis, and Will Ta'ufo'ou are all in competition for the remaining halfback spots. Will the Bears keep four halfbacks like they did last year? If they only keep three, look for Wolfe to win the 3rd spot as the Bears attempt to justify his high draft status. Will they keep one or two fullback? My guess is they'll just keep McKie, and then keep all four of their tight ends (Olsen and Clark, of course, and probably Kellen Davis and Michael Gaines), since Gaines is more of an H-Back anyways.
All in all, it was by most accounts an excellent camp, and besides the quickly ended Cutler-Urlacher rumor, and the Cutler-Hester mix-up, there were no incidents, unless you count Marcus Harrison being too fat (which he fixed, and he may still start next to Harris).
With all that said, things seem pretty well in place for the Giants game, and hopefully Bowman, Tillman, and Manning will all be along shortly so they can be ready to go with some practice reps before the opener in Green Bay.
At it again, are we? In his retarded piece on Brett Favre, entitled "All Brett Favre Questions Have the Same Answer: He Makes Vikings Better" (which I won't fisk line by line, since that would be talking about Favre too much, and I'm tired of doing that), he manages to take a thinly veiled shot at Jay Cutler....again-
"Question: If you're a Bears fan and want to win games (not fantasy leagues) this season, would you rather have Favre, Adrian Peterson and Bernard Berrian on your team or Jay Cutler, Matt Forte and Devin Hester?
Answer: Despite the declarations of undying love for Cutler in these parts, you would be insane not to go with Favre, et al. "
Other than the fact that Cutler is 13 years younger, has a stronger arm, Doesn't have a torn rotator cuff or surgically repaired arm, threw for more yards the last two years (8023 to 7622), a higher yards per attempt average (7.4 to 7.2), fewer interceptions (32 to 37), and had a higher rating last year, Favre's absolutely a better quarterback. Adrian Peterson is the greatest runningback in the NFL, and maybe on his way to the Hall of Fame if he stays healthy and keeps up his torrid pace, but his total yards from scrimmage last year (1885) and total TDs (10) weren't all that much better than what Matt Forte managed as a rookie (1715 and 12 tds). You could argue that Favre will make Peterson better, but you can also argue that Cutler will make Forte better. So while I'd rather have Peterson, Forte's skills as a receiver make him one of the top backs in the league nonetheless. Berrian may be better than Hester at this point, but as Bears fans know, he drops a lot of passes and has yet to have a 1,000 yd receiving season, and we'll see exactly what Hester is worth this year after he's been catching passes from Cutler.
It's really going to be fun this year to see Cutler put up great numbers and watch Morrissey try to act like he didn't spend the entire offseason ranting and raving rather than admitting he was wrong in saying the Bears shouldn't trade for Jay.
....Again. Why in God's name does this happen every year? Is it because people are so desparate for football that when it finally appears in some form we have to overanalyze every little thing? Sigh...A couple points from Saturday night.
-Yes, Cutler threw an interception. Yes, he suggested that Hester could have done a better job fighting for the ball, and didn't seem to take too much of the blame for throwing off his back foot. David Haugh, has a point though when he notes that Cutler had a valid point. Watch the tape and you'll notice Hester barely made the effort for that pass. Oh well. It'll get there. It was the first time those two have ever taken the field together. Haugh makes a good point, again, when he says that this isn't exactly a team cancer taking a shot at a teammate. It's the difference between a franchise quarterback and whatever the hell we've had in the past. Cutler's a damn good quarterback, and he knows what needs to be done out there. Don't forget Peyton Manning once complained about "protection issues" after a bad game against the Chargers. Also, can the second most popular response on the poll in this article seriously be "Give Me Back Kyle Orton"? God knows I love the Patron Saint, people, but did you not see HIS preseason debut?
- The defense is concerning, as always, but I don't think anything should be taken from the 10-10 passing performance by Trent Edwards. In the preseason this team plays the most vanilla of vanilla base defenses, with no stunts, rips, blitz packages, disguised coverages, zone blitzes, or any of the little wrinkles one typically uses to stop a no huddle offense like the one the Bills ran. If you want anything good to take from it, the first team defense only gave up 3 points and got two sacks.
-Caleb Hanie looked pretty good, shaking off 3 sacks allowed by the back up offensive line in order to go 8-11 for 87 yards and a TD.
That's really all thats worth noting, other than Al Afalava looking pretty good as he tries to lock down the starting strong safety job, which would send Kevin Payne over to free safety (an...interesting option), and keep Danieal Manning at nickel, where he plays best.
The next game is Saturday, at home against the Giants. The starters should play the whole first half, and hopefully Cutler will play well enough to shut everyone up, because its going to be an even longer wait until September 13th if I have to keep screaming "its preseason!" every week. Much like I did in 2006 as Grossman and the team struggled in the preseason. It's not like they went to the Superbowl that year or anything.
-Oh, and one last note on the Kyle Orton front. I was able to catch the replay of the Denver-San Francisco game late last night on NFL Network, and it doesn't look great. Preseason numbers are meaningless, but on all three of his interceptions Kyle just plain Stared down his receiver and threw it straight into the hands of a waiting defensive back. Its a concerning sign, possibly one meaning that he's not yet comfortable enough in McDaniels' complicated offense, and he hasn't quite mastered his progressions. God knows Kyle needs a better effort in game two than Cutler does. Having already booed him in practice, and on Saturday night, the Denver crowd is already calling for his benching in favor of Chris Simms. Good luck, Kyle. We shall place a shot of Jack Daniels at the sacrificial altar of the SKO Kyle Orton Shrine in hopes of your success.
So I realize its the preseason, but I still enjoy it. For once you'll get to actually See Cutler line up and throw to somebody and you can expect the Bears fan base to lose any perspective whatsoever. Remember the 2006 preseason? When Grossman struggled and Griese looked like Joe Montana against the third string defenses? Everyone wanted Grossman benched before the regular season even started, then Rex went out and won offensive player of the month in September. So just remember, whatever happens, as long as nobody gets injured the preseason doesn't matter. That said, it's still football. So, WOOO! MOTHERFUCKING FOOTBALL!!!! WOOO!!!
Buffalo Bills Last Year 7-9 Head Coach: Dick Jauron (21-27 in Buffalo, 56-72 Career) Yes, our old friend Dick has somehow managed to survive the axe after three consecutive 7-9 seasons for a team that hasn't seen the playoffs since Kevin Dyson and Frank Wycheck ruined their shit back in 1999. Dick is (most Buffalo fans hope) finally entering a make or break year with the Bills, and they responded by desparately signing the 35 year old Terrell Owens. We shall see.
Players to Watch: Quarterback Trent Edwards- Edwards, a 3rd round pick in 2007, probably would have been a first round pick that year had he not spent his college career losing game after game at Stanford. Physically he's a very talent quarterback and has made big strides in his first year and a half as a starter, completing 65% of his passes last year. Even an older Owens should improve his receiving corps, so Edwards should have a big year.
Wide Receiver Terrell Owens- Duh.
Linebacker Paul Pozlusny- 'Cuz I love the big lug.
Chicago Bears Last Year 9-7 Head Coach: Lovie Smith (45-35 in Chicago, 45-35 Overall)
Players to Watch:
Quarterback Jay Cutler- Naturally. The starters should play into the second quarter, so hopefully Jay will get at least 3 or 4 possessions to throw the football.
Left Guards Josh Beekman/Frank Omiyale- While it may be difficult to watch a battle at left guard, just try and pay attention on a few plays to see if either one of them seems to be getting beat more than the other. Right now Beekman leads the competition, but Lovie claims Frank is close behind
Cornerbacks- Any of them. Any of them at all. Throw the safeties in there too. I'm not even sure who is going to line up at all four starting spots, but probably Vasher and McBride at corner, Danieal Manning at Free Safety, and Kevin Payne at Strong Safety. It's preseason, but it would still be nice if they looked good covering Lee Evans and Terrell Owens.
Defensive Line- They haven't said yet if they'll play Tommie Harris, but if they do obviously all eyes will be on him. Next pay close attention to Ogunleye and Mark Anderson. Both are in contract years and Anderson is pushing hard for Ogunleye's job.
SAM Linebacker- Pisa Tinoisamoa/Nick Roach/Jamar Williams. Pisa's been lining up with the first team most of the time, despite the team claiming its an open competition, so I assume he'll start, but keep an eye out to see which of the three makes the most plays.
So, yeah. FOOTBALL! I don't know if I'll even be able to catch it tomorrow night, as I'm in Des Moines and don't know if any of the local stations will pick it up, but I'm sure I'll catch it later in the week on NFL Network when I'm back at home. Go Bears.
My favorite hack is back today, once more beating the "I said I didn't want Cutler back before the Bears traded for him when I thought I was safe because there was no chance in hell that Angelo would actually make the deal, and now I can't take it back because that would mean admitting I, the great Rick Morrissey, was wrong" drum. Is he attacking Cutler for a future meltdown again? Nay. This time he's going straight after the fans and media.
In this piece of crap, entitled "Jay Cutler Hype Over the Top," Morrissey tries and fails to dampen enthusiasm over Cutler. His words in italics:
BOURBONNAIS -- Rain fell Friday afternoon, and it was almost perfect.It gave the Bears' training camp at Olivet Nazarene even more of a Woodstock feel. If the rain had come down harder, a photographer might have gotten an iconic shot of mud-streaked fans grooving to the hissing sound of a Jay Cutler pass.
Yes, because nothing is more reminiscent of a three day orgy of hippies, rock, and drugs than a towering meathead wearing an undersized Brian Urlacher jersey while watching Caleb Hanie throw to Devin Aromashadu.
This is the Summer of Love, or the Summer of Jay, whichever you prefer. I have been in this line of work for more than 25 years and I never have seen anything quite like the ado over the Bears' new quarterback. And I covered John Elway for eight seasons.
Is that your problem then? Are you, like many Broncos fans, never satisfied because Jay Cutler somehow doesn't measure up to a guy that retired over a decade ago?
Such unconditional love for Cutler! But enough about the media coverage.
Yeah! Take that, rest of the media. Rick's showing off his professionalism. While you're all being upbeat and optimistic about a quarterback showing up for the first time in your lifetime, Rick's being professional enough to attack without reason any sign of hope in order to salvage some half assed proclamation he made back in March that the Bears were better off without Cutler.
To be fair, I was not in Denver for Elway's rookie season, when one newspaper ran a regular update that included what he ate each meal during training camp. I'm afraid I've just given sports editors in Chicago a new idea: J.C.'s Daily Bread.
So you weren't in Denver when they treated their new franchise quarterback the same way Bears fans are now treating Cutler, but you feel the need to rail against the fanbase like they're the first ones to ever act this way over a new quarterback?
Everybody seems to be giddy about Cutler. Radio interviews with him have turned into giggle-fests. Questions to other players about the quarterback start with, "How amazed are you by ..." I wish an athlete just once would respond to that sort of query with, "I'm about a half of 1 percent amazed" or "Not amazed at all; I've seen better."
Except they haven't.
The reason for the enthusiasm surrounding Cutler is obvious. The Bears haven't had a good quarterback in a long time. And his arm seems to be fitted with a hydraulic slingshot. But if I might be the fly in the Kool-Aid, let's see what this guy can do in, you know, a real game before we crown him the next Peyton Manning.
I love this part. "Let's see what he can do in a real game." Cutler isn't Matthew Stafford. Hell, he's not even Rex Grossman before 2006. He's got 2 1/2 full seasons of experience where he's PROVEN he can play in the NFL. Also- Manning through his first 37 starts-
Hmm. Interesting. Cutler has a better comp. %, better yards per attempt, and a better TD-Int Ratio. Not to say that Jay will Be the next Peyton Manning, but it does seem like a reasonable comparison.
"It's real exciting," wide receiver Brandon Rideau said. "We have a Pro Bowl quarterback in, so everybody in town is excited about it. We're excited. We just want to make sure we can come in and live up to what we expect of ourselves."
Over and over again, players, fans and media members have referred to Cutler as a Pro Bowl quarterback. If by saying he's a Pro Bowl quarterback you mean he has gone to one Pro Bowl, then, yes, he's a Pro Bowl quarterback. That makes Marty Booker a Pro Bowl wide receiver because he was selected for the game in 2002.
That's exactly what we mean by saying he's a Pro Bowl quarterback. We'd sure look like idiots if he Hadn't gone to one, wouldn't we? Also, there's a statute of limitations on this shit, Rick. I'm quite sure I distinctly remember hearing Marty Booker referred to in 2003 as a "Pro Bowl Wide Receiver." If Jay doesn't go this year, or hasn't gone in 7 years, we won't still call him that, now will we? My God, could you be any more of a pessimistic little shit?
Thousands of fans stood in the rain Friday and oohed and aahed as Cutler completed passes to receivers who were running routes without defenders. When the defense did get on the field, Rideau made some nice catches. That immediately raised his stock to somewhere in the Jerry Rice stratus.
Oh yeah, because I've heard plenty of Bears fans salivating over Rideau. Maybe their just salivating over the fact that they have a quarterback who can get the ball to anybody who has got two hands. If he does that enough times, the yards will come, no matter who is back there.
The assumption, apparently, is that Cutler is so good he's going to make all the receivers around him good too. That must have been general manager Jerry Angelo's thinking because he didn't land any veteran wide receivers in the off-season.
Unless Cutler cures cancer and gets "Jon & Kate Plus 8" canceled, I don't see how he possibly can live up to the hype.
Or gives the team a consistent and effective passing game for the first time since Truman was in office. Or takes the team deep into the playoffs. Or someday wins a Superbowl. I hate when guys like Morrissey act like Cutler's a one year acquisition and Bears fans will riot if they don't win the Superbowl THIS YEAR. What I'M excited about is the fact that he's 26 fucking years old and should be firing touchdowns for a decade.
Some of the gushing is because of the inevitable excitement that comes with change. We have seen it before with coaching changes. The new coach is the breath of fresh air who invigorates everything. The former coach could siphon the fun out of a grammar-school snow day. That's how it works. Thus, Cutler now is the embodiment of all that is good in the world, at least in Chicago.
And Rick Morrissey is the embodiment of everything wrong with sportswriting today.
And he has gotten into the comparison game, telling WMVP-AM last week that Bears fans are better than Broncos fans.
"It's a lot [different]," he said. "Denver's like a 6 and Chicago's like a 9. It's quite a bit different. Just the fans and how passionate they are, that's probably the biggest difference."
Somebody needs to put an arm around Cutler and tell him that, according to the Broncos' Web site, the waiting list for their season tickets has 28,000 names on it and that the estimated wait is 13 to 15 years.
I'm thinking Cutler was more referring to the fact that 11,000 fans have been showing up per day to Bears training camp, and the Broncos can't even accomodate more than 6,000. And yes, nice job, Broncos season ticket holders. You're a brilliant contrast to the vacant, empty Soldier Field we see on Sundays every year.
The Broncos struggled down the stretch last season, losing their last three games when all they needed was one victory to earn a playoff berth. Cutler did not play well in those games. But that was last year, and Da Coach said living in the past is for cowards, gang.
True, Cutler played fairly mediocre, albeit not awful, in those three games. Not that it mattered, however, when their defense gave up a whopping 37 ppg in those three contests. But way to leave that part out and try to heap all of the blame on Cutler, you disingenuous prick.
The present, at least here in Bourbonnais, is so shiny, it's hardly recognizable. Caught up as I am in Cutler Mania, I have the Bears improving by one victory to 10-6 this year. But wait a second. Some experts are picking them to go 8-8. Does this make me Mr. Positive? I think it does.
Yep. And the year the Bears went to the Superbowl in 2006, SI had them going 9-7 and finishing second while the Dolphins and the Panthers played in the Superbowl. My point? The national media's predictions about the Bears are usually pointless, but just to contradict Mr. Morrissey, Football Outsiders and Athlon Sports are just two of the more comprehensive, stat based groups that have predicted the Bears to win the North.
In any case, Bears players are excited too.
How dare they not quake in fear of Morrissey's prophecies of DOOM?!
"He's an amazing quarterback," center Olin Kreutz said. "He opens up the offense. ... The defense doesn't know where the ball is going. Sometimes we don't know where the ball is going."
Odd. He wasn't even set up by a giggly sports personality to say that.
We don't know where the hype is going either.
Wherever it goes, can you just go somewhere else? Somewhere far, far away?
Following the offense on Friday, here are the defensive players for our All Bears Draft Bust Team-
Defensive End- It all starts up front for this defense, with the edge rushers. The great Bears teams of the 1980s, and the two Lovie Smith playoffs teams of 2005 and 2006 were all built around pressure from the front four. The Bears have still had some whopping busts on the line, including our three man rotation at defensive end-
Right Defensive End- Alonzo Spellman. The last first round pick of the Ditka regime was Ohio State sack artist Alonzo Spellman, with the 22nd pick in 1992. Spellman was drafted to replace the aging Richard Dent. Spellman failed to ever even come Close to the numbers Dent put up in his time in Chicago, never registering more than 8.5 sacks in one season (and even in that career year he did much of his damage in just one game, with three sacks against Philadelphia). Spellman would often disappear for stretches at a time, often going months without a sack before reeling off a good game or two. After suffering from injuries and ineffectiveness during the 1997 season, Spellman was released by the Bears. After sitting out the 1998 season, he played three more seasons with the Cowboys and Lions before being released in 2001. Spellman has become known more for his erratic personality and bipolar disorder than his career as a football player, some excerpts (straight from ol' Wikipedia):
"Spellman exhibited erratic behavior during his time with the Bears. The first incident in which this behavior became public was in March 1998, in which Spellman became enraged when a doctor was late for an appointment, pulling a telephone off of a wall and threatening suicide. Complicating matters, Spellman had access to alcohol and a firearm and by this time weighed in the neighborhood of 300 lbs (136 kg). Authorities were called in, and friend and former teammate Mike Singletary helped get Spellman to check into a hospital, but Spellman later wandered out of the hospital.[1]"
"Spellman was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but refused to take medication, instead becoming increasingly reliant on drugs and alcohol. This led to even more erratic behavior and run-ins with the law. These problems, along with his refusal to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his injured shoulder, led to Spellman's release by the Bears."
"Most notably, he had a manic episode on July 23, 2002 in which he disrupted a flight from Cincinnati to Philadelphia. Spellman initially suggested that the flight was going to crash, then became verbally abusive to other passengers and threatened members of the flight crew.[1] The plane was forced to make an emergency landing. Spellman was released, but then destroyed some property at his brother's home and was taken to a psychiatric hospital. He was later arrested on charges of interference with a flight crew.[3] Although doctors confirmed that he had bipolar disorder, Spellman was determined to be legally sane and spent 18 months in federal prison."
"Spellman was arrested again[5] on January 29, 2008 after leading authorities on a pursuit after being involved in an apparent altercation at a Tulsa, Oklahoma convenience store. The chase ended after three of the tires on Spellman's car were deflated by stop sticks and pepper-spray pellets were fired after Spellman refused to get out of the vehicle."
Since leaving the NFL Spellman has played in the Arena Football League and has also participated in Mixed Martial Arts.
Left Defensive End- John Thierry. The man who was intended to be Spellman's long term book end is indeed his companion on this team. With the 11th overall pick in the 1994 Draft, Dave Wannstedt snagged linebacker John Thierry from 1-AA Alcorn State, with the intention of turning him into a defensive end. Wannstedt claimed that Thierry could be "the next Charles Haley." I'm going to link to Charles Haley's numbers here. Click on Thierry's namelink, then on the Haley link. Go ahead and compare the stats. I'll wait. Back yet? Hurts, don't it? Instead of become a pass rushing force with 6 seasons of double digit sacks like Haley, Thierry became a monumental bust, who never cracked the starting lineup for more than 9 games in a season or registered more than 4.0 sacks as a Bear. After finally being chased out of town with his hair-lipped head coach following the 1998 season, Thierry wound up in Cleveland, then Green Bay, where he posted better numbers in both cities than he ever did in Chicago. Asshole.
2nd String- Dan Bazuin. You'll notice, if you click the link, that a search for Dan Bazuin on the all-knowing Pro-Football-Reference.com returns no answers. That's because Bazuin, the Bears 2nd round pick in the 2007 draft out of Central Michigan, never played a single down in the NFL. After registering 33.5 sacks in his highly productive college career, Bazuin injured his knee during his first NFL preseason. When the injury required a second surgery, Bazuin was released by the Bears. After failing to make it as a practice squad member of the Houston Texans, Bazuin was informed by doctors that he'd never be able to play football again, and he promptly retired.
Defensive Tackle- Just as important as the defensive ends, the Bears have had some great success drafting either spectacular or solid defensive tackles in my lifetime, players like Tommie Harris, Chris Zorich, and Jim Flanigan. That doesn't excuse them of a few of the mistakes they've made, however.
Nose Guard- Tank Johnson. Johnson, of course, makes this list more for his off-field than on field activities. Drafted in the 2nd round of the 2004 draft, Johnson was supposed to pair with that year's first round pick, Tommie Harris, and provide the Bears with an unstoppable duo of tackles for years to come. At first Tank's greatest challenge was cracking the starting lineup, which he failed to do consistently until an injury to Tommie Harris in 2006. Then Johnson suffered his series of run ins with the law, culminating in a house arrest that required Johnson to get a special dispensation so that he could participate in the Superbowl in Miami. The full details of Johnson's troubles with the law are compiled here, and it would take up far too much room to copy and paste. If you're not willing to read all that, here's a brief synopsis: he was arrested for illegal firearms, assault, resisting arrest, reckless driving, and driving while intoxicated, his house was searched and found to full of loaded, illegal weapons (there were children in the house), his friend and bodyguard was found in the house and arrested for pot. That same bodyguard then got shot and killed. Then after the 2006 Tank was arrested once more and finally released by the Bears, having played just three seasons for the team. He started just 15 games during that span, and record just 9 sacks. After being cut by the Bears, he spent 2007 and 2008 as a back up with the Cowboys before joining fellow bust Cedric Benson with the Bengals this offseason.
Nose Tackle-Michael Haynes. The other half of the Bear's two picks in the first round of the 2003 draft (Haynes went 14th overall, Grossman went 22nd) also makes this list. Haynes, a defensive end out of Penn State, was a one year wonder who racked up 15 sacks his senior year. After being taken by the Bears he failed to start a single game his rookie year or challenge Alex Brown for playing time. When Lovie Smith brought the Tampa 2 defense with him to Chicago, Haynes found himself a poor fit for the scheme. The Bears moved Haynes to defensive tackle (which is why he occupies this spot on the list), but he still failed to make a significant impact. He was traded to the Saints after the 2005 season after starting just 4 games and registering only 5.5 sacks in three years. The Saints released him after just one game, and he's been out of football since 2007.
Linebacker- At linebacker the Bears have hit on some great picks over the last few decades, from Rosevelt Colvin and Warrick Holdman to Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs. But they've made their fair share of mistakes at this position, and the defenses throughout much of the 1990s suffered because of two of three picks that make this team.
SLB- Ron Cox. A 2nd round pick in the 1990 draft, Cox spend 5 of his 7 seasons in Chicago in a reserve role, and never started more than 13 games in a season, made more than 56 tackles, had more than 3 sacks, and recorded only 1 career interception.
MLB- Dante Jones. The Bears second round pick in the 1988 draft, Jones spent his first five seasons riding the bench behind Hall of Famer Mike Singletary. Jones stepped finally stepped into the starting spot in 1993, and had a monster season, with 189 tackles, 4 interceptions, and a sack. Too bad he was a one year wonder and dropped to just 61 tackles with no sacks or interceptions before being benched in 1994. He was released after that season.
WLB-Michael Okwo. Much like his fellow 2007 draft pick, Dan Bazuin, a Pro-Football-Reference.com search for Dan Bazuin returns no results, because Okwo has also never played a single NFL down. The '07 third round pick from Stanford was also injured during his first preseason, required multiple surgeries, and was cut by the Bears before the 2008 season. He's currently a free agent.
Corner- The Bears have only drafted two first round corners since 1988 (Donnell Woolford and Walt Harris), and while neither one was spectacular, both were quality players, so there haven't been any Major draft whiffs at this position in my lifetime. They've even gotten good value from the corners they've drafted in the 2nd round in that time (Tillman and Hester, although Hester has obviously made his mark somewhere Other than corner). So that makes the two "busts" at this position merely two mediocre players-
LCB- Roosevelt Williams. A third round pick out of Tuskegee in 2002, Williams played in just 13 games (2 starts) for the Bears in 2002 with 9 tackles, 0 interceptions, and no pass deflections before being released after the 2002 season.
RCB- Jeremy Lincoln. A third round pick out of Tennessee in 1992, Lincoln started for just 2 1/2 seasons and was mostly pedestrian in pass coverage, recording only 5 interceptions in 47 games. He was cut before the 1996 season.
Safety- The Bears have drafted fairly well at the safety position the last two decades, drafting a couple Pro Bowlers (Mark Carrier, Mike Brown) and several guys who were at least of starting quality (Tony Parrish, Mike Green, and Chris Harris). The jury is still out on guys like Kevin Payne, and thus I'm forced to make some tough decisions at safety. Including...
FS- Danieal Manning. Drafted as a free safety out of Abilene Christian in 2006 (2nd round), Manning supplanted the aforementioned Chris Harris as the starter during the 2006 season. He was inconsistent at best (and a poor tackler), and he was moved to corner, then nickel, where's he's been inconsistent at best (and a poor tackler), with just 5 interceptions and 17 pass deflections in 46 career games. This year he's expected to start at free safety again (but play nickelback in passing situations). Hopefully he'll play his way off this list by being more consistent (and learning how to tackle. Did I mention he's a really bad tackler?).
SS- Todd Johnson. A 4th round pick out of Florida in the 2003 draft, Johnson was a prodigious hitter, but a poor fundamental player who missed as many tackles as he made and hasn't recorded a single interception in his 5 year career (3 years in Chicago, 2 in St. Louis). He was cut after the 2006 season.
Special Teams-
Punter- Todd Sauerbrun. You do not draft punters. If you do, don't draft them in the second round. To illustrate my point, in the entire 20 year time span that this covers, there have been only 16 punters drafted in the 4th round or higher. Only One of those was taken as high as the second round, and that was Todd. Apparently deciding the Bears had no greater needs (hint: they did), Dave Wannstedt in all his brilliance decided to spend the 56th overall pick in the 1995 draft on Todd Sauerbrun. It doesn't really matter what Sauerbrun has done with his long career (except that time in 2007 when he kicked it straight to Devin Hester twice and Hester ran it back both times for touchdowns), no punter is worthy of a second round pick. Not even Ray Guy. Nevermind spending it on asshole so selfish that during his time in Carolina he refused to step in as the emergency placekicker for the injured John Kasay unless the Panthers rescinded fines they had slapped on him earlier in the year for being overweight. Sauerbrun definitely belongs.
Kicker- Carlos Huerta. Huerta wasn't technically drafted, as most kickers aren't, but he belongs on here since he was a Bears rookie whom Dave Wannstedt decided was more worthy of the kicking job then veteran Kevin Butler. Huerta promptly missed three of his first seven field goals and was cut midseason in 1996.
Returner- Bobby Wade. Wade, a 5th round pick in 2003, was too low of a pick to make it as a wide receiver (nevertheless, he sucked), but he does make it as a returner. Wade was handed the punt-returner job in 2005 and fumbled a whopping 10 times. He was cut late that season and landed with Titans, then the Vikings, where he was most notable for mouthing off recently over comments Brian Urlacher may have made about Jay Cutler. Bobby is apparently unaware of the famous "don't talk unless you can back it up" aspect of smack-talking, since no one's trembling in fear of his career average 355 yards a year receiving skills.
Coaching Staff-
Head Coach- Dave Wannstedt. Who else did you expect to coach this roster of fail, considering he drafted, acquired (Mirer, Huerta), or re-signed (Spellman) most of it? Hired from the Dallas Cowboys before the 1993 season, Wannstedt refused to take the job unless promised control of personnel. Wannstedt was given control, VP Bill Tobin resigned, and the reign of terror began. After starting 32-32 with playoff appearance in his first four years, the rotting foundation that Wannstedt had built finally collapsed into an 8-24 finish in 1997 and 1998. Wannstedt's final career record in Chicago was a bumbling 40-56. After getting canned by the Bears, Wannstedt took over the Dolphins, where he made a few playoff appearances with the team Jimmy Johnson built before he slowly ground that team into the hell it's been in recently. He resigned in 2004 after starting 1-8, and the Dolphins have yet to recover, going 30-41 since his resignation. Most infuriating is Wannstedt's refusal to accept blame for the failure in Chicago, as he claims that the Mirer trade wasn't solely his idea, and that he had the roster set up for a Superbowl run in 1996 had the Bears not lost Erik Kramer to a neck injury (apparently he just overlooks that the team had started 1-3 With Kramer). Congratulations, Dave. This is where you belong.
Offensive Coordinator- John Shoop. This should be no surprise to anyone, even though Gary Crowton gave a strong argument, since Shoop was possibly the most ridiculed coach in Bears history Other than Wannstedt. Fond of wide receiver screens, dive plays, and three yard outs on 3rd and 10, Shoop managed the most schematically incompetent offense in Bears history. In his three years at the helm the Bears finished 26th, 29th, and 28th in offense. He was booed so vociferously that he was moved from the sidelines to the booth for his own protection. He too, belongs.
Defensive Coordinator- Gregg Blache. Blache, the genius known for uttering his most famous phrase "sacks really aren't important," commanded a Bears defense from 1999-2003 that finished an average of 20th in the league. His defense, built around giant, run stuffing defensive tackles that freed up the linebackers to make plays, worked for just one year, in 2001, a year most Bears fans will admit was a fluke. The only time the defense worked, in 2001, it was because of an absurdly high number of turnovers (37). In its other four years under Blache's tutelage, the Bears defense averaged just 25 turnovers a season, and managed an average rank of 21st in yards allowed and 22nd in points allowed. Blache has somehow managed to maintain a good reputation in the league, and is now the defensive coordinator for the Redskins, where he had to promise free agent Albert Haynesworth that he wouldn't force him to be a fat, gap plugging roadblock in his moronic scheme in order to get him to sign.
So there you have it, folks. We've now completed the entire roster of BearsFAIL, with a quick depth chart of-
HC- Wannstedt
OC-Shoop
DC- Blache
QB-McNown/Mirer/Grossman
RB-Enis/Benson/Salaam
FB-Muster
WR-Terrell/Bradley/Wade
TE-Allred
LT-Thomas
LG-Sapp
C- Zawatson
RG- Spears
RT- Colombo
DE-Spellman/Bazuin
DT-Johnson
DT- Haynes
DE-Thierry
SLB-Cox
MLB-Jones
RLB-Okwo
LCB-Williams
RCB-Lincoln
FS-Manning
SS- Johnson
P- Sauerbrun
K- Huerta
Returner- Wade.
Let me know what you think. Would they go 0-16? 2-14? Could they beat the Lions? Could they beat the University of Indiana?
