I grew up in Bridgeport in Chicago, so I saw that game too. Yes, that game.
The Rutgers vs South Florida matchup.
Actually, we all got a good look at Jay Cutler's impersonation of Jeff George on the national stage. For some reason, he is at his worst when more people are watching and it's night time.
I don't get it.
But then again, I kind of do. See, I didn't expect the Bears to be that good this year (I had them at 9-7) but we finally had a quarterback. Period. Next position. I still think Cutler is the goods, he's definitely the answer, but these kind of performances amp up the critics and make the Broncos look smarter every day.
So here's what mainstream media like the Chicago Tribune misses and fantasy football fans overlook. The receivers are really mediocre. People look at a stat sheat and see that they rack up decent yards and ocassionally catch a touch down but they rarely get open, so Cutler has to thread a needle on more plays than not.
They also give up on plays and are not very creative when improvising, they're small and not physical at all. Just fast and sort of nimble.
The offensive line is awful and they were bad on Thursday night as Cutler had to dance a lot. Did anyone see that play in the first quarter when Chris Williams was literally launched backwards when he attempted to pick up the blitz?
You don't see that in the NFL. You don't see pro offensive line man go straight backward and fall. For what's it worth, I'm calling Williams one of the biggest busts of Jerry Angelo's regime because he came from one of the deepest most talented offensive line man draft classes in two decades that already gave us potential hall of famers Ryan Clady and Jake Long.
Jeff Otah of Carolina is an absolute road-grader and Branden Albert of Kansas City is a potential pro bowler. Gosder Cherilus of Detroit is above competent, Sam Baker (along with Matt Ryan) is one of the reasons why Atlanta has turned their franchise around so quickly and even Duane Brown on Houston has proved he'll be a starter for a long time.
On top of all this, Williams had back issues which Angelo was aware of prior to the draft. He's not strong, not physical and not very good at pass blocking either.
Angelo managed to pick the one lemon out of the group. Tough to do. He was directly responsible for a sack, partially responsible for the jump-throw interception as Williams guy was already touching Cutler and fully dumb for his personal foul for diving at a defensive player well after the play was over.
Not a stitch of progress, not a lick of hope, not even a wow-did-you-see-that play that shows some upside. Just a guy that would have probably been benched a while ago had he not had first-round royalty painted all over him.
At the same time Orlando Pace was probably benched in favor of Kevin Shaffer who probably wasn't any better than older, slower guy. Meanwhile Olin Kreutz can't snap a football out of the shotgun, and considering the years of fumbled snaps from three different quarterbacks, there seems to be a pattern.
Ladies and gentleman, your 2009 Chicago Bears.
So, back to Thursday night and the Cutler mess.
He was awful. He threw two picks in the red zone and the final one he may have had a shot to run himself, but he's a quarterback and he's supposed to throw the ball and he did and they lost.
His timing is off, he rarely is able to complete a pass to the second read and he's obviously unsure if his receivers are truly open (whisper: they aren't). He throws a perfect 20-yard dart to Devin Hester and he slips and the interception gets taken back for 51 yards.
Add to the fact that his offensive line can't pick up a 3 and 1 or make a goaline push with Matt Forte, this offense rests entirely on him to make great plays all the time.
And last night, he completely lost it. Accuracy, timing, vision--they're all off.
Even when plays were executed, like when he hung in the pocket despite a free blitzer approaching his throwing side and zipped the ball to Earl Bennett who trampled down field for a gain of 55 yards in the fourth quarter, the play was called back for illegal man down field on Roberto Garza.
This team is dumb and bad, and it's the culmination of terrible drafting in the last three to four drafts.
There's also the cliche that Angelo is good with mid- and late-round draft choices but that hasn't been true for three years. Look at the roster of third-rounders in recent years: Garrett Wolfe (he's smaller than my mother), Dusty Dvoracek (big reason why people worry about inflating cost of nationalized healthcare) , Michael Okwo (insurance salesman), Macus Harrison (decent), Earl Bennett (guy), Jarron Gilbert (for my next trick, I'll play football) and Juaquin Iglesias (I'm Earl Bennett 2.0).
And that's just the third round.Remember Dan Bazuin in the second round, which they traded away Thomas Jones for? Sure you don't. And Gaines Adams needs to eat something.
This is a mass failure of scouting and gross over-confidence in their ability to develop projects, un-do injuries and basic ineptness. The trade down of speed for size thing works when guys are actually fast.
You look at the bears and no one in the secondary is a speedster except for Danieal Manning and the defensive line is simply too weak to push anyone off the ball.
So you get the idea that Cutler is probably thinking he has to do everything and he has the ability to do it.
Ron Turner's calls were solid on Thursday, but people won't look at that. They'll have to blame someone, and they'll go at Cutler and the offensive coordinator and the coach.
But the man above it all is Angelo and just think he starts with a third-round pick in 2010.
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mmitchell
I'm a journalist who has previously worked for the Sun-Times News Group in the Chicago area, covering features, entertainment, city government, police and crime, and--yes--sports. However, my primary qualification for Bulls analysis: I'm a cynic and a humorist.
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Although I tried to vote this Bear story down, too, there was no opportunity to do so. ????? ENOUGH ALREADY.....
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