Post by AlexM on Sept 10, 2016 5:50:46 GMT -6
by David Haugh
All Jay Cutler could do was laugh when someone mentioned that it seemed as if he works with a new center every week.
Laughing beat crying.
"I think you are right,'' Cutler said with a chuckle.
In baseball, pitchers like the Cubs' Jon Lester often have personal catchers. On the Bears, Cutler getting settled with one center has been anything but a snap.
No exaggeration, Sunday's presumptive starter, Cody Whitehair, became the fourth man to hike to Cutler since training camp began in July. Hroniss Grasu suffered a season-ending knee injury. Undrafted rookie Cornelius Edison replaced Grasu but eventually was signed to the practice squad. Veteran Ted Larsen appears No. 1 on the depth chart, but everyone knows Whitehair will start after being moved from left guard on Monday to make room for newly signed Pro Bowler Josh Sitton.
The arrival of Sitton guaranteed, for the second straight year, that Cutler will be protected by a line playing its first game together in the season-opener. That sounds like a meet-and-greet with trouble, especially against a J.J. Watt-led Texans defensive line ranked among the fiercest in the AFC. The Bears also added tight end Logan Paulsen since the final preseason exhibition, not that you ever hear Cutler complain about constantly having to introduce himself to new teammates. The Bears' most visible player is also their most valuable — but no longer their most volatile.
"I thought I was going to have to coach them through some practices and the language, the verbiage, but the first walk-through, boom, they were all over it,'' Cutler said like the team leader he now is.
Bears season preview: Offensive growth chart
Bears season preview: Offensive growth chart
Now entering his eighth season with the Bears, Chicago's most overanalyzed athlete looks poised to become its most unappreciated. Who else in town has put up with as much as Cutler has over the years and still been expected to perform up to his potential? The Bears need Cutler to excel as badly as his critics will require, the way it always has been. But yet again the team that created such high expectations for their quarterback keeps making it hard for him to meet them because of either bad decisions or luck — sometimes both.
The latest issue arose Friday when wide receiver Kevin White showed up on the injury report as questionable with a hamstring injury. Whether White plays remains the kind of mystery coach John Fox craves but, even if he does, chances are slim the speedster will be able to stretch the field with an impaired leg. Ultimately, that affects Cutler most because, even with Alshon Jeffery opposite White, the effectiveness of the Bears' deep passing game hinges on them working in tandem.
This after the Bears already forced Cutler to adjust to life without running back Matt Forte and tight end Martellus Bennett, two of the offense's most potent weapons in 2015. Hope now surrounds second-year running back Jeremy Langford and two injury-prone players who didn't play in exhibitions: tight end Zach Miller and wide receiver Eddie Royal. Now go save the day, Jay, do more with less and, oh, don't turn the ball over running for your life behind an offensive line that first met as a group on Labor Day.
History continues to repeat itself in the Cutler Era, less of an excuse than an explanation for why his Bears career has been so unfulfilling. Cutler deserves much of the blame for a 50-47 overall record as the Bears starter but, clearly, not all of it when considering the factors contributing to such mediocrity. If any team ever wants directions for how to turn a 25-year-old NFL franchise quarterback into a serviceable, middle-of-the-road game manager by 33, the Bears practically have written a manual.
Naturally, Jay Cutler's play one of five factors key to Bears success
Naturally, Jay Cutler's play one of five factors key to Bears success
When Cutler arrived in 2009, the Bears' best wide receivers were, ahem, Devin Hester and Earl Bennett. In 2010, the season that produced Cutler's only playoff victory, no wide receiver in a pedestrian group caught more than 51 passes. In 2011, then-offensive coordinator Mike Martz forced the trade of Cutler's favorite receiver, tight end Greg Olsen, and tried making us believe replacement Kellen Davis was Kellen Winslow. He wasn't. And Roy Williams no longer was Roy Williams either.
By 2012, Cutler reunited with buddy Brandon Marshall, which finally gave him a bona fide No. 1 wide receiver, but the Coach Killer reputation returned after Lovie Smith was fired. The 2013 season brought Marc Trestman and the rise of backup Josh McCown, the most popular quarterback at Halas Hall by Christmas. The biggest ignominy came in 2014 when former overmatched offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer criticized his quarterback anonymously to a reporter at the end of a dysfunctional season that included Cutler getting benched.
Cutler's fingerprints are all over the disappointment of the past eight seasons but far from the only smudges. Now, in 2016, circumstances have conspired to put Cutler back in what resembles an untenable situation. For the Bears to succeed in Fox's second season, Cutler must avoid turnovers yet attack the defense, be deliberate yet daring. Cutler must be the Bears' best player on Sunday and in the 15 games that follow. He must be everything to everybody in the huddle, whoever is in it. That's all.
The Bears again will ask that much of Cutler. Fair or not, Chicago will demand it — as always.
LINK
All Jay Cutler could do was laugh when someone mentioned that it seemed as if he works with a new center every week.
Laughing beat crying.
"I think you are right,'' Cutler said with a chuckle.
In baseball, pitchers like the Cubs' Jon Lester often have personal catchers. On the Bears, Cutler getting settled with one center has been anything but a snap.
No exaggeration, Sunday's presumptive starter, Cody Whitehair, became the fourth man to hike to Cutler since training camp began in July. Hroniss Grasu suffered a season-ending knee injury. Undrafted rookie Cornelius Edison replaced Grasu but eventually was signed to the practice squad. Veteran Ted Larsen appears No. 1 on the depth chart, but everyone knows Whitehair will start after being moved from left guard on Monday to make room for newly signed Pro Bowler Josh Sitton.
The arrival of Sitton guaranteed, for the second straight year, that Cutler will be protected by a line playing its first game together in the season-opener. That sounds like a meet-and-greet with trouble, especially against a J.J. Watt-led Texans defensive line ranked among the fiercest in the AFC. The Bears also added tight end Logan Paulsen since the final preseason exhibition, not that you ever hear Cutler complain about constantly having to introduce himself to new teammates. The Bears' most visible player is also their most valuable — but no longer their most volatile.
"I thought I was going to have to coach them through some practices and the language, the verbiage, but the first walk-through, boom, they were all over it,'' Cutler said like the team leader he now is.
Bears season preview: Offensive growth chart
Bears season preview: Offensive growth chart
Now entering his eighth season with the Bears, Chicago's most overanalyzed athlete looks poised to become its most unappreciated. Who else in town has put up with as much as Cutler has over the years and still been expected to perform up to his potential? The Bears need Cutler to excel as badly as his critics will require, the way it always has been. But yet again the team that created such high expectations for their quarterback keeps making it hard for him to meet them because of either bad decisions or luck — sometimes both.
The latest issue arose Friday when wide receiver Kevin White showed up on the injury report as questionable with a hamstring injury. Whether White plays remains the kind of mystery coach John Fox craves but, even if he does, chances are slim the speedster will be able to stretch the field with an impaired leg. Ultimately, that affects Cutler most because, even with Alshon Jeffery opposite White, the effectiveness of the Bears' deep passing game hinges on them working in tandem.
This after the Bears already forced Cutler to adjust to life without running back Matt Forte and tight end Martellus Bennett, two of the offense's most potent weapons in 2015. Hope now surrounds second-year running back Jeremy Langford and two injury-prone players who didn't play in exhibitions: tight end Zach Miller and wide receiver Eddie Royal. Now go save the day, Jay, do more with less and, oh, don't turn the ball over running for your life behind an offensive line that first met as a group on Labor Day.
History continues to repeat itself in the Cutler Era, less of an excuse than an explanation for why his Bears career has been so unfulfilling. Cutler deserves much of the blame for a 50-47 overall record as the Bears starter but, clearly, not all of it when considering the factors contributing to such mediocrity. If any team ever wants directions for how to turn a 25-year-old NFL franchise quarterback into a serviceable, middle-of-the-road game manager by 33, the Bears practically have written a manual.
Naturally, Jay Cutler's play one of five factors key to Bears success
Naturally, Jay Cutler's play one of five factors key to Bears success
When Cutler arrived in 2009, the Bears' best wide receivers were, ahem, Devin Hester and Earl Bennett. In 2010, the season that produced Cutler's only playoff victory, no wide receiver in a pedestrian group caught more than 51 passes. In 2011, then-offensive coordinator Mike Martz forced the trade of Cutler's favorite receiver, tight end Greg Olsen, and tried making us believe replacement Kellen Davis was Kellen Winslow. He wasn't. And Roy Williams no longer was Roy Williams either.
By 2012, Cutler reunited with buddy Brandon Marshall, which finally gave him a bona fide No. 1 wide receiver, but the Coach Killer reputation returned after Lovie Smith was fired. The 2013 season brought Marc Trestman and the rise of backup Josh McCown, the most popular quarterback at Halas Hall by Christmas. The biggest ignominy came in 2014 when former overmatched offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer criticized his quarterback anonymously to a reporter at the end of a dysfunctional season that included Cutler getting benched.
Cutler's fingerprints are all over the disappointment of the past eight seasons but far from the only smudges. Now, in 2016, circumstances have conspired to put Cutler back in what resembles an untenable situation. For the Bears to succeed in Fox's second season, Cutler must avoid turnovers yet attack the defense, be deliberate yet daring. Cutler must be the Bears' best player on Sunday and in the 15 games that follow. He must be everything to everybody in the huddle, whoever is in it. That's all.
The Bears again will ask that much of Cutler. Fair or not, Chicago will demand it — as always.
LINK
