Post by JABF on Sept 22, 2016 5:59:00 GMT -6
My gut feeling is that Jay won't be here next year. And that's okay. Not a slam on Jay. But if they are nuking the roster under Pace's tenure, then let's get it on, with the post-Cutler era. Is it possible we get a QB worse than Jay? Sure. Is it possible we draft a kid who is a busts? Absolutely. But if we are serious about rebuilding the team - wanting to rise from the ashes of mediocrity, then we need to complete the rebuild with a young QB.
And I don't believe that past failures by the Bears in drafting a solid QB have any bearing on the present or future chances of drafting a good QB. If you follow that line of logic that we are incapable of ever drafting a good QB here in Chicago, then we might as well sell the team to another city. Because we're never going to amount to anything beyond what we've seen here in recent years.
I believe we can get this done. I do know that if you don't even try, then that sucks.
LINK
Life without Jay Cutler creates crisis but also opportunity
Practice resumed Wednesday inside the Walter Payton Center with starting quarterback Jay Cutler absent, backup Brian Hoyer in charge and the Bears on their way to again resembling a team coached by John Fox.
They have to look at it that way. If the Bears don't, they are staring at 4-12, drafting in the top five next April and putting their coach and general manager on the hot seat in 2017.
They have no other prism through which to view the situation they suddenly face with Cutler out indefinitely with a sprained thumb. They must realize how Cutler's injury represents a mandate for change, an opportunity to emphasize the running game Fox favors but has been largely neglected. They have to flip this negative into a positive or go down trying.
Bears Q&A: Changes at the top, changes at QB, changes at RB and more
Bears Q&A: Changes at the top, changes at QB, changes at RB and more
That's their only approach if the Bears hope to salvage respectability out of a season that already looks lost.
They quickly need to adopt the mindset that it really shouldn't matter who plays quarterback on a team reliant on running the ball and playing defense, the football tenets Fox brought to Chicago. Before Fox ever coached a game for the Bears, nobody knew how much he believed in Cutler. Remember the suspense surrounding Fox's evaluation of Cutler? Ah, those were the good ol' days of the Fox era.
That uncertainty created a heightened sense of awareness that made Cutler a more careful quarterback in 2015. He took greater pains to protect the football, as if to prove to a new coaching staff that he could overcome the biggest doubts about him. Cutler responded with his most efficient season, a testament to his improved focus as well as the presence of bright, young offensive coordinator Adam Gase.
Gase left Halas Hall to become the head coach of the Dolphins, but the organization’s belief in Cutler increased after his bounce-back year. Confidence grew weekly and carried into the offseason. That was understandable given the forced exits of offensive threats Matt Forte and Martellus Bennett and the quarterback alternatives on the roster — the Bears foolishly never have committed to drafting and developing Cutler's successor.
Bear Download podcast
Bear Download podcast
Suddenly lacking proven veterans in the huddle, the Bears found themselves in the uncomfortable position of needing Cutler the playmaker as much as they needed Cutler the caretaker. And, historically throughout Cutler's time in Chicago, that means trouble. That means turnovers.
You saw it Monday night against the Eagles when Cutler carelessly turned the ball over twice: a fumble that just can't happen and a blindly thrown interception off his back foot that we have seen too often in the past.
A sprained thumb likely to cause Cutler to miss as much as a month perhaps contributed to those mistakes but not as much as a breakdown of concentration. Eight years of Cutler in a Bears uniform have told us that happens when he feels the need to do too much, the position the organization put him in heading into this season as its most experienced, reliable offensive player.
The Bears were much better off — and so was Cutler — when the offense required the quarterback merely to avoid mistakes and take a first-do-no-harm approach. Who cares how much money Cutler makes; he was most valuable to Fox when he was doing more by trying less. That forced game plans to revolve around somebody else making plays, unlike what we have seen in two games when nothing has worked except Cutler heaving the long ball to Alshon Jeffery and hoping for a big play. That's not playing the complementary football that always defined Fox teams. That's playing backyard football.
As Bears defense reshuffles, Jerrell Freeman's 'fired-up calmness' a key
As Bears defense reshuffles, Jerrell Freeman's 'fired-up calmness' a key
Both losses revealed an inability of the Bears to adjust to the blitz and incorporate other threats in the passing game after defenses began favoring Jeffery. Some of that falls on Cutler, but offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains deserves a bigger share of the burden. Fox hired Loggains because of continuity, but so far the departure from the offensive philosophy from Fox's first season has stood out most.
It's as if Loggains is trying to prove how clever he is, outsmarting only himself. The Bears consider the offensive line one of their strengths yet nothing about Loggains' first two game plans have made that obvious.
"The commitment's there, but situations in the game might have limited it,'' Fox said Wednesday.
So dictate the situation. The next few weeks will say as much about Fox as Hoyer, who addressed the media Wednesday like a guy expecting to start against the Cowboys. Fox faces a crisis of his own creation, surviving the loss of a quarterback he came to rely upon too much. He also has a defense decimated by injuries.
A Sirius radio host asked a Chicago media member about dissension in the Bears locker room. Injured defensive captain Pernell McPhee crossed the line going after Cutler on the sidelines Monday night, raising questions about locker-room unity. A winless September looms.
The Bears can hide from reality or they can run. And run. And run some more.
dhaugh@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @davidhaugh
And I don't believe that past failures by the Bears in drafting a solid QB have any bearing on the present or future chances of drafting a good QB. If you follow that line of logic that we are incapable of ever drafting a good QB here in Chicago, then we might as well sell the team to another city. Because we're never going to amount to anything beyond what we've seen here in recent years.
I believe we can get this done. I do know that if you don't even try, then that sucks.
Life without Jay Cutler creates crisis but also opportunity
Practice resumed Wednesday inside the Walter Payton Center with starting quarterback Jay Cutler absent, backup Brian Hoyer in charge and the Bears on their way to again resembling a team coached by John Fox.
They have to look at it that way. If the Bears don't, they are staring at 4-12, drafting in the top five next April and putting their coach and general manager on the hot seat in 2017.
They have no other prism through which to view the situation they suddenly face with Cutler out indefinitely with a sprained thumb. They must realize how Cutler's injury represents a mandate for change, an opportunity to emphasize the running game Fox favors but has been largely neglected. They have to flip this negative into a positive or go down trying.
Bears Q&A: Changes at the top, changes at QB, changes at RB and more
Bears Q&A: Changes at the top, changes at QB, changes at RB and more
That's their only approach if the Bears hope to salvage respectability out of a season that already looks lost.
They quickly need to adopt the mindset that it really shouldn't matter who plays quarterback on a team reliant on running the ball and playing defense, the football tenets Fox brought to Chicago. Before Fox ever coached a game for the Bears, nobody knew how much he believed in Cutler. Remember the suspense surrounding Fox's evaluation of Cutler? Ah, those were the good ol' days of the Fox era.
That uncertainty created a heightened sense of awareness that made Cutler a more careful quarterback in 2015. He took greater pains to protect the football, as if to prove to a new coaching staff that he could overcome the biggest doubts about him. Cutler responded with his most efficient season, a testament to his improved focus as well as the presence of bright, young offensive coordinator Adam Gase.
Gase left Halas Hall to become the head coach of the Dolphins, but the organization’s belief in Cutler increased after his bounce-back year. Confidence grew weekly and carried into the offseason. That was understandable given the forced exits of offensive threats Matt Forte and Martellus Bennett and the quarterback alternatives on the roster — the Bears foolishly never have committed to drafting and developing Cutler's successor.
Bear Download podcast
Bear Download podcast
Suddenly lacking proven veterans in the huddle, the Bears found themselves in the uncomfortable position of needing Cutler the playmaker as much as they needed Cutler the caretaker. And, historically throughout Cutler's time in Chicago, that means trouble. That means turnovers.
You saw it Monday night against the Eagles when Cutler carelessly turned the ball over twice: a fumble that just can't happen and a blindly thrown interception off his back foot that we have seen too often in the past.
A sprained thumb likely to cause Cutler to miss as much as a month perhaps contributed to those mistakes but not as much as a breakdown of concentration. Eight years of Cutler in a Bears uniform have told us that happens when he feels the need to do too much, the position the organization put him in heading into this season as its most experienced, reliable offensive player.
The Bears were much better off — and so was Cutler — when the offense required the quarterback merely to avoid mistakes and take a first-do-no-harm approach. Who cares how much money Cutler makes; he was most valuable to Fox when he was doing more by trying less. That forced game plans to revolve around somebody else making plays, unlike what we have seen in two games when nothing has worked except Cutler heaving the long ball to Alshon Jeffery and hoping for a big play. That's not playing the complementary football that always defined Fox teams. That's playing backyard football.
As Bears defense reshuffles, Jerrell Freeman's 'fired-up calmness' a key
As Bears defense reshuffles, Jerrell Freeman's 'fired-up calmness' a key
Both losses revealed an inability of the Bears to adjust to the blitz and incorporate other threats in the passing game after defenses began favoring Jeffery. Some of that falls on Cutler, but offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains deserves a bigger share of the burden. Fox hired Loggains because of continuity, but so far the departure from the offensive philosophy from Fox's first season has stood out most.
It's as if Loggains is trying to prove how clever he is, outsmarting only himself. The Bears consider the offensive line one of their strengths yet nothing about Loggains' first two game plans have made that obvious.
"The commitment's there, but situations in the game might have limited it,'' Fox said Wednesday.
So dictate the situation. The next few weeks will say as much about Fox as Hoyer, who addressed the media Wednesday like a guy expecting to start against the Cowboys. Fox faces a crisis of his own creation, surviving the loss of a quarterback he came to rely upon too much. He also has a defense decimated by injuries.
A Sirius radio host asked a Chicago media member about dissension in the Bears locker room. Injured defensive captain Pernell McPhee crossed the line going after Cutler on the sidelines Monday night, raising questions about locker-room unity. A winless September looms.
The Bears can hide from reality or they can run. And run. And run some more.
dhaugh@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @davidhaugh
