Post by JABF on Oct 21, 2016 21:23:55 GMT -6
I really liked this article. Sad but true.
LINK
Bears' vacancy at quarterback has been going on for decades
While no one was watching, the Bears don't have a quarterback.
Come to think of it, even while everyone was watching, the Bears did not have a quarterback. The Bears have never had a quarterback.
I quote from that paid magpie and once-upon-a-time quarterback himself, Phil Simms, whose duty it was to observe these things for the several hundred television vagrants who could not find the Cubs channel: "They are in a tough spot at the quarterback position."
Thank you, Corporal Obvious, now tell us that water is wet, shadows aren't real and John Fox is today's Dave Wannstedt.
The days until the next Bears quarterback will pass, with appropriate pauses for promises made and not kept. The Bears must be what the Bears should be, sound on the ground and fierce on defense, neither of which they presently are.
But when the Bears win again, that is how the Bears will win. That is how the Bears have always won. It matters not if Jay Cutler has a working thumb, or Brian Hoyer has two arms, or who in the name of famous flops Matt Barkley is.
In the meantime we have a wholly gratuitous issue to get us from here to there: the Cutler question.
Should he play, should he not? Is he well, is he well enough? Should he stay? Should he go? What difference does it make?
How much more astonishing the quest for the elusive Bears savior would be if Cutler had just been all that he was supposed to be. But it is a measure of the matter that the timing has always been off and is now running out.
Let's put it this way, if Cutler were a tree, most of his rings would already be counted.
Surely the easiest way to start an unnecessary quarterback debate is to imagine there are quarterbacks to debate. The Bears will scour the usual basket of availables because they must. But as Dorothy said to the wizard, "Oh, I don't think there's anything in that bag for me."
This is what we know. Cutler is the best quarterback the Bears have. He is the best quarterback the Bears are likely to find. He is a good enough quarterback to take the Bears to the middle rounds of the draft, where his successor now hides.
Cutler is not a great quarterback. He is an adequate quarterback. He will never be a great quarterback; by that I mean he is in a great tradition of Bears quarterbacks.
The best Cutler can hope for is that his time remaining here not end badly, through shortfall or injury, that he will be welcomed back to reunions and to media commentary, which is where most old Bears alight.
That is a notable goal to have because when one searches the memory for Bears quarterbacks other than the distant days of Sid Luckman, the pile is lumpy and undistinguished.
That could be the niche Cutler already has in Bears lore, No. 2 all time. It is a place in the balance, with exit polls still to be counted.
Any Bears quarterback must have a substantial running game, a team signature since the days of Red Grange, and even the most ordinary quarterback is good enough when he does not have to lift the heavy end of the piano.
And the Bears defense, still sorting out its own clarity, has more often than not this season made the job of the offense unreasonable. It cannot be a burden to any Bears quarterback. It must help. It cannot get worse. It must get better.
In a season already ruined, with injuries a handy alibi, the blessing for Cutler is that he can leave quietly without causing any more harm than he has up until now. His tenure has been no worse than most of his predecessors.
It is of no use to pressure Cutler to heal quicker than he will. He is beyond that, like yelling at a dog on the way to the pound.
Here's the short of it. The Bears are without a quarterback and should be used to it by now.
Bernie Lincicome is a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune.
Bears' vacancy at quarterback has been going on for decades
While no one was watching, the Bears don't have a quarterback.
Come to think of it, even while everyone was watching, the Bears did not have a quarterback. The Bears have never had a quarterback.
I quote from that paid magpie and once-upon-a-time quarterback himself, Phil Simms, whose duty it was to observe these things for the several hundred television vagrants who could not find the Cubs channel: "They are in a tough spot at the quarterback position."
Thank you, Corporal Obvious, now tell us that water is wet, shadows aren't real and John Fox is today's Dave Wannstedt.
The days until the next Bears quarterback will pass, with appropriate pauses for promises made and not kept. The Bears must be what the Bears should be, sound on the ground and fierce on defense, neither of which they presently are.
But when the Bears win again, that is how the Bears will win. That is how the Bears have always won. It matters not if Jay Cutler has a working thumb, or Brian Hoyer has two arms, or who in the name of famous flops Matt Barkley is.
In the meantime we have a wholly gratuitous issue to get us from here to there: the Cutler question.
Should he play, should he not? Is he well, is he well enough? Should he stay? Should he go? What difference does it make?
How much more astonishing the quest for the elusive Bears savior would be if Cutler had just been all that he was supposed to be. But it is a measure of the matter that the timing has always been off and is now running out.
Let's put it this way, if Cutler were a tree, most of his rings would already be counted.
Surely the easiest way to start an unnecessary quarterback debate is to imagine there are quarterbacks to debate. The Bears will scour the usual basket of availables because they must. But as Dorothy said to the wizard, "Oh, I don't think there's anything in that bag for me."
This is what we know. Cutler is the best quarterback the Bears have. He is the best quarterback the Bears are likely to find. He is a good enough quarterback to take the Bears to the middle rounds of the draft, where his successor now hides.
Cutler is not a great quarterback. He is an adequate quarterback. He will never be a great quarterback; by that I mean he is in a great tradition of Bears quarterbacks.
The best Cutler can hope for is that his time remaining here not end badly, through shortfall or injury, that he will be welcomed back to reunions and to media commentary, which is where most old Bears alight.
That is a notable goal to have because when one searches the memory for Bears quarterbacks other than the distant days of Sid Luckman, the pile is lumpy and undistinguished.
That could be the niche Cutler already has in Bears lore, No. 2 all time. It is a place in the balance, with exit polls still to be counted.
Any Bears quarterback must have a substantial running game, a team signature since the days of Red Grange, and even the most ordinary quarterback is good enough when he does not have to lift the heavy end of the piano.
And the Bears defense, still sorting out its own clarity, has more often than not this season made the job of the offense unreasonable. It cannot be a burden to any Bears quarterback. It must help. It cannot get worse. It must get better.
In a season already ruined, with injuries a handy alibi, the blessing for Cutler is that he can leave quietly without causing any more harm than he has up until now. His tenure has been no worse than most of his predecessors.
It is of no use to pressure Cutler to heal quicker than he will. He is beyond that, like yelling at a dog on the way to the pound.
Here's the short of it. The Bears are without a quarterback and should be used to it by now.
Bernie Lincicome is a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune.
Ooops. I knew there was a catch in there somewhere and somehow I seem to have missed it before. This is now John Fox's offense.....with plays by Dowell Loggains.....featuring in the role of still beleaguered QB....Jay Cutler!!!! Uh, no....he got hurt. No blocking, still? So make that Brian Hoyer.....the most efficient QB in the NFL who can't score any points until, shit, he got hurt too?
Still no pass blocking huh?
