Lay off Jay

Who would have ever thought the best sports management in Chicago was that of the Chicago Blackhawks? Just a few years ago the city hated the Wirtz family for blacking out home games and refusing to spend money. Man how the tides have turned. I have said my piece about the Cubs lacking due diligence in their offseason signings of Bradley and Gregg. I have questioned the Bulls rationale at continually turning over poor high draft picks, but not since the Bears parted ways with Thomas Jones have I been so utterly confused at management decisions.

Sure, hindsight is 20-20 but what is the point of a big flashy quarterback when he is virtually playing 1 on 4 with every other team's D line? Perhaps the idea was to put the Quarterback in place and then build a team around him. But that does not seem possible since the Bears lack the draft power and free agent money to bring in new pieces to the puzzle. I suppose I will give them the benefit of the doubt and suggest bringing in every other team's garbage at O-Line and the corpse of Orlando Pace was just to buy time until they could find long-term solutions, but again, where do they expect to find the solutions?

I will speak my piece about the Bears and I will place blame where it belongs, but first I must call out every fan, every reporter and every schmuck who even thinks about booing Jay Cutler. It is not Jay Cutler's fault he got traded for another team's entire future, and it's certainly not his fault he was traded to the Chicago Bears. Now don't get me wrong, I love this team, but its where Quarterbacks go to die.

The problem starts from the ground up. The Bears field is repeatedly referred to as the worst in the NFL. Players often complain about bad footing, wet conditions and loose turf. As much as quarterbacks are classified by their arm, throwing starts with the legs. With bad footing it can be very difficult to achieve full power and accuracy on any throw. Jay Cutler must throw in these conditions 8 games a year while every other QB maybe once.

The footing problem is only compounded when 50 plays a game he is backpeddling for his life because even a 3 step drop means a Defensive End or Linebacker is in his face. We remember the infamous Rex Grossman fadeaway deep ball and Jay Cutler's is becoming eerily similar.

We cannot stop the blame at the line however. It's not Orlando Pace's fault he was signed to a position in which he would have to double team Frank Omiyale's man every single game. It's not Chris William's fault he was highly drafted only to get benched and then learn to play a new position. And it is certainly not the offensive line's fault they are asked to play backing up on their heels 50 plays a game. You ask any lineman in the game and they prefer to play smashmouth football running straight into the facemask of the Defensive line. This not only gives the offensive line an advantage on that individual play, but eventually tires out the defensive line. Nobody likes getting run into full speed over and over. Continually putting the O-Line in a drop back pass protection puts them on the defensive side of the attack. Let the big boys do some damage and run the ball.

You also cannot blame the offensive line for the fact the offensive coordinator, Ron Turnover, or whatever his name is, does not understand the concept of sending help on the other teams best pass rusher. The Bears used to have a huge full back who loved playing Chicago style smash-mouth football. Does anyone remember him? I think his name was Jason McKie.... and I think, he might even still be on the team eventhough we haven't seen him on the field for a while. The bears should have been in a Full back set or Jumbo Package the entire game against Minnesota with Mckie or a Tight End providing a double team on Jared Allen. The best way to take the best pass rusher in the conference out of the game is to run the ball right at him. Instead, Turner decided after the corpse of Orlando Pace could not stop him all game, he would replace Pace with a practice squad tight end who was signed upon Desmond Clarks scratch from the game. Brilliant. Jared Allen went through untouched and sacked Cutler for the second time.
By the way, that was on a 3rd and 6 play in the 4th quarter with the Bears down by more than 2 scores. Turner decided to call a play action, after the run had not been called all game, and send all the receivers deep leaving Cutler no checkdown in the flat. Jay, next time just throw the pick so you don't get killed and we have you next year.

We cannot stop the blame at Ron Turner though. It is not his fault he was hired in the first place, and it is certainly not his fault that his playbook, which is about as expansive as Madden 95 for Sega Game Gear, in which you could only select from 2 receivers, is still used in the NFL. Afterall it is not Ron Turner's job to prepare his team all week for the upcoming opponent and fire them up at game time. When was the last time we saw the Bears use a scheme to either stop the other team's strengths and/or exploit their weakness? Not even in the Cleveland Browns game did this happen. The Bears go out there week after week and run the same 12 plays over and over and over on offense while the defense sits in its cover 2 waiting to be picked apart.

Everybody knows the Eagles like to pass into the flat and let "the elephants march." The bears did not defend this area of the field that entire game. Everyone knows Jared Allen will be coming around the edge every play and the Bears did not send help. Everybody knows the 49ers run straight ahead unless they are passing to their tight end on an out route, yet Vernon Davis ran down the field in 1on1 coverage with Hunter Hillenmeyer all day long. Everybody seems to know these things, except Lovie Smith. Can we really blame Lovie though? The man's demeanor says it all about his coaching. It doesn't bother him to lose. Why would it? His $9mil is guaranteed no matter what his record. Is that any incentive to go out and spend extra time studying your opponent? Is that any incentive to get fired up about a game? Not at all, he can sit back with his low blood pressure and watch the money come in. Which is why the blame must go all the way from the grass on the field to Jerry Angelo.

All we know is something in Chicago has to change. It wont be the quarterback, the general roster cannot change much with now limited resources and even fewer draft picks, so it has to be the system. But can we really stop the blame at Jerry Angelo? I mean, the Bears still make tons of money no matter how shitty the team, no matter how shitty the coach. Because, we, the fans, love our Bears til the very end no matter how terrible a product is placed on the field. Once again, there's no incentive to win in Chicago. The 85 Bears are alive and well in every body's heart and can carry us back to Soldier Field no matter how ugly it has become and no matter how ugly the Bears record. Only a true Chicago fan can realize this so only a true man of Chicago can turn this thinking around. It's time for the Shanahan era to begin in Chicago.