The Verdict is In: Jay Cutler Reigns Supreme

(as previously posted on Mustache Sports)

When I first moved to Atlanta about a year ago there was this burning and consistent question that was asked of me over and over again. It just so happened that my move coincided with the Chicago Bears' 2010 playoff run in which Jay Cutler was unable to return to that now infamous NFC championship game against the Green Bay Packers. So my new Atlantan friends and colleagues all were interested in my thoughts and insights as they pertained to the Chicago quarterback:

"What do you think? Couldn't that pansy get back in the game?", "Hey man, do you like Jay Cutler?", "You think he's the quarterback for the Bears?", and my favorite, "Ahh, I tell you what, Jay has that pretty girlfriend distracting him from football, you think that's affecting his game?"

And as inherently candid as I typically am the answer that I consistently gave actually bothered me. My most common response was simply, "I don't know; I'm still on the fence." But Let's face it, the Bears in recent years have been nothing more than an organization owned by a family whom the game has passed by, run by a disorganized front office, and led by a patchwork quilt of a coaching staff that is determined to maintain their respective systems despite the personnel at their disposal. And because the Bears as an organization are the most consistently inconsistent team in the NFL it was hard for me to get a feel and read on what kind of quarterback Jay Cutler was.

I was excited in 08', the year before Cutler arrived in Chicago, to never have to hear Lovie Smith say again that "Rex Grossman is our quarterback," and after a formidable 9-7 season that left the Bears narrowly missing a playoff berth, an upgrade at the position was more than welcome. But after the pomp and circumstance surrounding the trade that sent Kyle Orton to Denver and the Indiana Native Cutler closer to home, the actual season was less than successful as Ron Turner's offense proved a terrible fit (duh) to a guy who saw most of his passing yards come outside the pocket in the Mile High City.

And the failures of the new Bears quarterback not being able to lead them to the playoffs in his debut season in 2009 as he threw almost as many interceptions as he did touchdowns, I was able to attribute to growing pains. At least after the season the powers that be finally decided to make a coaching change … however due to Lovie's shiny new extension that was handed to him after the Bears showed up to a Super Bowl, it was only the offensive coordinator that got the axe. Even worse to the situation was bringing in Mike Martz as Turner's replacement, because apparently bringing in a coordinator whose playbook looks more like a law school textbook and whose overall offensive scheme fit the Bears like a square peg in a round hole sounded like a good idea to General Manager Jerry Angelo at the time.

So on into 2010 the Bears went and in a season where Chicago was lauded for their offseason acquisitions highlighted by Julius Peppers, it would turn out that Angelo once again bungled his duties as Brandon Manumaleuna turned out to be fat and un-athletic and Chester Taylor's career was effectively over with his best years way behind him. And with Martz now calling the plays, what was most glaringly obvious in the beginning of the season was that Cutler was going to be killed if his O-Coordinator continued to spread the field and ignore the deficiencies on the offensive line. And so by the time the Bears reached the NFC Championship game against a Green Bay team just hitting their stride in the playoffs, Cutler had already been sacked 52 times for a total of 352 yards lost. Needless to say, when someone has been slung about, rearranged, had their clock cleaned, and generally been landed on by 230 lbs plus freak athletes all season, those experiences are bound to have a lasting effect on one’s body. And that was why I was willing to give Cutler the benefit of the doubt after not coming back into that game as well as the fact that his teammates stood by his decision; and to be completely honest, Caleb Hanie had a hell of showing in the second half of that game. The Packers were simply the better team.

So 2011 comes around and here I am perched on this fence. On one side, Jay Cutler sits shinning in the light of the holy land, surrounded by virgins and Vince Lombardi trophies as the beer flows like wine around him and Mike Ditka, Walter Payton and Sid Luckman welcome Jay with open arms into the fraternity of Bears greats. On the other side, Jay is joined by the likes of Jerry Angelo, Curtis Enis and Cade McNown who scoff and dance on the grave of George Halas as they embrace the newest member of Bears hell. And the season starts terribly.

After demolishing an Atlanta team that shot themselves in the foot the entire game, the Bears barely showed up against New Orleans and Green Bay, nearly gave it away at the end to Cam Newton and the Panthers in week 4, and were embarrassed on Monday night at Detroit. So here the Bears sit at 2-3 and the beating that Jay Cutler was taking had become monologue material for late night talk show hosts. He was sacked 18 times in the first 5 games with 11 of those coming in just the first 2. What happened to getting rid of blocking deficient offensive pieces such as Greg Olsen and replacing them with a fullback by the name of Klutts and a giant named Spaeth to help better protect your quarterback? It was like Martz forgot the plan in these first five games and insisted on 7 step drops and 4 to 5 wide receiver sets. The outcome was the continued check downs and over utilization of Matt Forte accompanied by a banged up signal caller and that “stellar” 2-3 start to the season.

Even still, what I began to recognize early in the 2011 Chicago Bears season was that Jay Cutler was a hell of quarterback. What a fan wants in his team's leader is a guy that is ice cold. A guy that will gamble for the greater good and come out on top more times than he winds up on the bottom. And a guy that continues to get up off the matt and shake off the beatings, the interceptions off his receivers' fingertips, the criticisms, and perhaps most importantly, the lack of talent around him. What I began to see in Jay Cutler in 2011 was the beacon of light that shines off the elite quarterbacks in this league. Beginning with the Minnesota game on Sunday night in mid October and ending in late November after a victory against San Diego, the Chicago Bears were quite possibly playing the best football of any team in the league. And the reason was Jay Cutler.

With all the focus in the beginning of the season on signing Matt Forte, what has become so evident, and has been proven time and time again over the past decade, is how great running backs are extremely rare and how difficult it is for a back to remain above average for a period longer than 5 years. Next year is Matt Forte's 5th year in the NFL, and without shifting gears too much, the Bears will be making the absolute right decision when they decide to give him the franchise tag and see how it goes. But also, with that being said, Jay Cutler is the most important piece to the Bears continued success in the coming years and that was proven after both he and Forte went down.

The way Cutler got hurt in that San Diego game, attempting to make a tackle after throwing an interception was so uncharacteristic by action but yet extremely characteristic by trait. Bears fans have seen Jay walk off the field after every interception and really, that is what you want your franchise quarterback to do. But I believe that the competitive fire in Jay's gut stemming from his days with the Broncos when he and Phillip Rivers bickered and battled to no end, was the reason he went for that tackle, and ultimately the reason the Bear's season turned belly up. When number 6 went down, the Bears became exposed.

If Matt Forte was the most important piece to the Bears offense, they would have won the Oakland game, and they would not have been able to pull off rushing yardage of 93, 159, 132, and 199 in the next four games without Forte. And there are those who will say that the Bears had to run due to their quarterback being out and if that was the case, and fans new they had to run, do you really think the other team didn't know that? From the Chiefs to the Packers, the Broncos to the Seahawks, they all tried to force the Bears to use their passing game, but still none of them could stop the Bears running attack. Matt Forte is a great cog in the wheel, but Jay Cutler is the glue.

Never have I seen a team collapse like the Colts did this year when their star quarterback back went down, but the pundits have been saying for years that if not for Peyton Manning, the Colts are a terrible football franchise. And by no means am I trying to compare Jay Cutler to Peyton Manning, who in mine own eyes is the greatest quarterback of all time (yes, ALL TIME), but the Bears receivers ran the same routes, the linemen blocked the same people, and the Chicago running backs made the same cuts. What was the missing piece in the last 5 games the Bears have lost? Jay Cutler.

The value of a quarterback in this league that makes the right decisions (or at least more right ones than wrongs ones) with the ball in his hand, that can extend a play when pressured, that can get up after being sacked 52 times in a season, and that makes a group of mediocre (AT BEST) receivers look like a bunch of all pros, is immeasurable. Johnny Knox, Devin Hester, and Earl Bennett are never going to make a pro bowl unless Jay Cutler puts them there. Same goes for the group of "where did they come from's" in Indianapolis.

Jay Cutler forced my hand this year and pushed me off of that fence. If number 6 was getting snaps in New Orleans, New England, or Green…. yeah I'm not even going to say that, but he would be mentioned with the Drew Brees', the Tom Brady's, and the Aaron Rodgers' of this league, and there is no doubt in my mind about that. The only hindrance on Jay right now (and this is the reason he will never be as good as Peyton Manning, who has been in a similar situation in Indianapolis for his entire career) is the coaching and organization he plays for. He will never have as effective and efficient combination of coaching and management behind him as they do in the aforementioned cities, and for that reason, Jay will have to make the best of his time in Chicago despite the fact his GM is Jerry Angelo and his coaching staff consists of (for now) Mike Martz and Lovie Smith. But the one thing that Jay Cutler has proven to me, and should have proven to the city of Chicago is that he is the Bears quarterback of the future, and that he is good enough to bear the weight of the entire team on his shoulders.

Your Weekend College Football Picks

This is Chicago's Sports Son and I am now coming to you from Atlanta. It's been a while, this I know, but things happen, schedules get busy, and the blog takes a back seat. Right now I am going to use this blog as a supplement to Mustache Sports, which I contribute to weekly. This week's NCAA football picks were, for one reason or another, not posted on Mustache, so here they are for "entertainment purposes only."

No in depth analysis last week, and let me start off by apologizing to my one reader for that. But maybe I should just throw my picks into space more often because yours truly went 5-1 last week and made up for my 3-4 record back in week 6. Damn Texas. Who would have thought Oklahoma would beat them like they were responsible for this Barry Switzer picture?

Give the guy his Selmons brother statue if it means that much to him.

Week 7’s 5-1 record does not come without some controversy. But I probably wasn’t the only one throwing a party when South Carolina took a safety against Mississippi St, and you know what? It was damn deserved. That is the only thing the good Ole’ Ball Coach Steve Spurrier has ever done for me. And speaking of South Carolina, who was in the camp that simply thought Stephen Garcia was bad at football? Now he is being investigated for point shaving? That explains all the booze and drugs; the guy had things to celebrate and money to blow (see what I did there?).

But on to week 8 we go and quite honestly it’s not the best slate of games. In fact Sef Sam Holy and I disagreed on which to cover, but the fact that he left the Notre Dame/USC game out of the mix for his downtrodden and underperforming Florida State Seminoles who play a terrible Maryland team, is bordering on blasphemy.

USC +8 ½ @ Notre Dame

The Gold Domers again started the season with a ton of hype but after losing two very winnable games to two inferior teams, the story in South Bend has an all too familiar comeback theme. But unlike previous years, Brian Kelly’s squad does not seem to be falling subject to an up and down roller coaster of Jekyll and Hyde type play. Instead however, Quarterback Tommy Rees and his safety valve future first round pick Michael Floyd have Notre Dame on the right track towards a respectable bowl game. The thought was that it was Notre Dame’s defense that would keep them in games as the young offense still learned Coach Kelly’s system, but the secondary has failed Notre Dame not just in the passing game (Michigan) but also in support of the running game (Air Force). This has led to the Irish giving up 21 points a week, which is still a respectable 31^st in the country, but not nearly, the standard that was expected. The brightest spot on this side of the ball is the young Manti Te’o who has learned on the job as well as anybody and earned recognition from Sports Illustrated as a midseason first team All-American.

So Lane Kiffin and his Trojans’ best bet to stay in this game will be to focus on that Barkley/Woods connection down field to expose the less than stellar Notre Dame secondary. And Barkley will need to feed guys like Woods and Marqise Lee the ball because after their stellar pair of tight ends, Rhett Ellison and Xavier Grimble get hit a couple of times going across the middle, they aren’t going to want to again. And the fact is, that if Notre Dame makes USC’s already one dimensional offense have to focus that dimension on the flats and outer curls, then the slight Robert Woods gets even easier to defend. And I normally do not like this big of a line in a rivalry game, but am going to have to take Touchdown Jesus and the points; if for nothing else, because Lane Kiffin gets out coached every time he steps onto a football field. NOTRE DAME

6Wisconsin -7 @ 16Michigan State

Wisconsin got absolutely no love from the BCS which we all kind of expected, but the fact of the matter is that they are good, plain and simple. The badgers have the most balanced attack in the nation and score the most points at 50 a game, but are extremely hindered in the eyes of the computer because of how “down” the BigTen is this year. And with the Spartans representing seemingly the toughest game left on their schedule, with only an impending conference championship to supplement that, Wisconsin needs to win big in East Lansing. And nobody understands that more than Coach Bret Bielema, so you can expect him to never take his foot off the gas.

And do not be fooled by State’s win over in state rival Michigan last week. The fact that the Wolverines came into that game ranked 11 in the country is a joke. What I did come out of that game with, however, is the fact that Kirk Cousins makes damn good decisions. Battling extreme wind he chose to simply get rid of the football at all the right times and managed not to turn it over, and with 50mph gusts, that is NOT an easy task. But neither is a matchup with Wisconsin’s stout D boasting points against at less than 10 a game (9.7).

The Badgers will hit them hard, they will hit them early, and they will cover 7 points easily. WISCONSIN

25Washington +20 ½ @ 8Stanford

Washington has not played a single opponent yet this year that even measures up to half of the talent of Stanford. Apparently Andrew Luck is the second coming of John Elway, but I am more prone to simply say that he is a heady quarterback that never allows the game situation get away from him. He throws the ball all over the field having already connected with 16 different teammates and has 18 touchdowns to 3 interceptions on the season. Add the fact that Luck has only been sacked twice all year, is surrounded by 5 different running backs who have scored touchdowns and the Stanford defense only gives up 11 points a game, and it is obvious to see that this will be a no contest. Stanford covers. STANFORD

INTRIGUE OF THE WEEK

SMU +3 @ Southern Miss

SMU has a damn good passing attack. Quarterback JJ McDermott has thrown for 1,840 yards this year and 1,135 of them have gone to two receivers: Darius Johnson and Cole Beasley. Surprisingly, the two are just 5’10 and 5’9 respectively. What they lack in size however, they make up for in speed and were both key contributors in the impressive win the Mustangs had against UCF last week.

Southern Miss is not shy about scoring points either but prefer to run the ball while complementing with the pass. They put up 63 points against Navy last week and managed to even their attack with 301 passing and 283 rushing. What’s perhaps most impressive was that senior quarterback Austin Davis only had 2 incompletions going 21 for 23 with 3 touchdowns.

This is going to be a great, evenly matched game but I would take SMU strictly because they are getting points. SMU

GAME OF THE WEEK

20Auburn +21 @ 1LSU

Since there has to be a game of the week, I guess an SEC rivalry game involving the number one team in the country is as good as any, but really this matchup lands here by default. LSU is coming off of an official top dog BCS ranking and a no surprise trouncing of Tennessee, but the real story down in Baton Rouge is the one surrounding this year’s breakout star corner Tyrann Mathieu and two other key players. Mathieu, along with fellow cornerback Tharold Simon and Tiger leading rusher Spencer Ware have been suspended for the contest for testing positive for synthetic marijuana. I guess Honey Badger don’t care. And although the Mad Hatter, Coach Les Miles has hinted that all three will be back for the much anticipated heavyweight bout in two weeks against Alabama, there is still speculation as to whether or not that is true. Maybe miles should turn them on to eating grass instead of smoking it.

So will this affect the game? The overall outcome, no, but as far as the line is concerned, these suspensions, compounded with the benching of Auburn Quarterback Barrett Trotter makes this one a little bit more difficult to call. The benching was warranted; in the last two games against Arkansas and Florida, Trotter completed a combined 8 passes for just 114 yards (44 of which came on a screen that broke for a touchdown). Enter sophomore Clint Moseley who looked much more primed to step up and fill Cam Newton’s void in the latter part of that game against Florida and all of a sudden 21 points looks like a lot for LSU to cover. So I will take Michael Dyer and the sputtering Auburn team with the points in a low scoring game. AUBURN

LOCK OF THE WEEK

11Kansas St. -11 @ Kansas

Big line for a rivalry game, but since the Coach Monster Mangino left, the Jayhawks have been flat out terrible. Kansas St. is a LOCK this week. KANSAS STATE

SEF SAM HOLY’S OTHER GAMES

OK St. covers -7 ½ over Mizzou

Clemson covers -11 at home against UNC

Maryland and the points +18 at FSU

Who Dat the Reason the Saints are Celebrating? Sean Patyon

With the Super Bowl hangover still causing my head to pound and the Who Dat Nation preparing to celebrate the Saints victory in literal hours I find it just and necessary to afford Sean Payton the congratulations he deserves. This Super Bowl was the most grossly overmatched coaching battle I have ever seen. To say that Sean Payton took Jim Caldwell over his knee and spanked him might even be a tad bit of an understatement. To explain how important coaching decisions turned out to be in this game let's address Payton's first big decision: not kicking the field goal on 4th and goal before the half. The fact is it that there was 1:49 left in the half and the Colts (or more correctly stated, Payton Manning) still had all of their timeouts in tact. The Saints were having a mediocre half at best and the odds were definitely weighed as such. If Payton chooses to go for it, and the Saints score a touchdown, the game is tied at 10 EVEN THOUGH New Orleans has been completely out played. Now, if the Saints do not score, Payton has got to be thinking that 99 yards is a long way to go in less than two minutes, even for Payton Manning. And besides, the greatest trait a coach can have is knowing your oppostion's hand, and Sean Payton was willing to bet the house the good old Tony Dungy schooled Jim Caldwell would play conservative, which is exactly what he did, running three strait downs and allowing the Saints to get the ball back and a chance at a field goal before the half.

So what if the Saints had kicked the field goal instead of going for the touchdown? Worse case scenario, is now they give the Colts (Team Manning) the ball back with just as much time, a shorter field, and more incentive to get back up by two scores. Not to mention one more shot directly after half time. Now I'll be the first to admit that I was yelling at the TV screen telling Sean to kick the field goal and then griping that he got lucky when they finally did get one. This is why I am not an NFL coach, because the fact is, if the show is on the other foot, Caldwell would have kicked the field goal (without a doubt) and in that situation, Drew Brees could have been just as deadly as one Payton Manning.

Now obviously the next big decision was the onside kick coming out of the locker room in the second half...the turnaround for the New Orleans Saints. This decision came down to Payton's willingness to win or lose the biggest game of his life on one roll of the dice. It's not to say the Saints would have lost if they didn't recover that onside kick, but ... the Saints would have lost if they did not recover that onside kick. Seriously, we all know what happens when you give the greatest quarterback of all time (yeah I said it!) the ball basically in field goal range, he scores. And in that situation Peyton Manning would have put that ball in the end zone. But because Sean Payton was willing to put the entire season on that one play, the Saints win this game. They capture the momentum and they never really give it back.

The last coaching decision made by Sean Payton and/or Greg Williams (DC) that I want to touch on came on the play when Tracy Porter stepped in front of Reggie Wayne and virtually ended the Colts' hopes. Again I found myself screaming at the TV for the Saints to bring pressure and get somebody in Manning's face. He was systematically driving the ball down New Orleans' throat, was on their 31 yard line, and getting ready to tie the game up. Now, the Saints had not done a great job all game pressuring Manning, but there was definitely a presence felt and I hate when coaches turn to prevent style defenses when the game is on the line, (I used to have a coach tell me that the only thing a prevent defense does is prevent you from winning.) and to me the Saints were doing just that and were on their heels. But on 2nd and 5 the Saints blitz; they get in Manning's face and his quick release to Austin Collie over the middle is incomplete, and because Hargrove got hurt on that play, it allowed N.O. to draw something up and on third down, they again brought pressure, again got in Manning's face, and he again had to let the ball go quickly. The result was a perfectly read route by Tracy Porter who stepped in and took a terrible pass from Peyton Manning 74 yards to the house. There are not many coaching staffs who are blitzing with the lead, in the Super Bowl, with the opposing team driving the football, and I say kudos to Payton and his staff for again, rolling the dice, putting their destiny into their own hands, and not letting one player beat you while 106 million (what were the other 200 million doing?) people watched!

And now, let us talk about Jim Caldwell for a second. I do not want to crticize him too much, but the fact that he is a rookie coach showed in this football game. Amongst the many gripes I have with his decision making the only one I want to point out has to do with the running game. So coach, my questrion is why in the hell are you giving the ball to your third string runningback Mike Hart the on that third and one before the half instead of your star Joseph Addai who was slashing the Saints defense and averaging over 5 yards per carry? This is a guy who had just gained 5 and 4 yards on the previous two plays!! Was he hurt? Was he tired? And if so, why is hart getting the ball? Why are you not giving it to your stud rookie Donald Brown, who, by the way, was also getting over 4 yards a carry? The move simply made no sense to me, and for that Caldwell deserved to not get his first down and to allow the Saints right back in the game.

The coaching in this superbowl, to me, was the biggest story line, and I feel as though the better coach won. Sean Payton was willing to make the tough decisions that put his team over the top, and because of that he will be cemented in Super Bowl history. It bothers me a little in the first place that the entire nation gave the Saints virtually no shot to win this game, but when there are 2 mediocre (at best) defenses going against two power house offenses, anything can happen. It also bothers me that no one was talking about how different this Colts team would have been with the likes of a Bob Sanders, but that is a story for a different day. For now, as always, I thank you for reading and until next time, I am Chicago's Sports Son, and I'm going to bed.

Mark McGwire

So the big news today all over the sports world is that Mark McGwire has finally admitted to using PED's. And the questions that have been tossed around are what does this mean for baseball? For McGwire? And what impact (if any) should this have on McGwire's potential entry into the hall of fame? The last question is what intrigues me the most. The media has labeled the era in which McGwire, Bonds, and Sosa played in as the steroids era and honestly I am ok with this, despite the fact that it is an obvious insult to those who did not take PED's. So does this mean that players who made their stamp on the game, who shattered records, should not be properly acknowledged? I understand the whole argument that they cheated, I really do, but I also feel that it is extremely naive for anybody to believe that those caught were the only ones. And that superstars would not have been superstars if they had not taken the drugs that they took. When watching McGwire's interview with Bob Costas last night, Mark brought up a good point. He said that he had been hitting home runs his entire life, and that those home runs were because of his talent, not his PED's. Now I agree with this to a certain extent and Tim Kurkjian touched on this morning that no one is saying that if a non baseball player took PED's it is not going to turn that person into a ball player. PED's are not going to teach hand-eye coordination. And so in that regard, Mr. McGwire, I say agreed. You always hit home runs, but on the flip side of that who knows if you would have hit as many as you did. And the answer to that will never be known.

So do I also agree with Tim Kurkjian that McGwire belongs in the hall of fame? And my answer to that is a thousands times yes. And I was completely flabbergasted to see a poll on Sportscenter this morning where 45% (which was the leading percentage of the choices) of those polled felt as though McGwire did not now nor would he ever deserve to be in the hall. This is completely asinine. The steroids era was something that happened in baseball and the sad fact is that a lot if not most of the players in the MLB at the time were taking PED's. They still had to hit the ball. They still had to throw it. Did the drugs give them an edge? Yes, but in an era where this use was running so popular in clubhouses, and it was the best known secret in major league baseball, how can the public really punish an entire era? You can't, and it is laughable to me to say that guys like McGwire, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens won't someday be in the hall of fame. This is, as Kurkjian said, a part of baseball. It is a story of an era and when these records are looked at and the history book is written about that game, it is a story that should be told along side everything else. The important aspect of learning from all this is just that, we need to learn. And i feel like baseball has done this. Proper testing is in place and the game has been cleaned up. We can't right the wrongs of the past but we can learn from them, and the general public, by saying that McGwire does not deserve the hall should take a long look in the mirror and ask themselves who the hell they think they are that they are better than to forgive an forget a man who so obviously was doing the same thing as most others.

Now, do not read this blog and say, "Oh well the Chicago's Sports Son is condoning the use of PED's," because I am not. I am simply saying, if McGwire is not put into the hall it is not only an injustice to the individual, but it would be an injustice the game. We should, as we always have, look at hall of fame voting on a case by case basis and consider everything surrounding a candidate rather than looking at one smudge on a man's career. There is no denying that McGwire used steroids, or, if you believe Jose Canseco, 75% of the league did during this era, but the superstars were still superstars, and the scrubs were still scrubs. No asterisk is needed nor does one belong not only to McGwire but to the era. It should simply be stated that circumstances were different, as they were for every day, week, month, or decade. Maris had an asterisk by his name for a short time because he played a longer season. This simply proves how great the Babe was; that he could accomplish what he did in fewer games. Athletes these days have many more advantages than they did in the glory days. Technology is responsible for that. The advancement of a society is responsible for that. Better bats, better knowledge, and a better understanding of the game and how it has and will evolve is why records get broken and people get remembered. It is sad that McGwire used PED's, but it is not the end of the world, and it is definitely the the sole reason he was a magnificent baseball player.