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Was Cutler asked to do too much?
Was Cutler asked to do too much?
He was asked to carry the offense, defense, special teams, Gatorade jugs, coaches' headphones and medical kits
Dan Pompei
The Bears asked Jay Cutler to do it all Sunday.
And he did it all — poorly.
In Cutler's first game back from a one-game absence because of a concussion, he was asked to carry the offense. As well as the defense, special teams, Gatorade jugs, coaches' headphones and medical kits.
Other than the glazed-over look on his face in his post-game news conference, there no signs of lingering symptoms from his concussion. His coaches certainly did not coddle him.
Cutler was asked to throw the ball all over the field. He did, but too often he was nowhere near his targets. Cutler threw 22 incompletions and connected only 43 percent of his 39 throws.
He was inaccurate on many passes. It appeared that he had misunderstandings with receivers about where the ball was supposed to go, but he indicated there were no such problems and said his receivers were "on point."
His best pass play of the day? Easy, that was his first — a deep throw to Devin Hester that Hester did not have a chance to catch because it was behind him. But Seahawks cornerback Roy Lewis was penalized for pass interference after falling on Hester at the end of the play. The result was a 58-yard gain, which set up the Bears' first touchdown.
Cutler was asked to be his own pass protector. On some plays, Cutler was responsible for picking up one of the Seahawks' blitzing pass rushers. In those situations, Cutler is expected to make a hot read and deliver the ball quickly.
He was sacked six times (which runs his total to 15 times in his last three halves of football), and acknowledged he might have failed to pick up a hot read a few times. On one sack, he said, the Seahawks made it look like they were pressuring on the backside, and they blitzed on the front side.
"I have to get the ball out quicker, we have to identify who's coming and who's not, and the receivers have to see it too," he said.
He also said, "We have to figure it out. It's a problem. It's on me, it's on the offensive line, it's on the receivers."
Cutler was asked to make up for the running game being given most of Sunday off. Is it some kind of labor law that the runners can't be asked to work on consecutive Sundays?
The result was Cutler found himself in third and longs more often than he has found himself in trendy night spots with his TV star girlfriend who most people have never heard of.
The Bears faced third and five or longer on 10 of 12 third downs. Cutler attempted to pass on each of the dozen third downs. He had two completions (both shy of the first down marker), six incompletions and four sacks.
"We have a third down package and we're not executing it," Cutler said.
Cutler was asked to overcome disadvantageous field position. The Seahawks' average drive began on their 33 — 15 yards closer to scoring than the Bears' average drive.
Cutler was asked to score more than Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck with fewer opportunities. The Seahawks had the benefit of nearly nine minutes more of possession time, and is defense didn't give him the ball on a takeaway once all game.
What Cutler was asked to do was too much. He wasn't helped nearly enough. Not from offensive coordinator Mike Martz, not from his blockers and not from his running backs. About the only help he had came from Johnny Knox, Earl Bennett and Devin Aromashodu, who helped pad Cutler's passing yardage with long runs after the catch.
"Was it all his fault?" said Seahawks safety Lawyer Milloy, who had one of the sacks. "I'm not going to say that. He's a strong-minded competitor, and he will stand in the pocket and hold onto the ball. Even Michael Vick couldn't have gotten out of some of the stuff we were bringing."
Maybe Kristin Cavallari, or whatever her name is, can help him forget the whole thing. Somebody needs to help this guy.
dpompei@tribune.com
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Every cream's nightmare
Cutler beginning to look lost after another six-pack of sacks
by rick telender
If this continues, we could see the end of Jay Cutler's career. This season.
The Bears quarterback has been sacked 23 times, 15 in just his last six quarters of play.
Cutler was beaten like a Persian rug by the New York Giants two weeks ago, getting sacked an NFL-record nine times in the first half before leaving with a concussion. He took a week off to recover, then came back to be brutalized Sunday in a 23-20 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks, getting sacked six more times.
They're called sacks for a reason. They aren't plain old tackles. Running backs get tackled. Tight ends get tackled. Quarterbacks get sacked because they're in the backfield occupied doing something else -- i.e., passing, looking downfield, scrambling for their lives -- when they get creamed.
But sacks aren't the only measure of the beating Cutler is taking.
Consider that early in the fourth quarter, Seahawks defensive end Raheem Brock pinned Cutler's arms to his sides and slammed him to the Soldier Field turf after the ball was gone. The back of Cutler's head whiplashed off the ground. Helmet or not, this was a serious blow to the brain.
But it wasn't a sack. Nor was it a roughing-the-passer penalty. Nor was it anything that will show up in the game stats. It was just a moment in the life of a guy who at times seems to have been cloned from a crash-test dummy.
Cutler is either being used as the equivalent of a mine-sniffing dog by sadistic Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz or else Cutler has a subliminal death wish and is using suicide-by-defensive-lineman to achieve his goal.
Whatever it is, it's not fun to watch anymore.
''Most of the time when you get sacked that many times, it's a combination of protection up front, the quarterback, receivers -- everybody is involved,'' Bears head coach Lovie Smith said.
True. But all that stupidity coalesces at the QB's noggin. That the Bears hardly attempt to run when Cutler is in the game -- just 12 times by Bears rushers Matt Forte and Chester Taylor -- means Cutler is the target in the cross hairs.
That he seems to be getting less and less certain about his surroundings is a bad sign.
Stuck in the mud
Yes, his offensive line was horrible Sunday, and it appeared Forte forgot to pick up the blitzer when Cutler was sacked and fumbled for a safety in the third quarter. Oops.
But veteran Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was not sacked once, and a lot of that was because he seemed to sense what was going on around him better than Cutler.
Cutler couldn't convert a single third down the entire game? What's that all about?
Granted, many of the Bears' 12 third downs were long-yardage ones -- about eight yards on average. But there was a third-and-six, a third-and-five, a third-and-four and a third-and-two. Zip.
Cutler completed 17 of 39 passes for 290 yards and threw no interceptions, but his quarterback rating was a weak 69.4. At least three of his passes should have been intercepted, one of them by two defenders.
All of a sudden, something just seems terribly wrong with the Bears' offense.
If Cutler is going to slowly be liquidated, why not put in some quarterback draw plays for him, Martz, to even the field? Sure, they're risky. But better to run and slide than stand and splatter.
Ouch makes grouch
Cutler himself seems to get surlier and more evasive with the ongoing beat-down. Has anybody ever seen this guy laugh? Chuckle with sincerity? He won't talk about his head, about anything. Concussions? What concussions?
It's all fine.
''You guys will write whatever you want to write,'' he snapped when asked about the four other reported concussions he received at Vanderbilt and with the Denver Broncos.
Didn't that hit by Brock rock you?
He shakes his head, looks away. It's not even worth discussing. Heck, it's not even worth giving a civil answer to.
Cutler is an odd dude. His body language is there for all to read. It's that of a guy who doesn't enjoy talking to people, doesn't communicate well with folks, doesn't care what anybody thinks, doesn't need to go rah-rah anywhere, anyhow. He's a self-contained island of ice.
Though the Bears are 4-2, their opponents have more rushing and passing first downs, better third- and fourth-down conversion rates, longer time of possession, fewer interceptions, more net yards, a higher completion average and fewer sacks.
Cutler's there in the middle of it all. Maybe he's just scared witless
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Seattle has the 31st ranked pass "D".. So passing more than running made sense in game plan, to exploit the weakness of the secondary, unfort it did not work out, as the Qb/WR at times seems on wrong page and Cutler's usual accuracy was off( how did he overthrow olsen 3 yards in front of him?)...Add t the Confusion on who the tackles should be blocking on CB blitzes and you get what happened yesterday.
The only good news is Bears Stil in First, with a 2 game lead.. at 4-2
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15 on 6: Cutler's worst performance to date
By Jim Miller
CSNChicago.com
Lethargic: That's how I would classify how Jay Cutler looked in Sunday's loss to Seattle.
He was slow on his reads, if he knew them at all. I can point to several individual plays where his decision making alone would have moved the chains, thus putting the Bears in position to win. This is on top of the missed blocking assignments, missed hot reads, and no commitment to the running game.
As always, the Bears get another break with Green Bay losing Sunday and Minnesota still on life support. Jay is too good a quarterback for these things to happen.
It is gut check time.
I wrote in my last blog what Jay needed to do coming off injury. He needed to cross the bridge of getting hit, settle in, and get mentally focused. It never materialized. He did get hit early, but missed several reads to get something going offensively.
In the fourth series of the game, Jay missed an easy dump off to the running back when the Bears were backed up in a field position battle. Jay, instead, elects to throw the deep curl route into three defenders on 2nd-and-10 that nearly got picked off. Chester Taylor is wide open in the flat off of "Chili 137" protection (fake the outside zone run, the running back looks to block WLB, if he's not there, he leaks to the flat). Missing his third read in the route tells me Jay was not mentally into it and definitely not seeing the field.
How many times do we talk about situational play? It is everything in the NFL. If you hit the wide open running back, you are in a minimum 3rd-and-5 situation, not 3rd-and-10. Knowing what I know about Chester Taylor, he makes a tackler miss for another two or three yards minimum. You have now dug your team out of a hole and even if you do not convert the 3rd-and-short, Brad Maynard is not punting out of his own endzone.
Nothing wrong with playing the field position battle. Another example of Jay not knowing his assignment was on "Flanker Drive" (I broke this play down last year in Blog if you need reference). Jay's missed read of Devin Hester, who is the No. 1 read, and wide open on 3rd-and-short leads to the missed 54-yard field goal. The score is 23-13 at the time. Think about it, the final score is 23-20. If Jay hits Devin, they move the chains, and even if the drive does not conclude with a touchdown, Robbie is not sweating making 54-yarders. Give your team a chance, thinking the game allows you to play the game with confidence. That was bad football, and Jay is better than that.
CEO
As the starting Qb of your football team, you are the Chief Executive Officer. If guys do not know their assignments, you tell them. When you are unsure yourself, there is a problem. Jay looked unsure of his own responsibilities Sunday, let alone everyone else's.
Jay needs to know future game plans inside and out. It is why Peyton Manning and Tom Brady never look panicked - they are prepared for everything their opponent is doing or what they could do - they have an answer, so there is no reason to panic.
This was Jay's worst performance to date and he is coming off injury. There are many challenges to learning a new offense, but he's the guy who needs to dig deeper.
I am concerned going into this weeks game against Washington because if Jay could not sort out Seattle's "Tampa 2" defense with added wrinkles, Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett will be licking his chops.
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I don't care about the ins or outs, or the hows and why...the bottom line is Jay looked like shit Sunday...he looks like he has his head up his ass most the time yesterday...this team will go nowhere if Jay and Co. doesn't straighten this shit out...
Reductio ad absurdum...it's how we roll...
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High Fives / Like - 0 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
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Originally Posted by
Wolfman 
I don't care about the ins or outs, or the hows and why...the bottom line is Jay looked like shit Sunday...he looks like he has his head up his ass most the time yesterday...this team will go nowhere if Jay and Co. doesn't straighten this shit out...
yep.. No excuses for yesterday, with the exception of the ST unit, we flat out stunk on both "O" and "D", and got what we deserved.. The one thing just can't understand is the missing of the short passing game- Cutler did it to perfection in the Dallas game, which stopped them from hitting him and blitzing in the 3rd and 4th quarters- So you would think that Success, esp when getting hit, would be what he would fall back to.. But yesterday missed a wide open hester for a first down, a wide open olsen, and forte.. As jim miller said, the "coulda. shoulda's"... he really needs to take these short passes and move the chains and go for the juglular AFTER the rythym has been established and not taking so many shots
I wrote in my last blog what Jay needed to do coming off injury. He needed to cross the bridge of getting hit, settle in, and get mentally focused. It never materialized. He did get hit early, but missed several reads to get something going offensively.
In the fourth series of the game, Jay missed an easy dump off to the running back when the Bears were backed up in a field position battle. Jay, instead, elects to throw the deep curl route into three defenders on 2nd-and-10 that nearly got picked off. Chester Taylor is wide open in the flat off of "Chili 137" protection (fake the outside zone run, the running back looks to block WLB, if he's not there, he leaks to the flat). Missing his third read in the route tells me Jay was not mentally into it and definitely not seeing the field.
How many times do we talk about situational play? It is everything in the NFL. If you hit the wide open running back, you are in a minimum 3rd-and-5 situation, not 3rd-and-10. Knowing what I know about Chester Taylor, he makes a tackler miss for another two or three yards minimum. You have now dug your team out of a hole and even if you do not convert the 3rd-and-short, Brad Maynard is not punting out of his own endzone.
Nothing wrong with playing the field position battle. Another example of Jay not knowing his assignment was on "Flanker Drive" (I broke this play down last year in Blog if you need reference). Jay's missed read of Devin Hester, who is the No. 1 read, and wide open on 3rd-and-short leads to the missed 54-yard field goal. The score is 23-13 at the time. Think about it, the final score is 23-20. If Jay hits Devin, they move the chains, and even if the drive does not conclude with a touchdown, Robbie is not sweating making 54-yarders. Give your team a chance, thinking the game allows you to play the game with confidence. That was bad football, and Jay is better than that.
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When your asking him to throw 3 times to ever 1 rush, by a rb, then yes you're asking him to do to much. Exploiting a bad 2nd does not mean giving up on the run all together.
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Originally Posted by
Riczaj01 When your asking him to throw 3 times to ever 1 rush, by a rb, then yes you're asking him to do to much. Exploiting a bad 2nd does not mean giving up on the run all together.
Agreed, but a large part was due to not converting the 3rd down's- so had no rythym and no time to establish the run when in 2nd and 3rd and longs
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Agree with all poster comments so far. Jay did look lost. His last 2 games he has failed to accurately recognize the blitz and adjust.
I've seen it written here that Martz's system does not have an audible option. Is this true? If yes, I worry about that with this offensive line. Seems all the defense has to do is crowd the line of scrimmage & play up on the WR's to be effective. We don't seem to protect Jay for more than 2.5 seconds, if that, and the press coverage will negate many of the quick passes. I'm really starting to worry. If this had been happening in week 1 or 2, then I wouldn't have felt so bad. But it seems we're regressing, not progressing in the offense.
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Originally Posted by
dabears54 Agreed, but a large part was due to not converting the 3rd down's- so had no rythym and no time to establish the run when in 2nd and 3rd and longs
Yeah, who would have thought the Seattle coaching staff would have any idea how to rattle Cutler?
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