Cutler sees what Lovie misses

**short faced bear** · 05-15-2012, 12:45 PM

Cutler sees what Lovie misses
Steve Rosenbloom
The RosenBlog

9:36 a.m. CDT, May 15, 2012
Jay Cutler apparently is fed up with being run down. And thrown down. And beaten down and beaten up.

And if the Bears quarterback had to pants his head coach to make things better, then fine, Cutler will offer cold-eyed honesty that ought to embarrass Lovie Smith.

The issue is the offensive line, such as it is, and it isn’t enough for Cutler. Speaking at a school on the South Side on Monday, Cutler sounded like a guy who doesn’t want to die young.

"The offensive line is definitely going to be a concern," Cutler said, "and seeing where those guys fit in and seeing what five we go with. You know, if Gabe (Carimi) comes back, if J'Marcus (Webb) pans out (and) Chris Williams, where we're going to put him ... there are some question marks there. Until we really get that resolved, get our front five settled, we've got some work to do on the offense."

That’s what you’d expect a coach to say, but the Bears coach hasn’t said that. He won’t. Or can’t. Whatever, it was left to the quarterback who was sacked at least 50 times the last two seasons and was on pace to reach that painful mark again last season before suffering a thumb injury.

When given a chance to make nice with his blockers, Cutler passed. He refused to say “All better’’ when tossed a softball question about new offensive coordinator Mike Tice’s tailoring an offense that includes designed rollouts, audibles and other sensible ideas that eluded the insane Mike Martz.

"It helps," Cutler said. "It's not a cure-all by any means. They're still going to be asked to protect. There are going to be times it's third-and-8, it's third-and-10, we're going to have to take seven steps, we're going to have to have a longer route, and they're going to have to protect."

Again, that’s the quarterback talking. Where’s the head coach with that kind of frankness?

Nowhere, that’s where.

Compare and contrast Cutler’s comments with the ridiculousness the head coach foisted on us during the NFL meetings in Florida two months ago.

“I don’t want to picture it as we’re looking for a left tackle," Smith said. “We feel comfortable with the two guys (J’Marcus Webb and Gabe Carimi) we started with last year. We like the group of offensive lineman we have right now. We feel we can be successful with them."

The quarterback isn’t buying what the coach was shoveling. Facing near-death will do that to you.

But wait. There’s more ridiculousness. Tribune NFL guru Dan Pompei presented Smith with the fact that Webb allowed a league-high 14 sacks and commited a league-high eight false starts. Smith, of course, offered a response that can be condensed to “Are you going to believe me or the truth of the numbers?"

"You can make a case and throw out stats on what he did," Smith said. “But I think it's hard for all tackles by themselves in the league to block Julius Peppers from time to time."

Note to Smith: Webb doesn’t block Peppers except maybe in practice, and probably not there.

Raise your hand if you believe it would take a Cutler beheading for Smith to admit the offensive line might’ve missed an assignment.

Remember when Smith was big on public accountability? Smith tends to windsock with that. He has spasms of refreshing honesty, but apparently hates himself for it, and so, he ultimately crawls back to lamely trying to defend the left tackle who led the NFL in being awful. In a court of law, Webb would be convicted of aiding and abetting, and Smith would be charged as a co-conspirator.

The quotes from Cutler and Smith differ so starkly that it’s laughable. I’ll trust the assessment from the guy taking snaps over the guy on the sideline. Cutler is running for his life. That’s intimate knowledge. Smith looks like he still can’t figure out why everybody else’s offensive line beats his three-technique.

“Any tackle in the league can look bad at times,” Smith also said in March as he vainly attempted to put a happy face on last season’s Webbisode. “There are some things we can do to help him out at times, which we plan to do. We feel we have a good plan at the left tackle position. If we end up playing J’Marcus Webb at the left tackle position, we feel comfortable with that.”

Of course Smith feels comfortable. It’s not his concussion.

The good news is, Cutler’s brain isn’t totally Jell-O’ed. He still makes sense. He gave Bears fans credit for seeing the same thing he saw --- the same thing he painfully endured. Cutler also called out his blockers, but in a way that challenged them, not coddled them the way Smith does publicly.

This wouldn’t be the first time Smith tried to make points with his locker room. I don’t know if he’s playing the media and Bears fans for stupid, but he’s playing to his profile as a player’s coach, which is code for defending the indefensible.

Smith chooses to block out all the negativity -- you know, the things we call the truth -- but at least someone can block something.

Cutler calls out O-Line - chicagotribune.com

**soulman** · 05-15-2012, 01:17 PM

LOL, there hasn't been a Rosenblog to throw up for a bit so I was beginning to wonder if he'd been assassinated by Larry Mayer or someone else on the Bears PR staff. I love his opening about having to "pants" Lovie to speak the truth. Lovie is Lovie and Jay is Jay and we should get used to the fact that it's gonna be this way. Lovie sees the "Glass Half Full" and Jay is the kid in "The Emperor's New Clothes" crying out that has far as pass protection is concerned he's naked. I love it.

But I believe that just because Lovie doesn't have a habit of throwing players "under the bus" he doesn't have a clue about what's going on as Rosenbloom likes to imply. Lovie knows full well where the problems lie and just because he doesn't address them in an interview the way the interviewer would like that doesn't mean they're not being addressed. Not by a long shot. I'll abide by what some with better knowledge than I have said about this line actually having some talent. The only real question now is whether or not they can be coached to display it and play as a unit the way good NFL lines do.

Jay was right to express his concerns. I would too and I'm glad we're finally seeing the "Tell Martz To Go Fuck Himself" side of him coming out. Winning QB's need to be leaders in every sense of the word both on and off the field and if that means playing "Tell It Like It Is" with Jay subbing for Aaron Neville on vocals then so be it. Change doesn't come about by sitting back and waiting for it. It comes from forcing it to happen in one way or another.

LOL, the last time we had a QB willing to tell his coach "To Go Fuck Himself" we won a Super Bowl with him. Three cheers for Jay.

**Dagan81** · 05-15-2012, 01:27 PM

lol, I love Cutler's brutal honesty here. As I see it, Cutler is like a card shark, whiskey-slick riverboat gambler. If he sees something he considers to be bullshit, he simply shoots at the source of the problem and doesn't care who he offends or hurts. I think it's fucking hilarious how he called out Webb, Carimi, and Chris Williams and essentially through these allusions made Tice look like shit. I'm not saying that Tice is a shitty coach, but sometimes a turd is a turd and it cannot be polished. Cutler is seeing this as a possible occurrence and is just calling a strike on the outside corner of the plate.

**short faced bear** · 05-15-2012, 01:33 PM

I'm not a fan of Rosenbloom either. I'm beginning to wonder if Emery and Tice are having a showdown on the LT position and Jay is speaking out. Normally you don't or probably would not say if your starting LT in Webb is going to "pan out", you simply say he's getting better.

**soulman** · 05-15-2012, 01:44 PM

Originally Posted by short faced bear

I'm not a fan of Rosenbloom either. I'm beginning to wonder if Emery and Tice are having a showdown on the LT position and Jay is speaking out. Normally you don't or probably would not say if your starting LT in Webb is going to "pan out", you simply say he's getting better.

Oh I like Rosenbloom well enough. His way of lacing some sarcasm into his wit is pretty funny to me. It's just that all too often he writes around the real truth when it suits his purpose to be acerbic with his humor. In this case he hits to the heart of the matter well enough but to think that Lovie hasn't a clue is pretty foolish and I doubt he believes that despite what he writes.

He's just the kind of guy who loves to stir up crap whenever he's given the chance but at least he's pretty humorous in his approach. Most of his support comes from the guys sucking down beers from noon to five because they're out of work or under employed as janitors and night watchman. LOL

He usually has a point to make and once you clear away the brush of his wit there's an element of truth in it but he exaggerates his point sometimes to make it a bigger issue than it really is. I look past that and just look at the comical way he puts things. Can you see any of the Trib beat writer's putting "well Cutler pantsed Lovie today over his comments about the Oline" in print? LMAO!

**short faced bear** · 05-15-2012, 01:52 PM

Meh, I take these guys with a grain of salt. They have papers to sell. The only thing is it's not just the beer stools reading their work but players, other media, and perhaps the team staff and management. Guys that stir up crap certainly doesn't help the team dynamic.

**motownbear** · 05-15-2012, 02:01 PM

Last time Cutler was bitching about a position we ended up trading for Marshal and drafting Jeffrey. Keep on bitching brother!!!!!! Lets get these bums on the oline out of town and upgraded so that we can then start getting younger talent on the defense. We are that close on offense just need a couple oline pieces

**soulman** · 05-15-2012, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by short faced bear

Meh, I take these guys with a grain of salt. They have papers to sell. The only thing is it's not just the beer stools reading their work but players, other media, and perhaps the team staff and management. Guys that stir up crap certainly doesn't help the team dynamic.

The players probably think it's just as funny as I do. Can't you just see them sitting around visualizing Lovie being "pantsed" by Cutler's comments. Somebody should draw a cartoon. We have a guy out here named Drew Litton who does comical cartoons like that. It would be hilarious.

I guess what I meant about the bar stool guys is that they may not see the humor in it and they take it more seriously. The pros know these guys are out to get read and to sell papers and it's not really a serious personal attack on Lovie. Not when you start out by saying his QB just "pantsed" him.

**short faced bear** · 05-15-2012, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by soulman

The players probably think it's just as funny as I do. Can't you just see them sitting around visualizing Lovie being "pantsed" by Cutler's comments. Somebody should draw a cartoon. We have a guy out here named Drew Litton who does comical cartoons like that. It would be hilarious.

I'm sure that is right on. But let's not forget that these same writers are used as bulletin board material to motivate. To intentionally get pissed off by things writers, sportscasters, and the media say. So there are at least a few who would take certain articles like that to heart the same way it would motivate.

**Dagan81** · 05-15-2012, 02:14 PM

God, how I wish Jerry Angelo hadn't fucked us over last year and signed Bushrod. That would have virtually ended all of our problems on the offensive line right there. Instead, we're still paying for Angelo's mistakes less than six months after he was fired. I feel like I'm discussing Mao Zedong in my old Modern Chinese History class that was strictly about Mao every time I have to bring Angelo's name up.

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