This article is garbage, the opposite is true.
I don’t care what Dan Pompeii says, everything that happened in the film as far as I can tell points to the O-line being at fault for the offense's killed drives.
I watched the film for this game particularly because it was so much better in the 4th quarter than the earlier drives and I was intrigued. I watched every snap offensively up until the 4th quarter (where things got good, so I don't care much about what happened).
First off, Cutler is good - real good, as in he made 1 mistake that game good - for the most part he checked down to the right play and there wasn't a snap where he didn't go to the right guy according to what the defense showed him. Unequivocally, the O-line was at fault for killing drives with mistakes on key plays such as our center tripping over himself, the right guard getting pushed back 6 yards into Cutler’s face, our Left guard blocking the wrong man in a zone left play, our Center having a false start penalty, and our right guard completely whiffing on a run block. That’s just off the top of my head.
As for just how asinine Pompeii’s analysis is, all you have to do is see for yourself on that sack where Cutler seemed to have stayed in the pocket too long (he says 4.5 seconds?). Okay, the defense was in a cover 3 rushing 4, Cutler read the coverage almost instantly as the ball is snapped, he looks straight at a wide open receiver (think it might’ve been our tightend Spaeth) – the only man open on that play. This tells me Cutler read the coverage and knew the open guy instantly, who stood by himself 7 yards down the field along the right sideline. One problem, the right guard – Lance Louis - is pushed into Cutler’s face, and Cutler has no room to deliver this football. Cutler then tries to run outside the pocket because he knows if he can escape, that tightend is still open (there was no flat coverage on this particular play, they had two underneat receivers to one defender on that side of the field, that option would be there if he could only escape the pocket), before he can, he is sacked by pressure from the opposite side.
You want to say Cutler should’ve thrown it away instead of trying to get a first down on second and 10? Maybe, but it is also understandable that he would try to escape the pocket to try to complete the pass for a first down because the receiver was completely uncovered. I want my quarterback trying to make the play here, its what makes good QB's great, but make no mistake, that play became a broken play the minute that lance Louis was pushed into Cutler's right arm and he had to pull the ball down before what you can clearly see is the start of his throwing motion towards the wide open receiver.
And, Lance Louis grading out #2? Lance Louis killed two drives by getting beat on critical plays and they helped him with the center every single snap after half-time.
Everyone can believe what they want, afterall, I’m just some random Bears fan on a messageboard. But from what I saw, I can tell you right now, our O-line is our weakest link, specifically, our RIGHT GUARD is our weakest link. On a high note, Webb is improving and Rachal is freaking good. And as for Cutler, he made the right read almost every play all game except for the interception throw, where he knew not to throw it but did it anyway. Probably his biggest knock, 90% of the time he's throwing into traffic intentionally, not because he didn't see a guy. If I had to grade out our O-line from that game it would be #1.) Rachal #2.) Webb #3.) Carimi #4.) Garza #5.) Louis
