Thread: Cutler's fundamentals `horrendous,' must change: Esiason

Originally Posted by bearsinhouston

I agree with this strategy, but am sure sure it will go down like that. Emery has publicly said Jay is a franchise QB. If he doesn't extend him, I wonder how that will play with Jay. That would let Jay know he better perform. Which is the right way to do it, but that's not how you treat a franchise QB. If Brady has an off year or two, he will still get resigned. AT least I think so.

Interesting situation there.

I've got to believe that Cutler will be re-signed.

One factor is that Emery has a lot of holes to fill, and he also has a number of aging stars that will need replacing sooner rather than later. Replacing Cutler probably isn't an easy task to take on if you don't have to. It's probably going to take a couple of years for Emery to just take care of our existing personnel problems. Man, if he would take on replacing Cutler on top of these issues, that seems pretty daunting to me.

And folks are throwing around the "elite" QB thing, like you just go to any local Walmart and pick up a true franchise or elite QB. I wonder if folks truly appreciate how difficult it would be for the Bears to actually get an elite QB?

I'm thinking that Cutler isn't a pressing issue right now with Emery. Cutler isn't elite. Won't be elite. But we don't need an elite QB to win a Super Bowl. Jay can, and will get better. I just don't see the worries here that others do. We're making a mountain out of a mole hill IMHO. BTW, I'd love for Jay to be elite, or for us to have an elite QB......but I'd also like to win the lottery. And I don't think any of these things are going to happen any time soon.

Originally Posted by Urlachnessmonster

Ding ding ding. There were a lot of times where he would try to go to his first read, find out it wasnt there, THEN, keep cocking his arm back until that first read became open?! By that time the whole defense just read his hand. Rarely do you see him manipulate the safeties or linebackers.

He cant read a defense folks! You cant say no one else was open because you dont know that unless your at the game watching from the 50yd line. We're not privy to game tape that coaches have to dissect. We're only following where the ball is going on TV. So to say that Bmarsh is the only one getting open is pure speculation.

There's no question on his talent. But if he's considered a franchise QB, than he has to do more. Right now he's average.

Where in the hell do you get off saying that Cutler can't read pro style defenses? Most of the time, he never had time to sit back and scan the field because he was constantly under pressure. Do I think he's a Donovan McNabb in the making? Yes. He's not Peyton Manning, who I think is the greatest quarterback ever to don a football uniform, but then again, nobody is. Cutler did damn well in Denver; he made the Pro Bowl in 2008. Tell me that he didn't know how to read a defense back then. Oh, and tell me that the offense he quarterbacked, which only gave up like 11 sacks that whole year, didn't benefit him.

Really? Where do you get these baseless theories? Apparently, I know nothing about football. Cutler is already the second greatest quarterback in the history of the Chicago Bears and will likely be the greatest if he ever wins a championship and becomes the clubs all time leader in passing yards and touchdowns.

Going back to why Cutler regressed last year, which I believe to be relevant to this topic : Matt Forte is almost given a pass on underperforming this year even though it wasn't always the offensive line's fault. There were multiple times Bush or Allen found the open hole in games Forte couldn't. It would seem that seeing nothing working game in, game out, may be throwing him off, which is what I believe Cutler's biggest problem is. Looking at how Campbell also played worse than normal, it seems like fundamental stuff was just not there. Get a HC that is as meticulous as Emery, and we will likely see improvements next year.

Originally Posted by inchibearfan

This. Even Campbell, who I am not saying is great or even good looked really really bad. Something was wrong with the entire offense (including Forte) last season because everyone except Marshall underperformed. The play calling was pretty predictable also. Forte should have been used in the passing game a lot more, it would have helped.

Nobody wants to hear about the OL being the #1 factor for the offense under-performing, but it was. Forte needs blocking to run between the tackles. That's never changed since he came to the Bears. Some kind of hole has to be there to run through (between the tackle running). On the edge, he can use his speed/quickness/agility to get the yards.

But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see Forte was affected by the poor blocking. What is amazing is that we ended the season at #10 in the NFL rushing (YPC). Forte did that mostly on his own, in spite of some shaky OL play.

People will now post the comeback that I'm just using the OL "as an excuse" for poor play. Go ahead. But instead of the conspiracy theories, why not just accept reality for what it is - that this offensive line was so bad it hurt our offense? Why is THAT so tough to accept?

The same is true for our passing game. Sure, there are many factors, in addition to the OL woes, that contributed to our passing problems. We've beaten them to death in endless threads. Yes, Cutler was far from perfect, and needs to improve. Lots of other problems too. But in the end, the offensive line is the main contributing factor.

Why is this so tough to accept?

I get it, that folks are tired of hearing about the OL problem. But it's the elephant in the room. Once the OL is upgraded, I believe we will be mighty happy campers, when our skill players will begin to look significantly improved. And when that happens, a lot of people won't want to give credit to the OL for being the #1 contributing factor. But it will be the foundation for our future offensive success.

Forte didn't really underperform all that much, he was 200 yards shy of his average total yards, and was just shy of his average w/4.4 ypr. Most of the lost yardage was from a reduction in the pass game. He had about as many TD's as he normally does; which w/the addition of Marshal at WR, and Bush as the short yard/goalline back shouldn't be suprising that his tally didn't go up. If anyone remembers all the threads about why the Bears shoudln't pay Forte was b/c he wouldn't be near the factor he had been previously b/c of those two additions, so a fairly large drop in production was expected, but didn't happen.

What was disappointing was how easy he went down after contact most times, and his continued struggles to run between tackles on short yardage/goal line carries. There were also times he just looked slow. Not sure if he never fully recovered, or just was constantly haggared by that ankle all year, but it did take a toll.

I thought he'd have more big plays then he had in the past, and it would add to his yardage/td's(if only slightly), but it didn't happen. I think teams still decided the run game was what they would key on; w/a slight adaption to double coverage on Marshal. It only worsened w/the constantly hurt AJ/EB flip flopping times out. No one worried about Hester/Weems/Davis/Sanz w/no AJ/EB it was an easily defended O, ecspecially when Cutler locked onto Marshal 40-50% of the time.

With a new HC/OC, and hopefully a solidified OL I expect both Forte and Cutler to improve next year. It's just a matter of how much.

Originally Posted by inchibearfan

The oline was the main culprit, but it is also a problem of our players not being utilized to their strengths. I understand the oline is the the problem, but the average and casual fan doesn't watch the game from the oline's perspective. For the past two seasons I started watching the games like this and even games of other teams (though I don't have as much insight because I have not re-watched any of the games). It is amazing just how bad our line is compared to other teams, even teams who have bad olines (including the Packers). Even though Rodgers was sacked the most, the Packers did not utilize max protect like the Bears did. The Bears line couldn't even protect in max protect.

Good points, and Ric's points are good too.

I'm hoping we bring in a great coach who can begin taking the team to the next level. I'm excited about Emery adding key player pieces to the team this off season. It should be fun to watch. Then I'm hoping Forte, Cutler and the rest of the offense just blows the doors off the rest of the NFC-N and we are the division champs again. It was bad enough to have the Packers pass us in recent years, but to have Detroit last year, and the Vikings this year pass us - that was pretty painful.