Thread: Trestman Anxious to Work With Cutler; Jay's Not Going Anywhere........

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

fact of the matter is no one knows what Cutler is or where he will be 1 year from now. We do know what people in HH want him to be, by their words, but their actions(no contract) makes you take pause.

And if Cutler is in that 2nd-3rd tier of qb that is snakebit by bad decisions which prevent the team from getting to the playoffs and the SB, then they shouldn't be sold on him, and should move on. Working w/Trestman this year, and seeing his advancment will tell us where he is though, until this it's a long offseason of speculation...unless a contract is given.

I agree. The only thing I worry about, is that we have a plan-B, if we would move on from Cutler. Cutler will be better than he has been, if we fix the broken pieces on offense. Heck, any QB would be better - going from what crap we've had on offense, to an offense with an oline, a TE who can catch a football, an OC who isn't crazy, etc etc etc. So I'm confident Cutler will be better this year. How much better, none of us knows yet.

But if for some reason they want someone better than Cutler, then get that guy identified, and on the team before you drop Cutler. Otherwise I could see us screwed, bigtime.

One last point. We're all infatuated with the new coach right now. He can throw pixie dust on any QB and we're on our way to the Super Bowl. Like we were last year when Tice was promoted to OC. Everything was peachy. We had a certified "guru" as our OC. Everything was set. We had Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery......all that was left was to buy our Super Bowl tix.

Then we found out Tice wasn't a guru after all. He was a bum.

Now we are all gaga over Trestman. Hopefully he IS a great head coach for us. But that's not a given. We have to see. So, let's hang on to Cutler until we have something as good or better. Man, wouldn't it be just like the Bears to let our QB (Cutler) go, and THEN find out we have guys WORSE than Cutler for the next several years. Oh, how I could see that happening.

So let's be smart here. Hang on to what we've got, until we have something better.

There's a bottom line to all of this, but it's composed of many parts.

Of Jay Cutler, I'll say that he -like anyone who is hired to perform as a professional- needs to either demonstrate that ability or the franchise -like any business- needs to move on and he needs to acknowledge his failure to meet the demands of the job as the reason he is no longer an employee... should that happen.

However, there's a caveat to this, in that a professional football team isn't entirely like a corporation or other business enterprise, because there's a certain amount of development required and, like many members of the profession have said, it's a marriage; it's equal parts the player and the staff.

In that regard, I cannot hold Cutler at fault. He came into the league as a young man, brash and cocky. Full of self-confidence and graced with some fantastic natural skill. He had no prior acquaintence with the team that drafted him and their offensive philosophy, nor with the team that acquired him through a trade and their subsequent turnstyle of offensive coordinators.

And of those offensive coordinators, none where at a level of professinalism and competence in their trade that a lot of people insistently demand from Cutler.

So... while it's within his area of responsibility to control aspects such as emotion, maturity, dedication, leadership, etc., there are a number of factors that contributed to the failure of the Bears to progress on offense. And none of them are directly related to this asinine nanny-nanny poo-poo bullshit of how people aren't happy with how Cutler's face looks or how he conducts himself when working with people who were clearly more incompetent at their jobs than he is at his.

Because, before we truly fire up the lynch mob, let's see how the guy does in an offense where the voice on the other end of the headset in his helmet has demonstrated the same level of professionalism and expertise in his chosen field, as we're demanding of the guy holding the football.

And this bullshit about Cutler being a coach-killer...

Cutler didn't get Smith fired.

Smith got Smith fired.

/endrant

Originally Posted by BearStuff

Two comments come to mind after reading the article:

1) I'm a bit conflicted about Cutler having been a part of the interview process. I see the positive and the negative, which I won't belabor here. I'll just say that if I were GM there would be no players involved in the interview process, because if I do my job (as GM) properly, the coach will be w/ the team longer than most or any of the players currently on the roster.

2) I don't like that Jahns used the phrase that Trestman "fell short of calling Cutler a franchise quarterback". To me that is just stirring shit up. Did he or anyone ask Trestman if Cutler is a franchise quarterback? NO. Trestman simply stated his intentions to work with Cutler to maximize output at the position. Plain and simple. Jahns just wanted the shit stirred because it sparks conversation and quotes of his article, IMO. It worked though.

Just a brief comment or two on each.

1) I think it's a sign that Emery is invested (or soon will be to an even greater degree) in Cutler being the Bears QB. He's well aware that we have no one even close to taking his place and he has much bigger fish to fry as far as fixing that offense then to have to worry about finding a QB who is superior to or has more upside quickly than Cutler has.

He could be looking at 2013 restructure of Cutler's deal to clear up some cap space with an extension that mirrors Trestman's 4 year deal. Obviously I'm only guessing here but looking at the big picture this seems to make some sense especially since he has some big dollar deals to look at for some of our own UFAs while still having a budget to explore UFA from other teams.

2) I completely agree with you and I don't think that question was asked of him and even if it was he's deferred on making comments about any of the players yet by saying he and Emery will sit down and evaluate the roster. It appears Jahns is implying that it was a negative affirmation by it's exclusion which in reality it wasn't.

It was simply an answer not given to a question not asked. In any event I can see the rationale for Emery to make that claim as the GM and top personnel man and for Trestman not to commit to that about any player just yet. He remained non-committal about Urlacher too so there's nothing inconsistent in any of it. Once he does a roster evaluation I'm sure he'll have more to say. He's a hell of a lot more open than Lovie ever was.

So you're right. It was a pure crap stir.

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

I agree. The only thing I worry about, is that we have a plan-B, if we would move on from Cutler. Cutler will be better than he has been, if we fix the broken pieces on offense. Heck, any QB would be better - going from what crap we've had on offense, to an offense with an oline, a TE who can catch a football, an OC who isn't crazy, etc etc etc. So I'm confident Cutler will be better this year. How much better, none of us knows yet.

But if for some reason they want someone better than Cutler, then get that guy identified, and on the team before you drop Cutler. Otherwise I could see us screwed, bigtime.

One last point. We're all infatuated with the new coach right now. He can throw pixie dust on any QB and we're on our way to the Super Bowl. Like we were last year when Tice was promoted to OC. Everything was peachy. We had a certified "guru" as our OC. Everything was set. We had Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery......all that was left was to buy our Super Bowl tix.

Then we found out Tice wasn't a guru after all. He was a bum.

Now we are all gaga over Trestman. Hopefully he IS a great head coach for us. But that's not a given. We have to see. So, let's hang on to Cutler until we have something as good or better. Man, wouldn't it be just like the Bears to let our QB (Cutler) go, and THEN find out we have guys WORSE than Cutler for the next several years. Oh, how I could see that happening.

So let's be smart here. Hang on to what we've got, until we have something better.

And this is and always has been my main point about Cutler. I can't believe that after all the years the Bears have squandered wandering around in the barren wasteland of mediocrity by not having a talented enough QB that anyone would even think about replacing him until the last dogs dies and that won't happen until after Trestman takes his shot at it. It was at least 80% of the reason he was hired for cryin' out loud.

If a guy like Trestman who has even turned a journeyman QB like Rich Gannon into an MVP and SB winner can't help boost Cutler to the top then no one can and it's time to throw in the towel but not before. We have no one even in the pipeline to replace him and we don't have the cap space or the picks to go searching for another experienced QB in FA or in trade. The best we can hope for is to draft a rookie prospect who Trestman can develop and maybe two years from now he may be ready if Cutler doesn't make the grade but before then fagedabout it!

If anyone sees any other VIABLE options I'd be glad to hear them but whether we should pursue Joe Flacco or whoever the hot hand of the moment in these playoffs doesn't even bear discussing. It won't happen period. The only way we ever get out from under these QB inconsistencies is to begin developing our own passers much like the Packers have done and they've done a bang up job of it too. But it takes time to achieve that which is part of the definition of the word develop itself. Development isn't associated with terms like "instant oat meal" and "minute rice".

So if it turns out that Cutler isn't the guy then we better get our tushes in gear and start drafting QBs to put in the pipeline or we may just end up with another promising but expensive QB from someone else's roster who doesn't cut it either.

Originally Posted by inchibearfan

How could anyone under the Lovie Smith administration hold Cutler accountable? What would they hold him accountable for? There hasn't been any tools around for Cutler to succeed and everyone coaching him probably knew less about football on the offensive side of the field than Cutler does.

Well at least this past season that would seem to be the case. But the worm has now turned.