Week 2 Rant and Review: Philadelphia Eagles VS. Chicago Bears, Loss Not Only on Jay Cutler
The Chicago Bears lost to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, but it shouldn’t all be pinned on Jay Cutler.
Plenty of hype was built around this Chicago Bears’ season- it was the second year with the new regime, plenty of signings of key defensive players, Kevin White’s return. The Bears were supposed to turn the corner this year. Granted, the expectations weren’t really high for some pundits. Most gave the Bears what they thought was an optimistic 7-9 season, and as of right now, the Bears don’t even look like a 7-9 team. It’s the sad truth. It’s understood that it’s only the second game of the season, but after this “Monday Night Meltdown” the Chicago Bears are already being called a “Five Alarm Dumpster Fire” and it’s only week 2. Be that as it may, it’s not the time to panic, just yet. The Bears are bad but it could be worse.
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The Bears may have played poorly in the 4th quarter of the past 2 games, but they’ve managed to stay competitive the first 3 quarters. They’re not a bad team, they just tend to shoot themselves in the foot in the second half. The offense always seems to disappear in the second half, The Bears can’t seem to limit the turnovers or create turnovers. They give up too many pressures without creating any pressure and worst of all, a fair assessment can’t even be given because of how many injuries they have suffered.
Pernell McPhee, our best defender, is out until at least week 6. Kyle Fuller hasn’t played all preseason and the past two games. Eddie Goldman is out a month. Lamarr Houston tore his ACL and is out for the season. Danny Trevathan hurt his thumb and will miss some time. Adrian Amos and Bryce Callahan both could not finish the game. That’s seven starters. What do fans and pundits make of the Bears? It’s not easy to make that judgment. Rookies and late round draft picks are making up the defense at the moment, yet the Bears have managed to stay in games. It’s the offense that can’t seem to do anything.
The offense can’t move the ball for its life. Granted, the Bears lost Matt Forte and Martellus Bennett, and have a new offensive coordinator. The O-line looks awful and lastly, Jay Cutler hasn’t protected the ball, but he’s never done that. The excuses are running out for Jay, unfortunately, this is looking like it will be his last season if he doesn’t turn it around. Jay is still our best option to win, he’s still the most talented QB the Bears have ever had. He’s had to deal with multiple coordinators and crappy teams his whole career, but at one point the Bears have to wonder if they really need to rebuild.
After this “Monday Night Meltdown”, Jay Cutler once again came under immense scrutiny. He turned the ball over twice, both of which were boneheaded decisions. He hurt his thumb and took himself out of the game and ended up getting yelled at by a guy who had been injured all off-season and hasn’t played a down this year. The same rhetoric of Jay being a quitter was revived that night, but does that really make him one? None of the pundits mention that after the fumble when Cutler was rocked, he was waving off the medical staff saying he was fine. All night Jay’s passes were off. Not a single was on the mark. His passes were too low or too high and he wasn’t hitting receivers in strides. Jay was hurt and he realized he was not helping the team.
Sometimes when the stakes are low it’s okay to walk out and regroup and get healthy. It’s week 2 and not week 16 or the NFC championship game, why risk a larger injury? The only reason this is being blown out of proportion is simply cause it was a prime time Monday night game and Jay Cutler is an infamous topic of discussion. It was all the time and place. It had nothing to do with the team as a whole, it’s for the media to tear Jay apart. The man cannot catch a break even when he’s injured. Multiple media outlets posted national posts about Jay. He’s an easy target and it brings in viewer and readers.
Stephen A. Smith of ESPN called Jay “the absolute worst quarterback in the NFL”, USA Today made the comment that the Bears are a “Five Alarm Dumpster Fire”, Deadspin wrote an article called “Why Jay Cutler is a bad Quarterback”, Herm Edwards called Jay a “3 staffer” and claimed he won’t make it til next season, Ryan Clark called him a “limp loser” and the list goes on. Remember Bear fans, this is only to fool you, these media outlets need something to talk about and this Jay Cutler situation is blown out of proportion. The Bears have a bigger problem than Jay Cutler.
Nothing was mentioned about Connor Barth missing a chip shot field goal, nothing was mentioned about how badly the defense was hurt, nothing mentioned about how the line can’t protect or run block or how the play calling is lopsided. It’s a bad team, Jay is responsible for his turnovers and that is understood, but talk evenly about the team. This Bears team is bad.
Last year the Bears started off 0-3 and yes it was against superior talent, but the Houston Texans are looking like a Playoff team and so are the Philadelphia Eagles. Let’s hope the Bears can get healthy against a weak Dallas Cowboys defense and Brian Hoyer can prove the doubters wrong. A turnaround is still possible, it may be hopeful but being hopeful is better than being a downer. So Lighten up everyone, It’s only week 2. The team is still gelling. Let’s wait until week 4 before mwe start calling it quits, until then Bear Down!
