Nov 9, 2014; Green Bay, WI, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (6) rushes with the football during the third quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
It can be hard being a fan of an NFL team. The rollercoaster ride from week to week can be exhausting. One week your team looks like they could take on anybody, but just a week later they could be taken apart by a team that you don’t think they should have any trouble defeating. It’s never as good or bad as it seems, and certain problems will persist throughout a season while others can be worked through. That’s why we here at BGO have decided to bring you “Bear and Balanced: A Mostly Unbiased View of your Chicago Bears”. I can find the silver lining to any cloud, but also find areas of concern in the most convincing victory. Each week I’ll try to bring you the facts from the game from an unbiased standpoint to help you, the fans, get a better feel for where the season is going.
I’m not going to beat around the bush. The Chicago Bears are in a bad place right now. I defended their blowout loss to the New England Patriots two weeks ago because I thought it was a fluke, but to turn around and lose to your most bitter rivals in this fashion despite having two weeks to prepare for them is clearly unacceptable. This article is meant to be an equalizer for the peaks and valleys of being a fan, but there doesn’t seem to be a way out of this valley. I seriously could only find two bright points in this debacle, and both of them came in garbage time. As a result, I’ll be focusing much more on what to look forward to in the offseason and beyond this week. This season appears to be over for the Bears no matter which way you look at it.
Not every Bear gave up in this one. Brandon Marshall and Matt Forte looked as good as ever in this one. Forte clearly should have been more involved early in the game, but did not look like he was slowing down to me. Marshall had a nice touchdown catch and clearly gave a lot of effort until he left the game after coming up gimpy on a play. These two players are clearly solid ones to build around moving forward. The biggest problem I see here is the relatively advanced age of these players. If the Chicago Bears go into rebuilding mode (and I definitely think they should) these players might not see a winning season for the rest of their Bears careers.
The Bears finally got a return touchdown! It came at a point where the game was already a forgone conclusion, but it’s still a bright spot. Special teams play has been pretty bad for our Chicago Bears this season, so I’ll take it anywhere I can get it. I don’t think it’ll be enough to save Joe DeCamillis’ job when the Bears do their house cleaning during the offseason, but at least it can put some worries about the talent on this unit to rest. The players are capable, they just need to be put in a situation where they can succeed.
Jay Cutler will not see the end of his contract. Locking up Jay Cutler for 7 years this past offseason might seem like he’s going to be around for a while, but the contract is not built like that. Phil Emery front loaded the guaranteed money in Jay’s deal, and I have to assume that this sort of scenario was why. I’ve read from multiple sources that Cutler can be cut following the 2016 season without any financial ramifications in term of the salary cap. I’ve even read that it’s conceivable for them to cut him this offseason and not have a ludicrous amount of dead money. Sure it was still a stupid deal for the Bears, but from a fan perspective I don’t think we’ll see too many of the consequences from it.
Be sure to hit the page break. It’s not all this depressing…