The Chicago Bears Need to Hit the Reset Button
By Mike Praser
Dec 15, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; New Orleans Saints inside linebacker David Hawthorne (57) and New Orleans Saints inside linebacker Ramon Humber (53) sack Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (6) in the first half of their game at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
I’m just getting some things off of my chest today. I’m not going to bore you with stats or actual facts. This is about how I feel from watching the Bears play this year. Please feel free to pick apart my rant in the comments below.
I normally contact a fellow blogger of the Bears opposing team and go back and forth in an exchange of fun fan banter. Not this week. To be honest, I’m just too embarrassed and pissed off to do it. Plus, who wants to read about the match up on Sunday. I know the Bears don’t care about winning on Sunday. If they did, then they wouldn’t be starting Jimmy Clausen. The Bears are going about this all wrong. The Chicago Bears need to hit the reset button on this whole team
Benching Jay Cutler gives the Chicago Bears the best chance to win against the Lions on Sunday? Benching him and starting Jimmy Clausen will give the team the “spark” that they need to be competitive? I don’t think so. Jimmy Clausen is not the answer to all of our offensive troubles here in Chicago. Let us start with balance. The Bears needed to run the football. Marc Trestman always talked about doing what was best to win the game that week. If that meant running the football 40 times or throwing the football 40 times, that was what they were going to do. The Bears ended up throwing the football a lot more than running it this whole season. Why is that? Were the Bears always that far behind where they needed big chunks of yards? Were the teams that the Bears were playing just that good against the run? Not from what I remember seeing. They threw the ball because it is what Trestman does. He doesn’t run the ball and that spells disaster. It is not a secret that Jay Cutler throws interceptions. If you have a quarterback that is prone for turning the ball over, especially with interceptions, why would you throw the ball 75% of the time? That just doesn’t make sense to me. Matt Forte is one of the best running backs in the league. He is not the biggest guy, but he can run the football. And why did we draft Kyle Long if not to beat up the defensive line? That was the first mistake this year.
I have a question. Does benching Jay Cutler make the defense any better? The answer is no. The defense was awful this year and it had nothing to do with Jay Cutler. It was like Trestman ignored the defense these past two years. I never understand why offensive minded coaches never pay attention to the defensive side of the ball. You would think that offensive minded coaches would love to sit with the defense and teach them how to beat the offense. I guess I know nothing about football.
This whole team is a joke. A laughing stock. I don’t want to watch Jimmy Clausen on Sunday. I want to see Jay Cutler. I don’t care how much he has sucked. He is the quarterback of the Chicago Bears and you are supposed to stick with him. This whole thing is stupid. Why would you pay all that money to Jay Cutler and not have him play? The Bears knew what they were getting. Again, it is no secret to what Jay Cutler is. It takes a good coach to know how to use the player to the best of his abilities.
That is where I am headed here. The coaches. This whole mess starts with the coaches. If we had competent coaching, then something would have changed a long time ago. I personally think that this coaching staff must be insane. They kept doing the same thing over and over again expecting to see different results. If benching Jay Cutler is the solution, it should have been done a long time ago. Not when there are only two games left. I’ll tell you what I think would have been more effective. They should have fired the coaching staff. That would have put a stronger message out in the public then benching the quarterback that they just signed to a seven year deal. Kromer gets off the hook. Then Jay Cutler took the high road after his own coach was bad mouthing him to the press and said he understood, and that people make mistakes. Then Trestman benches Cutler. For what? Being the better man? This is a bunch of crap.
The coaching staff needs to go. Does Phil Emery need to go too? I think so. He was the one who was trying to be cute by hiring the “offensive genus” when Bruce Arians was there to hire as well. Look what Arians is doing with the Cardinals. They are finding ways to win with their 3rd string quarterback. Whatever.
How about Ted Philips? Should he go too? Probably, but he is not going anywhere. He might as well be part owner. What he needs to do is hire a real football person to be the president of football operations. Then let them do the hiring of everyone from general manager on down. But that is doubtful.
I have a feeling that Jay Cutler is going to be the scapegoat. The Bears will probably try and trade him, fire Mel Tucker and keep Trestman around. Why not. Phil Emery is not going to admit that he made a mistake hiring Marc Trestman. Why would he? I hope I am wrong. I still believe that Jay Cutler can be a winning quarterback given the right situation, but regardless, this team needs to rebuild from the top down. If that means getting rid of players too, then so be it. This is a big mess and an embarrassment.
I am still a Bears fan. I will still cheer for my team. I am looking forward to next year. But this mess of a season needs to be dealt with. Okay… my mindless, unorganized, angry rant is over for now. Please rip me a new one in the comments below.