Jay Cutler Dazzles with His Usual Rainbows and Sunshine at the Podium And Other Points of View

Bears

• David Haugh at the Chicago Tribune writes about Jay Cutler‘s attrocious behaviour with the media and, indirectly, the fans.  For those who wonder why the national media will seem to be biased against the Bears:

“By now we in Chicago have learned to judge Cutler only by his behavior on Sundays. Just a hunch, but I doubt that’s going to happen across football America after Wednesday.”

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune illustrates how deceiving statistics can be in football.  Tight end Greg Olsen is his case in point:

“‘I didn’t have as many catches but I had as many impact plays if not more key catches, third downs, touchdowns, whatever the case,’ Olsen said. ‘I contribute in the running game, pass protection in the backfield, blitz pickup, so it’s not always about stats.

“‘This year kind of opened my eyes to that. In the past, I wanted to catch the ball more. This year, ‘Hey, you can be a tight end and have a huge impact on the game and maybe only catch one or two passes.’ There is no doubt I am a better all-around player.'”

The guess here is that Olson’s eyes may have been opened by Brandon Manumaleuna‘s contract numbers.  Manumaleuna is a blocker who isn’t known for his pass catching ability but the Bears paid him a decent chunk of change to bring him here in free agency last year.

• It was Greg Olsen day as Sean Jensen at the Chicago Sun-Times also wrote a nice article which focused on him.  Its nice to know that Olsen, at least, is more quotable than his buddy Cutler.
• Steve Rosenbloom, also at the Tribune, is spot on as he implores Cutler not to bollox things up by trying to do too much Sunday.  I was going to write a post on this but Rosenbloom puts it better than I ever could have:

“But perhaps as importantly, running the ball means not passing the ball, which is a good thing in my world when Cutler has some Carlos Zambrano in him. It’s the mentality that he’s just going to do it because he has always done it and now he’s going to do it harder and faster, and then it’s times 10 because it’s the playoffs, and then his head explodes. We’ve seen the Zambran-O-Meter go to 11. Not all the time, but enough.

“The fear is Cutler doing the same thing when he doesn’t have to. He doesn’t have to be a hero. He just can’t be the reason the season ends.”

• Sean Jensen and Neil Hayes at the Chicago Sun-Times tell us to keep an eye on rookie Seahawk safety Earl Thomas Sunday.

Elsewhere

• Brad Biggs and Vaughn McClure at the Chicago Tribune report that special teams assistant Chris Tabor will likely be hired as the special teams coordinator for Ron Rivera‘s Carolina Panthers.  The Bears will face the Panthers next year where the master, Dave Toub, will meet the apprentice.
• Brett Favre‘s sister, Brandi, was arrested at a meth lab Wednesday according to WLOX in Mississippi.
• Chicago’s own Mike Wilbon says that he thought this was going to be the year that Jon Gruden came back to the NFL.  So did I.

• Adam Schefter at ESPN talks about the CBA hang up over the expansion of the regular season to 18 games.  Everybody, repeat after me:  “Follow.  The.  Money.”

• Texans center Chris Myers demands that running back Arian Foster come bearing gifts the next time he sees the line.

• Seattle coach Pete Carroll was at the podium when a reporters phone, which was being used as a recorder, started ringing.  Carroll answered it. (via the Associated Press):

“‘Someone’s phone is ringing here. Let’s check this out. … Hello? No, not right now. This is a press conference. OK. Sorry, I’ll get back to you,’ Carroll said. ‘Old friend from high school.'”

• Luis Deloureiro at The New York Times thinks Colts quarterback Peyton Manning deserves a better coach:

“[Colts head coach Jim] Caldwell was outcoached in last year’s Super Bowl, but most of the blame for the Colts loss still went to Manning. Caldwell appears to be coaching like someone who is afraid to lose the game – not someone who is trying to win.”

“An argument could be made that Manning is the offensive coach of this team. If that’s the case, then maybe Manning has too much on his shoulders.”

One Final Thought

Les Miles‘ job application at Michigan has been somehow leaked to the public.  From The Sports Pickle: