- Two articles about new offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains here and here. Not one word, not even one question, about how he managed to get an entire organization fired (with himself coming first) when he pushed the owner to draft Johnny Manziel against the wishes of both the coaching staff and the front office.
Fluffy, feel good nonsense.
- And then there is the fascinating comment in Patrick Finley’s article for the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday morning?
“The Bears and Texans took back-to-back timeouts after the play with 13 seconds left in the first half. [Alshon] Jeffery, having seen the way the Texans’ safeties were rolling toward him, walked into the huddle and told Jay Cutler what was going to happen on the next play: the safety would shade to help cover him, and Eddie Royal would be open down the seam for a 19-yard touchdown.”
I also took note of this early in the first half, thinking that Kevin White might have a big game because of it.
I noticed it. And Jeffery noticed it. So I have one question: Where was Loggains? Why wasn’t he in Cutler’s ear telling him what was going to happen? Isn’t that his job?
“They made some adjustments,” Jeffery said. “We have to make adjustments. We gotta do better.”
Good luck with that.
- And, Dan Pompei, writing for CBSlocal.com, had this to say:
“The sacks and quarterback hits were the result of a really good defense and an offensive line that hasn’t had a chance to come together. But you have to wonder if Cutler would’ve been sacked five times and hit 13 times if offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains was calling plays the way Adam Gase did last year. Cutler was sacked as many as five times only twice in 2015, and the most he was hit in a game was eight times. The Bears went through a four-game stretch in which Cutler was hit only 11 times and on average in 2015, the Bears gave up 4.9 quarterback hits per game.”
The answer is “no”. No way Cutler takes that kind of a beating last year.
Adam Gase called plays where Cutler’s responsibility was to get rid of the ball fast, taking the pressure off of the offensive line. He also frequently made sure that the tackles had tight end help in pass protection, especially Charles Leno on the left. That disappeared to Miami yesterday as well.
- Another cutting remark from Pompei:
“The Bears can’t afford for Cutler to treat White the way he treated Devin Hester.”
Yeah, that wasn’t good. Cutler was caught on camera painting at White, indicating that White had made the mistake on the route that led to an interception. But even after the game, White obviously wasn’t sure that was really the case.
“I’m not sure,” White said. “We just got to go back and watch film. [It’s] not being on the same page. We’ll figure it out and correct it for next week.”
In fairness, Cutler softened up his comments after the game. Nevertheless I found head coach John Fox’s reaction on Tuesday to be disappointing:
“I can’t expect people not to show emotion,” Fox said. “I don’t think any of that’s intentional. They’re just all competitors. They want good things to happen and when bad things happen, there’s probably an element of frustration with a lot of people.”
Perhaps. But Cutler’s attempt to not assign blame after the game was empty given that he couldn’t keep himself from doing it on the field. He’s got to control himself better than that.
Bottom line, Pompei is right. I remember the exact same situations popping up with Devin Hester and I remember Cutler’s reaction being exactly the same. And it was evident from Hester’s comments after he left that he didn’t take kindly to it.
- Well, here’s a shocker:
#Bears opened as 2.5-point favorite over #Eagles for MNF meeting at Soldier Field at Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook per @JoeFortenbaugh
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) September 12, 2016
After bashing Dowell Loggains for most of this post, maybe the bookies know something I don’t. We shall see.
- Biggs also points out that general manager Ryan Pace probably needs a Jimmy Garoppolo tracker. The Patriots are likely to get multiple first round picks in a trade if he performs the next three games like he did on Sunday.
I’ve done everything but get down on my knees and beg Pace to draft a quarterback in the first three rounds for the last two drafts. I’m going to do it again.
I’ve heard a lot of nonsense about not reaching for a quarterback and how Pace was justified in not paying the price to get one. Well, tell that to the Patriots. The invested a second round pick in a quarterback they didn’t need and spent a few years developing him. It’s now paying off, just as it did when the Packers drafted Aaron Rogers when they didn’t need him.
Bottom line, the value for the player and the position is set by the market. If you are consistently evaluating players below that value, you are the one who is undervaluing the position because you are the one who refuses to play the going rate.
Ryan, please, draft a damned quarterback. And then draft another one. And then draft another one. And do it and do it and do it again. I’m begging you. It’s an investment that ultimately will pay off five fold (at least) if you do it right.