The issue of the day at ESPN was apparently whether quarterback Jay Cutler can lead the Bears in to playoff success.
Former Bear Tom Waddle answers the question essentially as “Yes. As long as they don’t have to ask him to actually do anything”:
Jeff Dickerson at ESPNChicago essentially agrees:
and finally Michael Wilbon at the mothership gets closer to the real point:
and what is the real point?
If Cutler tries to do too much, as he is definitely apt to do, the Bears are in trouble. He’ll hold the ball forever and try to make plays that aren’t there. If, however, Cutler plays within himself and lets the offense work, he’ll be fine and things will go well.
It seems clear that everyone agrees that if the Bears fall behind and they have to pass, there’s probably a playoff loss on the horizon. Therefore the defense will have to play at least as well as they did Sunday against the Packers and the special teams will have to play considerably better than they did.
Dan Pompei at the Chicago Tribunegoes through what I thought was a key play in the game when Lovie Smith decided to go for it on fourth and 1 from the Packer 40 yard line. With the defense playing well in a tight, field position game this is not the decision I would have made. I’m surprised Smith hasn’t seen more heat over it.
“I don’t know who called it. I did my job. What was it, third-and-15? That was big. I think that was the changing point in the game right there. We had opportunities. We didn’t capitalize.”
You can almost hear the frustration in Taylor’s voice as he can’t catch a break in what has turned out to be a rough second half of the season for him. Smith says that he made the decision to call the time out.
Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune on the large pass to run ratio in offensive coordinator Mike Matz‘s play calling:
“Was Martz trying to hide something for the playoffs? That doesn’t mesh with the explanations given that the Bears played to win the game Sunday. They didn’t use the formula they had been winning with and if they get out of whack in the playoffs, this has proved to be a recipe for disaster.”
I’ve heard the theory put forth that this game was more about testing the offense to see what they can do by Martz than it was about calling plays to otherwise win the game. Like Biggs, I’m not sure I buy it.
Lost in the playoff excitement was the fact that the Bears lost yet another third round pick. Biggs reports that the Bears offered to promote wide receiver Juaquin Iglesias from the practice squad to the 53 man roster (and to give him playoff game checks) to keep him leaving for the Vikings. The Bears signed Eric Peterman to take his place on the practice squad.
Kevin Seifert at ESPN.com believes that Devin Hester‘s revival as a return man was due to the perfect balance between that and his role as a complementary receiver on offense.
“Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has struggled throwing to the left side of the field all season. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Cutler finished the year ranked 27th among NFL quarterbacks in passes thrown outside of the left hashmark. Sunday, he completed six of 14 passes and threw both of his interceptions in that direction. I don’t know if it’s a mechanical issue, a matter of the Bears’ scheme or if it’s just happenstance. But it’s worth monitoring.”
Soldier Field general manager Tim Lefebvre comments to ESPNChicago.com about the upheaval over the state of the stadium’s turf:
“It’s unfortunate. You see them spending too much time talking about conditions rather than just playing the game.”
“No one seems to be talking about it of late, but the Bears won the Jay Cutler trade with Denver. Cutler didn’t do much against the Packers in Week 17, but he has played very well of late. … All that being said, Kyle Orton had a fine season, but no way does he lead the Bears to the No. 2 seed in the NFC this season. This is exactly what Chicago envisioned when it made the blockbuster deal for its franchise quarterback.”
Jeff Dickerson tells the ESPN mothership that talk about Devin Hester over shadows Danieal Manning‘s performance as a kick returner:
Elsewhere
Mike Florio at profootballtalk.commakes the relevant point about the retention of the current power structure in Minnesota with new head coach Leslie Frazier:
“Well, if it really was working, [Brad] Childress would still be the head coach.”
Albert Breer at the NFL Network is reporting that the Titans owner Bud Adams will meet with head coach Jeff Fisher to determine his fate. Indications are that Adams wants Vince Young, who is feuding with Fisher, as his quarterback but he also doesn’t want to hire a new head coach in the face of a potential work stoppage.
Joseph Heller, author of the famous book Catch 22, describes the essence of the no win situation that the books title has come to represent. He does it in terms of the psychology of a bomber pilot, Orr, during World War II:
“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he were sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to.”
“I didn’t address Cutler berating Chester Taylor at Lambeau Field after Taylor lined up in the wrong spot and cost the Bears a timeout because the very public outburst didn’t affect Sunday’s game. But the tantrum revealed Cutler’s impulsiveness that could hurt a Bears offense that needs more prudence than passion from its quarterback.
“One minute he’s losing his cool with a teammate, the next he’s letting the ball sail over an open receiver into the arms of a safety. I want to believe Cutler’s hair-trigger emotion and his execution are unrelated. I also want to believe there’s no connection between a half-hour on the treadmill and chronic knee pain but I would be kidding myself about that too.”
I’m not as inclined as I used to be to judge Cutler’s mental state on the field based upon his body language. Yes, he was a bit mercurial last week but his emotions have been showing through the cracks in that armor of disinterest he shows the world more and more over the last six seeks even as his performance behind center has improved.
I’m really not sure that these outbursts are a bad thing. Cutler is showing some leadership qualities that he failed to demonstrate last year and, though the form sometimes shows his immaturity, I’d rather he was being more demonstrative than less.
But admittedly its a delicate balance and in many ways it demonstrates the Catch 22 bind that Cutler is in. Like most of us, Cutler has to deal with a mass of contradictions. He’s got to show some emotional leadership but if he does that he’s not cool and collected. He’s got to be competitive and want to make plays but if he does that he’s holding the ball too long.
So what do you do? Most of us dance in the middle, trying to please everyone and in the process pleasing no one. You can’t win – no one can.
It’s a simple question of moderation. But there are no simple answers. No one knows that better than Jay Cutler.
Analysts Kurt Warner and Trent Greenagree that the Bears will want the Saints coming into Soldier Field rather than the Eagles (via Neil Hayes at the Chicago Sun-Times).
“’With how well [the Bears] defense is playing, the Saints coming to Chicago would be a better matchup because Michael Vick is playing at such a high level,’ former Rams quarterback and current NFL Network analyst Trent Green said. ‘I don’t necessarily believe Philly is going to beat Green Bay, but the inconsistencies have been a little surprising from New Orleans, some of which is due to injury, some of which is Drew forcing things more than he did last year. Based on that, and especially since they are a dome team and if you can dial up the right kind of weather they could have problems, I would say the Saints, even though it’s hard to say you hope the matchup is against the defending Super Bowl champs.’”
But Hayes also sees the Eagles as a good match up for the Bears:
“If there is a defense equipped to stop Michael Vick, it’s the Bears. They proved as much during a 31-26 win on Nov. 28 that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. The Bears are quick and disciplined defensively. They kept Vick in front of them and forced him to run around in cold weather on slick sod trying to throw touch passes over Brian Urlacher’s head.”
I would agree. I would also have to say that, for all of the reasons that were demonstrated Sunday, the worst individual match up for the Bears is probably the Packers. The Packers exposed many Bear weaknesses in that game. Fortunately, the Bears won’t see either them or the NFC favorite Atlanta Falcons until the NFC championship game.
Indeed, there is a decent chance that the Bears won’t see the Packers at all. The same characteristics that make the Bears vulnerable to the Packers makes the Eagles an awful match up for them. Kevin Seifert at ESPN.comexplains the reason why:
“[LeSean] McCoy has gotten his YAC on (Yards After Catch) this season. In fact, he has 724 YAC this season, the most in the NFL. His average of 9.3 YAC per reception ranks No. 9 in the NFL. Meanwhile, [DeSean] Jackson has 359 YAC and is averaging 7.6 YAC per reception.”
“The Packers will not only have to keep track of where Vick, McCoy and Jackson are before the snap. They’ll need to take special care to wrap them up when they have a chance.”
ESPN’s Trent Dilfer agrees:
The Packers can, in fact, do that and they are perfectly capable of winning this game. But, as indicated above, while the Bears cover two is specifically designed to stop the West Coast offense and limit the YAC, the aggressive man-to-man defense that the Packers specialize in is vulnerable to it.
Bottom line, it isn’t just about who the best team is or even who the best team is on a given day. Its also about the personnel and the scheme. And how things fall together in those terms after this weekend will ultimately determine the Bears fate as much as any other factor.
“Worse yet, the Packers’ approach will likely serve as a blueprint for the Bears’ first playoff opponent. [offensive coordinator Mike] Martz can expect the Eagles, Seahawks or Saints to attack similarly.”
You hear this kind of thing a lot after a bad offensive performance and I admit that it also crossed my mind. Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribuneapparently has similar thoughts:
“The fear moving forward has to be that a talented secondary can throw a net over these receivers and really limit Cutler’s options. The Packers have mugged the Bears’ receivers in Lambeau Field before and Charles Woodson and Tramon Williams are a talented duo. Darryl Drake’s position group must improve.”
Its possible that the Packers did provide a blueprint for beating the Bears but I don’t think its as relevant in this case as it might be otherwise.
First, the New York Jets play a very similar style of defense. They play very aggressive man-to-man coverage with a lot of blitzes from many different angles. Indeed, they do it with arguably better personnel than the Packers have. But the Bears offense was well prepared and handled them reasonably well. They’ll be a tougher out if the Bears have to play them again in the Super Bowl but I think the game demonstrates that they are capable of handling that kind of defensive game plan.
Second, and more importantly, very few defenses play that style as well as the Packers do. They just don’t come any better than defensive coordinator Dom Capers and the Packers have been playing that style of coverage for considerably longer than he’s been there. And the Packers know the Bears better than probably anyone else in the league. More Biggs:
“[Bears quarterback Jay] Cutler explained that one reason the passing game struggled was because the Bears had not changed their hot reads from the first meeting with the Packers in September. They used the same adjustments as they did for that game, and the Packers were on to them this time.
“‘They kept us out of sync,’ Cutler said. ‘We didn’t change a lot from last game to this game and I think they did a really good job of taking away some of our hots, keeping us off balance with some of the hots.'”
I would expect some changes over the bye week.
Bottom line if the Seahawks and the Saints, in particular, want to try to duplicate what the Packers did without their personnel and without their coaching staff, the Bears should welcome them to try.
“Maybe Earl Bennett is more of a security blanket for [Bears quarterback Jay] Cutler than it appears. Bennett, who has been a clutch third-down receiver during the Bears’ resurgence, missed Sunday’s game with a leg injury.”
“Yes, the Bears were playing without Earl Bennett, who has become almost a starter. He sat out with a tweaked ankle that has been a lingering issue, but the expectation is he will be fine for the playoffs. Without Bennett, this group was throttled.”
The Bears wide receivers got physically handled at the line of scrimmage. Its possible that Bennett’s size would have prevented them from manhandling him had he been there. We’ll likely find out in a couple weeks.
The cat and mouse game that the Bears special teams unit played with the Jets continued yesterday. The Packers caught the Bears with Danieal Manning moving up in anticipation of a short kick by booting it over his head. Manning eventually fielded the ball in the end zone and downed it.
“I was a little worried about his health when Cutler answered questions in full sentences, and played along with a reporter’s witty retort — even laughing at the joke, rather than the reporter — but I didn’t see any sign of real damage, mental or physical.”
ESPN.com’s Jeff Dickersonis less than optimistic about the Bears’ offensive line after the loss:
“The offensive line will never be completely fixed: It’s impossible for that to happen this year. We all knew it. But that group should get credit for picking up their play since the bye week, and they even put forth their best performance of the season last week against the New York Jets. But Sunday reminded everybody that pass protection remains a core issue — Cutler was sacked six times. To be fair, you can argue Cutler held on to the football way too long on a few of those sacks, but each tackle was cleanly beaten at one point.”
“The problem with teams moving to the 3-4 (defense) is that you often need a transition year. You could play some of it some of the time, but it’s hard to overhaul your roster overnight. The players on your roster are what they are. You can’t turn over your roster in one draft. You need some flexibility. I don’t think (former Browns GM Phil) Savage understood that when he hired Romeo (Crennel). I don’t think the Bills understood it this year. I don’t think the Redskins were ready for it. I’ve seen it more at the college level, too. Everyone is trying to mimic (Nick) Saban and more teams have moved to the 3-4, but they just don’t have the bodies to pull it off. It’s hard to find 325-330-pounders who can move.”
I’ve said many times that one weakness of the 3-4 is that so many teams are going to it. Not only is it hard to find defensive linemen, particularly nose guards, to man it but its going to be extremely hard to draft those guys with so many teams looking for the same characteristics. The Packers were very lucky to get B.J. Raji. Guys like that aren’t going to last long.
“The Falcons like to run left. I don’t know why teams have not picked up on it, but they do a great job getting defenses to flow one way and come back the other way. It’s a play they call Joker. It’s usually run from a two-back set and both backs go one way, but the tailback cuts back. (Michael) Turner runs it real well. The Chargers and Giants do the same thing.”
If both teams last long enough in the playoffs, this is the kind of play that can really cause the Bears problems. They’re a fast defense but they over react sometimes.
The Bears have a lot to learn from coming out of yesterday’s game. But perhaps nothing came out of the poor performance that was more important than what the Packers did to the Bears on the blitz. Bears quarterback Jay Cutler explains via Dan Pompei at the Chicago Tribune:
“They kept us out of sync. We didn’t change a lot from last game to this game and I think they did a really good job of taking away some of our (hot routes), keeping us off-balance with some of the hots. They were delaying some of their blitzes and bringing those guys. I think there was a stretch where (Packers cornerback Charles) Woodson came about every snap toward the end of the game.”
Many fans and media are criticizing the Bears for not running the ball more – as well they should. But the fact of the matter is that you are occasionally going to find yourself in situations where you have to pass. Good teams come through in those situations. The Bears didn’t yesterday.
The Packers did a superb job of pressuring Cutler with the blitz and, at the same time, taking away the Bears adjustments to it. They anticipated the hot routes and covered the Bears receivers tightly so that Cutler had nowhere to go and when he did, the result was little to no gain. Perhaps as important, the Packers defensive linemen all had their hands up, frequently batting the ball down as they made it difficult for Cutler to get the ball out. To top it off, the screen play worked poorly against a defense that sees a Packer offense that runs it better than anyone in practice every day.
This has been a season which has been defined by offensive improvement for the Bears. Olin Kreutzexplains how that will continue (via Mark Potash at the Chicago Sun-Times):
‘‘’It was a playoff atmosphere,’ Kreutz said. ‘They were coming after us. From the start of the third quarter, they sent everything at us. All the credit goes to them for shutting us down on offense. And we’re going to look at this film and learn.’’’
As Cutler said, the Bears didn’t change much from the last game where the Jets run a very similar type of defense. But they will certainly have to do so now if they want to make a serious playoff run.
Sean Jensen‘s game story for the Chicago Sun-Times had this interesting nugget:
But the Bears offense could only muster a field goal. They did get inside the Packers’ 5-yard line but couldn’t score the touchdown, settling for a 30-yard field goal after left tackle Frank Omiyale gave up a sack to linebacker Erik Walden.
Afterwards, Omiyale extended a hand to his befallen quarterback, but Cutler rolled and got up by himself.
It was unclear, though, if Cutler snubbed his lineman.
Either way, the Bears offense has had better days.
And they seemingly got worse throughout the game.
They certainly did. If Cutler did snub Omiyale I don’t think there’s are many fans in Chicago that would condemn him though Cutler was far from perfect himself, throwing one horrible interception in the end zone.
But the offensive line struggled badly yesterday, especially in the second half. And when you come right down to it that’s where the game is played. Many will see Cutler’s reaction and look to the poor pass protection and they’d have a point. But that wasn’t really the major problem. The major problem really developed when the Bears becomes one dimensional when they stopped running. Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribuneexplains:
“The crowd noise had nothing to do with the play selection, though, and what’s surprising is Martz got away from what had been working well. The Bears trumpeted the fact they had been so balanced offensively, then they went pass crazy. Martz called 47 drop backs and 18 rushes despite the fact the game was never out of reach.”
The Bears came out running in the third quarter and got a reasonable start. But generally speaking the second half was a waste land of sacks and long yardage after the first possession. Once a team knows you are going to throw, they can come at your quarterback with everything they’ve got.
The pass protection wasn’t good and it needs work. But for the Bears, it wasn’t so much the pass blocking that put Cutler on his back. It was the lack of a running game that did the offensive line in when it counted.
