Good grief!  Like Charlie Brown falling on his back thanks to that no good Lucy, Bears fans are feeling duped once again after yesterday’s performance.  One team thought the game started at 12:05, not noon, so the score was 7-0 even before the first annoying Chevy commercial with the ubiquitous Howie Long.  After that, it got worse.

Inexcusable coaching decisions (two timeouts lost for one lost challenge?!!?), 59 yards rushing, and more poorly timed interceptions from Jay Cutler.  As a tight end, sometimes it’s hard to make an impact on a game if you are not being thrown to, but would the Bears be any worse off if Greg Olsen never played another down?  He’s been a HUGE disappointment.

There are 3 games left in this “magical” season, and the Bears have guaranteed that Jay Cutler will have yet another season where he failed to lead an average team to a better than average mark.

Based on the hugely popular post from Wednesday, if there was going to be a QB-only draft at the end of this season where you could draft any NFL QB on your team, where would you rank Jay Cutler?

Assume that the rest of your team is mediocre but a good quarterback should put you in the playoffs.  You should also take age/experience/etc. into account, so you would have to weigh the idea of Brett Favre possibly retiring for the 63rd time right after you draft him.  Have at it!

What's his real number? 11? 16? 18?

You’ve heard all the terms about Jay Cutler from various media outlets, calling him an elite quarterback, with some going so far as to call him a “top 5″ or “top 10″ QB.  Just how elite is Jay Cutler?  Once you realize his overall mediocrity, the idea of trading him doesn’t seem so far fetched.  Hey Chicago, this isn’t Walter Payton or Michael Jordan we’re talking about.  Heck, this isn’t even Scottie Pippen.

Let’s take a look at which starting quarterbacks are better than Jay Cutler or more valuable to a team hellbent on trying to win.  This group should get no argument even from the biggest Cutler supporters.

• Peyton Manning
• Tom Brady
• Drew Brees
• Aaron Rodgers
• Brett Favre
• Philip Rivers
• Ben Roethlisberger
• Donovan McNabb
• Kurt Warner
• Eli Manning

Hard to argue that Cutler is better than any of the 10 QBs above.  Now here’s a short list of QBs I still rank ahead of Cutler, although some of you may think Cutler fits in the pack somewhere here.

• Carson Palmer
• Tony Romo
• Matt Schaub

An argument can possibly be made for Cutler over those three, but personally, I’ll take any of those QBs any time.

Now for the list of QBs I have ranked below Cutler:

• Alex Smith
• Matt Hasselbeck
• Matt Cassel (sorry, I’m not as much a sucker as the Kansas City front office)
• Kyle Orton (yes, I like Cutler better, but not two #1 draft picks better!)
• David Garrard
• Brady Quinn
• Bruce Gradkowski
• Trent Edwards
• Shaun Hill
• Kerry Collins (at this point of his career)
• Marc Bulger (same as Collins)
• Jake Delhomme (ditto as above)
• Jamarcus Russell
• Chad Pennington

Then there’s the list of guys who are still a little too inexperienced to fully judge but may give Cutler a run for his money:

• Matt Ryan
• Joe Flacco
• Matthew Stafford
• Mark Sanchez (seems to have the same kind of “all or nothing” performances as Cutler)
• Chad Henne

I’m not saying those five guys are better than Cutler, but they could be!

So where does that leave ol’ #6?  Quite simply, the middle of the pack.  Let me say it again – THE MIDDLE OF THE PACK.  At this point, Cutler certainly has proven that he is NOT deserved of the top 10.  Even those with a severe case of Cutler love can’t possibly put him any higher than 11th.  If I were simply trying to win a Super Bowl next season, there are 15 quarterbacks I would choose ahead of Cutler – the top 10 I have above, the next 3 on the list, then I would take Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco over Cutler if I thought I could win next year.

By my book, that makes Cutler the 16th best quarterback in football today.  The NFL only has 32 teams, putting Cutler smack dab in the defining role of average.  Again, it’s hard to argue with average – a “thrower” with above average natural talent but below average records pretty much equals an average quarterback.

So for the record, the Bears traded their own quarterback (I’d say somewhere around 20th ranked) AND a couple 1st round picks AND a 3rd round pick for the 16th best quarterback and a 5th round pick which was a pleasant surprise in Johnny Knox.  How is that beneficial to the Bears?

Trade ME?! You can't ditch double nickels!

Half of the comments on this site are from Broncos fans thanking Chicago for taking a QB with a losing record on a mediocre team and exchanging him for a QB with a winning record on a mediocre team along with a couple first round draft picks.  After the trade, the tide has turned for the teams but the story is the same for the quarterbacks.

The other comments are from Chicago fans calling me stupid.  I’m fine with that (I never claimed to be smart), but for the record, it’s “loser,” not “looser.”  Some comments are very well written, and the gist of many of them is “you can’t blame one guy (Cutler) for a team’s demise.” 

I don’t blame ONLY Cutler.  I agree – offensive line?  Bad.  Receivers?  Bad.  Coaching?  Bad.  Defense?  Bad.  Quarterback?  Also bad.  BUT, the only way to get better without draft picks is to trade a valuable commodity for more depth, more talent, more anything!  Who do the Bears have on the roster that would bring any trade value?  Linemen?  No.  Receivers?  Heck no.  Quarterback?  N-…   wait a minute, there’s your guy.  Cutler is arguably the only guy with decent trade value given his perceived talent level (I still don’t think he’s as good as you do) and contract except for Lance Briggs.  Do you want to trade Lance Briggs?  www.TradeLanceBriggs.com is available.

First of all, sandwiched between some of the less than stellar “you guys are loosers” (sic) comments are some very insightful thoughts by guys that took a lot of time to write them.  Check ‘em out – they’re worth a read.  Now on to yesterday’s game.

Jay Cutler did his best Kyle Orton impression yesterday, wowing no one but playing mistake free and coming out with an ugly victory.  Throwing the ball only 17 times, Lovie Smith made the decision to “get off the bus running,” and despite a 3.2 yards/carry average, Smith kept ordering for the run.  Smith also decided to try a fake field goal against one of the worst teams in football where any points on the board should be golden.  Did I mention only having 10 players on the field in a punting situation deep in Chicago’s own zone, forcing a timeout to be called?  If you want to sound off on those problems, there’s always www.FireLovieSmith.com for that.  No, it’s not my website.

Despite giving the ball to St. Louis at midfield or better a handful of times, the Rams couldn’t get in the endzone.  It’s fairly obvious that this 1-11 team has Steven Jackson and nothing more.  Still, the Bears couldn’t capitalize on their chances, including converting the occasional 3rd down to ice the clock, and suddenly the lowly Rams were driving the field with a chance to tie the game with under a minute left.  The defense finally put an end to the drive, sealing the Bears’ 5th win of the season.

As bad as it’s been, keep this in mind: Chicago is currently only one game worse than New England and Pittsburgh.  What this game showed once again, however, is the complete lack of talent around Jay Cutler.  As I have said time and time again, THAT is why the Bears need to trade him.  Chicago needs help in so many areas that having a Pro Bowl quarterback behind center with no good draft picks in sight will only delay future success.  More to come this week.  Sound off!

From Al, showing that’s it’s not JUST Cutler’s fault (but he sure isn’t helping the cause):

“Cutler needs to cut down his interceptions. The Bears defense needs to protect leads in the 4th quarter, the offensive line is offensive, and the running game disappeared, and receivers are at best mediocre. The offense is predictable and unproductive, and the defense leaks. Coaching is mediocre to poor.

That’s a lot to fix, without 1st round draft choices. Cutler and a couple of other Bears are good trade bait. Fire the coach and bring in Mike Shanahan and a new defensive coordinator.”

posting an "o-fer" so far

Maybe 4-7 with the Rams coming to town isn’t so bad.  Just think of the pain the New Jersey Nets fans are going through – all 6 of them.

"Jay is our quarterback"

Do you know what the names Lovie Smith, Jerry Angelo, and Jay Cutler all have in common?  No “W”s!  Now you know why Tom Brady loves throwing to Wes Welker!  The QB for the 11-0 Saints?  DreW Brees.  The new head coach for the 11-0 Colts?  Jim CaldWell.

There are only 7 W’s on the entire Bears roster.  Does that mean we can expect 3 more wins before this miserable season ends?

(image taken from BleacherReport.com)

Urlacher speaks his mind

Despite Jay Cutler’s lousy performance for the Bears this season, give him credit for this: he’s answered every annoying question thrown at him and, for the most part, he has taken responsibility for the sickly 4-7 record.

Cutler’s latest adult moment came after Brian Urlacher made some comments about the “changed identity” of the offense under Cutler.  Jay wisely chose not to get in a battle of words with his teammate through the media and instead took responsibility for the team’s poor play.  Nice job, Jay.  Now stop throwing the ball to the other team!!

Chicago Sun-Times - Cutler: Urlacher doesn’t owe me apology