Answer: the smartest player on the Chicago Bears.  Why? Because he used his noodle and listened to his agent, waiting to get a guaranteed deal (rumored to be around $100,000 even if he gets cut) rather than taking the first offer the Bears threw at him which would have let him loose to the wolves and left with him very little if Caleb Hanie heals quickly and Chicago decides to part with him.

Now, the risk and reward are at least a little closer in line.  Todd Collins will sacrifice his brain and his 38-year-old body behind a questionable offensive line and in return will earn some dough to pay off the mortgage a little.

Starting to get your Todds confused with your Kerrys when it comes to Collins?  Todd Collins played for the University of Michigan and was drafted in 1995.  He has been a perennial backup QB, hanging around the league for 15 seasons (this will be his 16^th) and only starting 20 games in his career.

The scary thing about being a backup QB?  When you finally get in the game, it’s usually because the guys protecting you didn’t do a good enough job with the first guy.  Good luck, Todd!  I hope we never see you on the field, but I’m guessing we might be a little too familiar with you come midseason.

NFL.com – Todd Collins career stats

Chicago's best bet for a backup QB?

As if this came to a shock to any Bears fans, Jay Cutler was sacked FIVE TIMES in one half of a preseason game.  Against the RAIDERS!!  For the millionth time, it’s not a knock on the QB, but rather the complete lack of depth and talent around the QB… which came about because they traded for this specific QB!!  It was an exercise in failed circular logic that was doomed from the start, and now we get to watch the results mercifully play out in front of our eyes this season.

Rather that sign veteran Todd Collins as a backup for Cutler, the Bears should have looked for a better option, like Usain Bolt, because it’s going to take world class speed behind center to avoid a weekly punishing this season.  Prepare yourselves, Bears fans, the odds of the chosen one staying healthy for double digit games this year is looking bleak!

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Knox - a pleasant surprise in the Cutler deal

Another season with Jay Cutler at the helm is quickly approaching, and what lies ahead demonstrates the point of this website more than ever. Most people believe Jay Cutler is talented. Most people are impressed with new offensive coordinator Mike Martz and his intricate schemes. Martz has a history of turning teams into big offensive clubs. Matt Forte seems healthy and Chester Taylor can only help the running back situation. The receivers and tight ends aren’t world beaters, but it’s been worse.

Yet… most prognosticators are picking the Bears to finish .500 or below.  Once you get away from the overhyped local coverage, you can get a better gauge of public opinion, and it’s not good.  Mike Lombardi of the NFL Network estimates 6 to 9 wins for Chicago.  Mike and Mike in the Morning have the Bears penciled down for 5 or 6 wins.  Everybody agrees that Minnesota and Green Bay are a full notch above the rest of the NFC North, so the Bears are already playing from behind in terms of talent.

I hope everyone is wrong.  I hope I’m wrong, because I’d like to stay positive, but I just don’t see how the Bears can win their division.  Let’s face it, the defense was bad last year, and unless Julius Peppers can clone himself a couple times, it doesn’t figure to get much better if Lovie is insistent on preaching a specific defensive scheme regardless of how it fits into the players’ strengths and weaknesses.  Can you imagine Pat Riley telling the “Showtime” Lakers of the ’80s to “slow it down” just because he likes a slower, dirtier style of basketball?  Would Bobby Cox tell Greg Maddux to try striking out more guys because all those groundouts are boring?  Why didn’t some coach tell Wayne Gretzky and the Islanders to play more “dump and chase” because that’s what was en vogue at the time?  You MUST match your coaching to your players’ skills, but that fact has been lost on Lovie Smith.

Back to Jay Cutler.  I’m not a Cutler hater, but I’m hardly a Cutler lover in terms of believing that he is in the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks.  One of his teammates said Cutler could be a top 3 QB in the NFL this year.  Uhhh, so which one is he going to eclipse by December: Brees, Manning, or Brady?  Puh-lease.  As this site has always preached, Cutler is a decent quarterback who the Bears bet the farm on despite not having the pieces around him to succeed.  Now they signed Martz, Taylor, Peppers, Harris, etc., but it is still FAR from enough to compete at a Super Bowl level, so my forever unanswered question is WHY DID THE BEARS TRADE FOR CUTLER AT THE EXPENSE OF THEIR FUTURE?

The Bears are in the exact position I expected them to be in at this point – needing to sign and overpay free agents just to keep the team competitive since they sacrificed their high draft picks and their mediocre quarterback for Cutler, a mediocre quarterback.  Every NFL expert (and non-expert) will tell you that all the offensive skill in the world is meaningless without a good offensive line.  The Bears are severely lacking in that department, and O-lineman aren’t easy to snag in free agency, and when high draft picks weren’t available to develop the line, well… Chicago is left with the hodgepodge it has now in front of their savior, Jay Cutler.  For Cutler’s sake, I hope he has been lifting and running in the offseason because he’s going to be fighting off potential sacks on a regular basis.

How do you feel about Cutler and the Bears this year?  Sound off fans!

Mike Martz has nothing but praise for Jay Cutler (that always happens until the games start).  According to a recent Sun-Times article, Martz said “He has that Kurt Warner awareness, if you will.” ¹  We shall see….