With a single attempted tackle, everything the Bears have been overachieving may be over for 2011.  For those of you who think Jay Cutler shouldn’t have been pursuing the tackle, it’s football!!  Either play hard or don’t play.  To Cutler’s credit, he played hard.  To football’s credit, an injury occurred as it so often does.  That’s the reason for this website – TradeJayCutler.com isn’t here to bash Jay Cutler but rather to show the problems with NFL franchises that choose to put all of its eggs in one collective basket. 

It took over a decade for New Orleans to climb out of the hole Ditka put them in when he traded away the entire future for Ricky Williams.  Now the Bears traded away a big part of the future several years ago for Jay Cutler, an above average QB with a strong arm, questionable leadership skills, and a mediocre career QB rating.  Cutler himself proved to live up to his end for much of his career in Chicago so far, but so did the lack of depth.  The Bears haven’t been able to develop a star receiver, and attempts at converting Devin Hester to a  “go to” guy on offense have been a failure.  The defense has been good but has shown its age at times, and if Matt Forte isn’t dominating, the rest of the offense stalls in a hurry.  Now, with Cutler likely on the shelf for at least the rest of the regular season, the competitive but shallow talent pool in Chicago will be in the hands of Caleb Hanie.  Can he make it work?  We’ll see.  Should this be a surprise to Chicago fans?  No, not when the owner willingly trades depth for one player.  In the NFL, it’s not a matter of “if” one player will get hurt, but “when.”  Now is Cutler’s “when,” so the Bears will find out what kind of talent he truly has around him.

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So I was wrong: my prediction for Monday night’s game was right on the money in regards to the Eagles – 24 points – but the Bears proved me wrong thanks to a 30-point outburst.  While Chicago played well in several aspects, one of the promising things to see was that the Bears won a road game despite some glaring mistakes (12 men on offense on the first drive, another 3rd quarter timeout, two costly Forte fumbles, etc.).  This time around, the Bears weren’t rattled by their problems and stuck to the job at hand.

That job was made infinitely easier for Jay Cutler thanks to some much needed protection.  Cutler’s jersey hardly got dirty, and as a result, another “W” is put on the left column.  Cutler hardly had Pro Bowl stats, but maybe Martz and the rest of the staff is starting to realize that balance is the way to win games.  Proper balance on the ground and through the air are necessary to keep Cutler jersey from getting grass stains, and the Bears exhibited it perfectly in the first quarter, getting Matt Forte involved heavily in the first drive.  That’s all it took to open up the medium range passing game, and suddenly Cutler had the extra second or two to make good decisions and see the field better.  The results?  No interceptions, 30 points, and a road win.

This site predicted a huge Chicago victory against the Lions this Sunday.  Hopefully this week, I’m right.

Hmmm, they don't look that intimidating...

My preseason prediction figured the Bears to lose a close one tonight, and after looking at all of the data, it’s still hard to argue against that informed opinion.  The Eagles simply have more talent, but as they have shown earlier in the season, talent doesn’t always equate to victories.  Here’s hoping the Bears to sneak one by the lovers of cheesesteaks.  Now for my unwarranted, more detailed predictions hopefully to be proven incorrect by a more positive final score:

• both teams will score a special teams TD
• Cromartie will intercept at least one Jay Cutler pass
• it will be McCoy, not Vick, who will prove to hurt Chicago the most

Final predicted score, Philly 24, Bears 20.  Prove me wrong Chicago, and you’ll be (gasp!) in position to make the playoffs!

It took a while, but the Bears are finally smarter than Denver.  Sure, Chicago sent an average QB with limited skills but an innate ability to win games to Denver along with a pack of future draft picks for a QB with plenty of athletic passing skill but questionable fundamentals and an innate ability to fail to get the best out of his teammates.  The result has hardly been a success on either side. 

For 2011, however, the Bears can be considered the smarter franchise.  Why?  Someone in Denver thought it would be a good idea to bench that average QB not for the second string QB but for the third string QB just because his name is Tim Tebow and seemingly just because Broncos fans know how to chant his name.  Needless to say, everything the scouts have said about him is true (basically summed up as “he is not an NFL quarterback”) and the results have been embarassing for Denver.

Meanwhile, Chicago keeps plugging along with its mediocrity, hoping to find some answers to Michael Vick Monday night and somehow get into playoff contention like last year.  This time around, however, it’s going to be a lot harder with both Green Bay and Detroit playing better football.