Every week feels the same with the Bears

Flashback to the beginning of this website in late 2009.  The second entry reads like this:

It’s true that the receivers stink. It’s true that the offensive line is below par. It’s true that the coaching seems to be worse than ever (what was with the first half challenge of Knox’s obvious fumble?!?!). It’s also true that none of the above will be getting better now that the Bears are stuck with Cutler for 5 years and don’t even have a 1st round pick for a couple of years.

No early picks means no rebuilding of the o-line through the draft, and good luck trying to acquire a good o-lineman in his prime through the free agent market. Basically, it’s going to be Jay Cutler and his “unlimited potential” throwing to guys wishing they were average. In case you haven’t noticed, Cutler historically hasn’t been able to get his teams to overachieve, so don’t look for that to happen anytime soon.

That was written over TWO YEARS AGO and exactly nothing has changed, which of course is no surprise because even yours truly predicted it right on this award-winning website.  Ok, so this website hasn’t won any awards, but it should win something for being able to point out the Bears’ flaws faster than management.  Jay Cutler’s injury only helped proved the point that everything around him was bad and simply wasn’t going to get better because Chicago entered into a deal with the devil that ensured the ONLY way to achieve success was if Chicago remained completely healthy at all skill positions including quarterback.  The NFL being the NFL, sane people know an injury-free season for a team short on depth is impossible.  Therefore, what’s the best way to improve a franchise?  That’s right, add talent with depth a priority.  Instead, Chicago let depth die and the team pinned all its hopes on a QB not known for overachieving (which is absolutely necessary to win a Super Bowl with the team around him).

With Cutler, the Bears beat a sub-.500 playoff team last year and then lost to a Packers team riddled with injuries in the NFC Championship.  Without Cutler, the Bears have difficulty just holding onto the ball long enough for the punter to help out in the dreaded “battle of field position.”  Scoring is primarily the job of the defense and special teams.  As much as Lovie loves to preach about takeaways, add up the number of teams winning Super Bowls relying on defense as an offense.  It’s the same number as the amount of playoff victories the Bears will experience this season.

What do fans get then?  Without Cutler, a very bad football team.  With Cutler, a borderline good football team.  The biggest problem behind it all is the flawed concept of trading away the future for a player not equipped to win by himself in the present.  That’s nothing YOU the reader don’t already know.  If you see Jerry Angelo, would you mention it to him?

Unfortunately, I have a better record than the Bears.  Despite picking all of the games BEFORE the season even started without any knowledge of the injuries that would befall Chicago and other teams, I have successfully predicted the outcome in 9 of the 12 games so far.  That makes me eligible for the playoffs, right?

Unfortunately for Chicago fans, I foresaw a late season slump including a loss to the shockingly competitive Denver Broncos.  Now with Cutler and Forte out and Tim Tebow winning games despite defying every ounce of NFL logic, it’s not looking good for the Bears this Sunday.  Stranger things have happened (such as a Tim Tebow winning streak in the NFL), but I just don’t see a Caleb Hanie-led offense scoring enough off of Denver’s defense to win.

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Caleb Hanie’s starting debut wasn’t pretty, but sans a horrific floating screen pass, it was still a game that could have been won.  Avoid the big mistakes, take a page out of Kyle Orton – Hanie’s likely opponent this week – and the Bears should emerge victorious.  In the meantime, here’s a better way to throw a screen pass: