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!