Bears Blitz

Published by James on June 7, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

As the Bears take their offseason program into the summer months, Chicago fans young and old are celebrating the acquisition of the franchise’s first franchise-caliber quarterback since the advent of the league’s modern era.

And they have good reason to rejoice. After all, long suffering Bears fans have had to endure the heartache that comes with watching their proud, storied franchise be regularly humbled by teams with star quarterbacks.

Maybe it’s the wind in Chicago, or the fact that the team has always made having a stout defense and solid running game the chief priority, or just the reputation that the city has grown for chewing up promising quarterback talent and spitting it out a few injury and interception-plagued seasons later.

For whatever reason, Bears fans have seen more than their fair share of signal-callers come and go without ever developing into the kind of players who can lead the Bears to the postseason Promised Land.

But I want to offer a warning to the Bears’ faithful who still celebrate Jay Cutler’s coming after so many years enduring the Krenzels and McNowns.

While Cutler’s talent and performance has been on another tier entirely from that of Kyle Orton, to say that Orton was the reason why the Bears didn’t make the playoffs shows a startling lack of awareness or denial about some more serious problems with the Bears’ roster.

Let’s be honest folks. The team’s biggest problem a year ago was not the quarterback or even the offense. No, the reason the Bears failed to make the playoffs last season was the decline in production and/or desire on defense.

Few Bears fans want to admit to it, but the defense may be just too old to cut it anymore. It was apparent in their inability to hold onto cushy leads late in games and get off the field on third downs.

The team’s lack of quality depth on defense is of equal concern, because it spells big trouble in the future. Whether you choose to admit it or not, there will come a time when Brian Urlacher’s and Tommie Harris’ performance will no longer warrant their massive paychecks, and the front office will act accordingly.

But even more frightening is the team’s refusal to acquire defensive stalwarts early in recent drafts. This more than anything will almost certainly come back to bite them down the road. After all, how can you neglect an entire side of the ball during the meat of several consecutive drafts and hope for success later on?

To be fair, the Bears have made some solid late round picks in recent years. But the fact that the youngest starter on defense who was also a first-day draft pick joined the team in 2004 speaks to the potentially painful future that may lie in store for a team that has always prided itself on its defense.

I just want to go on the record saying that I’m truly glad Jay Cutler has joined the Bears, and I think that he will prove to be a successful quarterback for years to come. But apart from working against them in practice, Cutler can do very little to help shore up the holes on a once-proud defense.

Even if his play can keep the defense off the field longer than Orton ever could have, sooner or later the problems there will be exposed by opposing offenses. There’s just no place to hide in this league.

So my advice is to cheer for Cutler, and expect solid play from him. If what you want to see is more touchdown passes, keep celebrating. But if you want to see your team consistently make the playoffs and win championships, you should be hoping against hope that the defense will revert to the form it showed two years ago.

History has already shown us that without a solid defense to help him, Jay Cutler spends his Januarys watching the playoffs on TV, no matter how many touchdowns he throws.