Bears Blitz

Published by Joe Huber on November 13, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

I want to start out with one clarification: Jay Cutler is a good, young quarterback and better suited to lead the Chicago Bears to victory.

I don’t think these Bears would have a better record with Kyle Orton under center.

I was actually going to write this article Monday after another dismal performance by the Bears against the Arizona Cardinals, but I wanted to gauge the response from the media and the fans.

Again, the finger was pointing everywhere except Cutler.

Up until last night, you can argue whether Cutler has cost the Bears one or two games in Green Bay or Atlanta, but against the San Francisco 49ers, there is no debate.

If Orton were still here and the Bears were at the 4-5 mark, and he had thrown 14 touchdowns and 17 interceptions, he would be getting slaughtered.

I listened in to Waddle & Silvy, a Chicago-based radio show featuring former Bears receiver Tom Waddle and radio host Marc Silverman, just to see the temperature of their Cutler fever. It’s still high, but they at least have the right response.

Jay Cutler lost last night’s game, and he is not yet the Messiah the Bears have been longing for.

Again, in several years Cutler should develop into a very nice signal caller, but right now, he’s not even an average quarterback.

He is everything Rex Grossman was: a big-armed hurler that doesn’t have time to progress through his reads.

The difference between he and Grossman is that he understands that he can’t continue on this path.

Granted, Senor Six has no protection, and all the mistakes that he is making now are correctable for the future. (Waddle JUST said the same thing, so you know I’m right.)

I still want to ask the question about Orton though. If Orton is playing in these games, he’s getting the finger pointed at him after the Packers game.

From week one all the way through, Orton would be feeling the heat, but it takes a five-interception game to get Bears fans thinking that Cutler might be part of the problem this season.

Seventeen picks thus far this season, and just now the media is starting to see that Sweet Baby Jay isn’t quite performing like he did in Denver.

In Denver he had Brandon Marshall, Eddie Royal, a running game, and an offensive line.

Your team does not have the components to offer the same amount of success he felt while he was a Bronco. Period.

Does he deserve the entire blame? Absolutely not.

Should he be in the conversation of a long list of Bears woes? Absolutely.

Cutler has underperformed a lot of the season, and nobody should care about what he says in a press conference either. He understands he was terrible. He gets it.

This season, at least for the past nine games, Cutler deserves as much blame for the five losses as he does praise for the four wins.

Cutler is in fact the quarterback of the future in Chicago, but face the facts, Chicago: This team is mediocre at best right now, and Cutler is as much to blame as the five guys lining up in front of him.

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