I’m just pretending this weekend didn’t happen. The Packers were completely incompetent with penalties, turnovers, and poor play costing them the game. So it will all come down to the last game of the season against the Bears. This is exactly what the NFL had in mind when they redid the schedule and had intradivision games at the end.
I don’t think the winner of the NFC North will be a patsy in the first round, though. As this weekend showed, both these teams are capable of completely stinking up the joint, but they are also, if they stop shooting themselves in the foot, capable of making a run. The key for the Packers is Aaron Rodgers (duh!) and not completely sucking on defense, and the key for the Bears is playing at home against a team with a bad offense.
But, yes, that was an ugly, ugly weekend of football. But at least the Lions are out of it. That makes me smile.
It’s hard to win in the NFL, and especially hard when you’re missing the best player in the league, your best defensive player, who is playing injured already, leaves the game and may be done for the year, your rookie of the year candidate leaves the game with an injury and may not play next week, and you can’t get your first round draft picks on your O line healthy enough to play.
All I want for Christmas is strong d-line play, linebackers who don’t bite on misdirection, safeties who won’t whiff, a QB who won’t throw interceptions, and a running back who won’t get tripped up in the backfield for a safety because a lineman missed a block. Is that too much to ask for?
“Failure? Jim Schwartz know the meaning of the word ‘failure’! It is not in my vocabulary! No, seriously, I don’t know what it means, can someone get me a dictionary or something.”
Bears v. Packers for the NFC North divisional crown and a home game in the first round of the playoffs. The Packers get back Aaron Rodgers and Randall Cobb and will likely have Eddie Lacy, but not Clay Matthews, while the Bears lose Earl Bennett to a family situation.
The Bears are at home, have a high powered offense, and have Lance Briggs back at linebacker after he ate a couple of McDonald’s franchises, yet they are 3 point underdogs, most likely for getting back Rodgers and Cobb. Neither of these teams is good at stopping the run, so I expect two 100 yard games from Lacy and Forte. The Packers have clear advantage in depth at the RB position, but that should only matter if the passing games become unnecessary.
Jay Cutler has been awful against the Packers, with 9 td’s to 16 interceptions, a passer rating of 61.5, and a won loss record of 1-7. But that was before Magic Mark Trestman was in town, before he had a decent O line (Eagles game nothwithstanding), and before he had two pro bowl level WR’s. Of course a majority of NFL QB’s would succeed with those things (See Josh McCown), but maybe this game will be different for him.
I’m going out on a limb and saying this game will come down to turnovers and injuries. The team that protects the ball better, makes the big defensive plays, and stays healthy should win. I do think the Packers are a better team, but with how snakebit they’ve been once again, nothing is a sure thing. They need big games out of Sam Shields and Tramon Williams in coverage, and they need Brad Jones and AJ Hawk to make the tackles they should. But, in truth, this game could go either way. Which is why it’s so exciting.
Oh, and the Lions and Vikings play each other. Big whoop. Their biggest issues are whether either coach will be back next year. But who really cares?
It’s official. Jay Cutler is under contract with the Bears through 2020 and will probably finish his career here. It’s a 7-year deal, no final numbers yet, but it’s reported that it’s $18M/year over the important first 3. I’m mostly happy with this, I don’t love the idea of tying up that much cap to a QB, especially after seeing what happened with Flacco and Ryan this year, but it’s better than being the Raiders/Browns/Cardinals/Jaguars. I like Cutler and love the potential, I just hope he lives up to it more often as he matures. McCown was super-efficient in Trestman’s system, Cutler needs to replicate that and the only thing he needs to get right to do it is between the ears. Hopefully time, health and continuity will get there next year.
They also signed Tim Jennings, Matt Slauson, Robbie Gould to 4-year deals and Tony Fiametta to a 2-year deal. It will be interesting to see what the final numbers are on all these deals, the Jennings deal gets me a little worried if it’s too big, but generally these are all excellent signings. The Slauson deal is particularly key.
It’s easily the best move for the Bears. This is a team that has struggled at QB for decades now and Cutler is top ten caliber QB (not sure he always plays like it though). What were the options? McCown is not a better option than Cutler. Go get a veteran somewhere? Who? Draft a QB? Unless you think the Bears need to start over, which they don’t, this makes no sense. For every Russell Wilson there are three Christian Ponders, Jake Lockers, Josh Freemans It is a lot of money, but you that’s how QBs are paid.
The last 4 years are probably meaningless, if he sucks they will be able to cut him at that point without a huge hit. If he’s solid-to-great he’ll renegotiate more cap friendly terms at that point.
Emery was very pragmatic (and magnanimous IMHO) when asked about McCown. Said he wants him back and he’s been great for the team in a lot of ways, but also said that Josh played well enough to earn some choices and the opportunity to explore them. He said the Bears are going to give him the space to explore that, but they will make an effort to keep him.
Me too. Any time a division rival overpays for average play, I like it.
I’m thrilled that the Bears wasted some of the best performances by defenses with Cutler. I’m thrilled that, in acquiring him and building up the offense around him, the Bears have sold out their defense and their depth. And I’m thrilled they are committing so much money to a QB who looks good only in comparison to truly bad QB’s. Desperation in an opponent is good to see.
Cutler has had excuse after excuse after excuse for his sub-par performances. Now that he was two Pro Bowl caliber receivers, a solid offensive line, and a coach who excels at offensive production, he’s in a position that almost any QB in the league would love. And, despite having all that, he couldn’t stay healthy and produce at elite levels.
Keep comparing him to the worst QB’s in the league and Cutler will always look great. But compare to almost every other QB making $18 million and it becomes obvious just how much they overpaid.
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I like Cutler and love the potential, I just hope he lives up to it more often as he matures.
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He’s fucking 30 years old. He’s been in the NFL for 8 years.
[Quote=Omni]
McCown was super-efficient in Trestman’s system, Cutler needs to replicate that and the only thing he needs to get right to do it is between the ears. Hopefully time, health and continuity will get there next year.
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$18 million dollars a year to hope he gets as efficient as Josh McCown? Alright then. And $50 million guaranteed for a guy with his injury history? Alright then.
At least we can agree that we both like this deal.
Not get themselves in a position where they had to overpay an average QB. Draft Russell Wilson, sign Peyton Manning, trade for Nick Foles. Not have traded two first round draft picks for an inaccurate, interception prone QB in the first place.
But assuming that it wasn’t my incompetence that caused the current problem, I would have signed McCown to a cheap 3 year contract and trusted Trestman to draft our future QB. And I would have used the ridiculous money they gave Cutler to rebuild the defense.
The Packers probably should have let Aaron Rodgers walk and rebuilt their defense too. After all, they were all of one game better than the Bears and have a defense and depth just as bad. Look in the mirror.
I’m going to enjoy the post-Rodgers era, too many Packers fans act like spoiled rich kids preaching to the poor single mother about how to spend their money and time. The second coming of the Majkowski era will be wonderful.