Sportretort's Blog

Excuses 11/13/2009

It is time to stop making excuses.  Hester ran the wrong pattern.  The o-line is not protecting him.  And so on, and so on, and so on.  It is time to face the truth.  Jay Cutler is

Cutler on the bench Thursday following one of his 5 interceptions

 not a franchise quarterback.  Not yet.  Perhaps not ever.  How many ‘franchise quarterbacks’ do you know that win only 45% of their games?  Facts are facts, and the facts are that Cutler is not a winner.  Period.  He is 21-25 as a starter in the NFL.  He has lost 8 of his last 12 starts.  Last season, the Denver Broncos had a 3 game lead in the AFC West with 3 games left.  Under Cutler, they lost the last 3 and missed the playoffs.  Now in Chicago, the Bears are 4-5 under Cutler.  Their season is done.  And yet the excuses continue.  He has no line.   He has no receivers.  Poor Jay, if only he had some talent around him, he could win.

49er Michael Lewis interceps Cutler's last pass Thursday night, sealing the SF win

Really?  Seems to me that he played in Denver with one of the best offensive lines in football last season.  I seem to recall that he had great wide outs in Denver last season.  Guess the problem there was the defense.  Thats what we heard.  Thats what we believed.  While Denver had a terrible D last season, the inconvenient truth is that the cry baby quarterback has a million dollar arm, but with apologies to Crash Davis, he also has a five cent head.  The problem with Cutler is that he can not execute in the Red Zone.  When most quarterbacks are earning their paychecks, Cutler is melting down.  Denver was one of the worst teams at scoring touch downs while inside the Red Zone last season.  Chicago has the same problem this year.  Last night, for example, the Bears lost to the San Francisco 49ers 10-7.  Cutler tossed TWO Red Zone interceptions.  One to a triple covered receiver in the end zone during the first half, and one in the end zone with time running out at the end of the game.  Hell, even if he just throws the balls away and Chicago kicks 2 field goals they win the game.  The even bigger problem is that the kid from Santa Claus, Indiana, gives out more gifts than St Nick on December 24th.  Last season in Denver, with all that talent around him, the kid threw 18 interceptions.  Through 9 games in Chicago this season, he has thrown 17.  SEVENTEEN!!  That is the 3rd highest total through nine games in NFL history.  He threw 4 opening night at Green Bay earlier this season.  That was ok because he and his receivers were not yet on the same page.  Well, it’s 9 weeks later now and he threw 5 last night.  That must be one damn big page!

The Bears gave Cutler a big contract extention 2 weeks ago.  He is going to be in Chicago for a while.  With 3, 4 and 5 interception games so far this season, one has to wonder why.  Chicago went into the season with delusions of being a contender.  So far, their new quarterback has shown himself to be a pretender.