Week 4- Bears @ LIons A rivalry renewed

[bearadonisdna]

I don't believe at all that McCown will throw as many INT as Jay..at all.

The chances are much lower with him over Jay.

Thought I'd come back to this.. the chances would be lower because McCown wouldn't throw more than 20 attempts a game.

You really want to go back to this? McCown would be a pure game manager a la rookie Kyle Orton, and our defense is no where near the level it was back then.

McCown starts for this team and we win 4-6 games on the year.

I'm just pissed as all hell:( 1 thing that won't change is..I want Jay gone but logically I think you're right, albeit I think Mccown could do well if Jay goes down. Jay being benched would be satisfying..win or lose.

McCown could not do well if Jay went down. He is lucky to be on an NFL roster and im sure he would be in the running for worst backup qbs in the league.

[bearadonisdna]

I can live with this loss and I can live with Cutler's performance. Nothing I saw in this game indicates a critical flaw. We'll be OK.

The defense bro. I for one have been critical of the D before Melton went down. And it wasnt just the pass rush, its the wide open candy apple goodies other offenses are getting in the middle of the field on our D.

[blumeany]

There are two critical flaws with this team:

1. The defensive line: If they can't get to the quarterback OR stop the run, they are going to continue to get lit up. I believe I heard on the radio that through the first 4 games this is the most points the Bears have given up since the year before they hired Lovie. We've seen a definitely decline in the effectiveness of this defense since the departure of Lovie. We've seen a similar dip in Special Teams with the departure of Toub.

2. Jay Cutler's decision making: I side with Brad Biggs this morning when he said that (despite Jay and Trestman writing the turnovers off as 'physical problems - i.e. mechanics) these problems seem more mental in nature. For example, not acknowleding/realizing you have a defender hawking on the ball before it even comes out of your hand, or continuing to hang onto the ball despite the fact that you should be throwing it away.

Most every effective offense depends on the QB to be an excellent decision maker. He has to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. Jay continually goes on these lousy decision-making streaks. It's 'excusable' when he makes up for it and we win, but it's not excusable when he continues to make errant throws and throws that are somewhat easily read by the defense and picked off.

I think Trestman would be smart to work with Jay on 'looking off' his receivers. Only reason those Lions defenders were able to make those plays is because Jay was staring a hole through them and just waiting for them to be open. He's needs to pump fake more. He needs to look off of them and then come back to them more. He can't just have a wild west showdown with the defender and try to thread that pass in before the defender gets there.

[Cliff Levingston]

Can't win them all and there is going to be bumps in the road. Trestman will coach Jay up and he'll be much better next time around.

We seemed to go vanilla with the play calling and got away from the mis-direction that lead to a 27 yard end around for Alshon and a 50+ yard TD run for Forte. The O line held up reasonably well against that Lion front. Just need Jay to make better decisions and Trestman to mix it up a little more.

The defense is a concern. Can't count on them to stonewall other teams now. It's all about getting the ball out, and that's tough to do without a pass rush. Peppers, Wootton and McClellin all need to step up big time and bring the rush off the edges. That's the key to this defense at least being middle of the road this year.

[BullHeaded]

This was a team lost. Offense, defense and special teams... we were outplayed in every phase of the game. Jay Cutler definitely should get most of the blame for those turnovers, but there is blame to go around. (Incidentally, if magic happens on that last onside kick and we pull a 40 second TD drive out of our rearends, Jay and Special Teams would be at least partially vindicated for one crazy comeback.)

But I'm a silver lining guy... so here's a couple:
1. The team didn't quit. A lot of teams will go through the motions while in the midst of a blowout, but this team clawed back to make it interesting.
2. Alshon Jeffrey continues to emerge. If this trendline continues, he will either have to be treated like a number 1 or defenses will be burned. And if they do treat him like a number 1, Brandon Marshall and Martellus Bennett will burn the defenses for it.

But the prescriptions for what happened yesterday are simple, obvious and stated by almost everyone here.
1. Jay has to hone his decision making. It looked like it was trending well before yesterday.
2. The DL has to start showing up.
3. Special teams coverage has to improve.

I just wish that we could play only 4th quarters. Jay Cutler would be a Hall of Famer if it weren't for those inconvenient first three quarters. I'm sure some of that is play call adjustments... not all Jay. But still. Its a good quarter to be good in.

[chitownsports4ever]

jay is 30 years old and has been making the same bad decisions his entire time in Chicago . hes clearly proven throughout his time here that he cannot manage a game and cant get out of his teams way hes playing poorly.

What I see is a qb who is given options but makes up his mind where he is going with the ball before he even gets to the line .

We are at the point now where we needs to stop acting as though hes a 24 yr old QB and start developing gameplans to mask his flaws because we have no alternatives . id start scaling back some of the passing offense and run more with Forte and Bush and those big wideouts

[bearadonisdna]

jay is 30 years old and has been making the same bad decisions his entire time in Chicago . hes clearly proven throughout his time here that he cannot manage a game and cant get out of his teams way hes playing poorly.

What I see is a qb who is given options but makes up his mind where he is going with the ball before he even gets to the line .

We are at the point now where we needs to stop acting as though hes a 24 yr old QB and start developing gameplans to mask his flaws because we have no alternatives . id start scaling back some of the passing offense and run more with Forte and Bush and those big wideouts

To be fair to jay he hasnt had real protection. He had to deal with Jwebb for multiple seasons. He had to deal with K.Davis in the protection game and the passing game. He had to deal with Tice who after the fact seemed to know very little about offense.
Before Marshall came around who was his number 1 WR? Earl B? Devin Hester? It might have been Johnny Knox but Johnny is probably not more than a number two league wide.

[chitownsports4ever]

jay is 30 years old and has been making the same bad decisions his entire time in Chicago . hes clearly proven throughout his time here that he cannot manage a game and cant get out of his teams way hes playing poorly.

What I see is a qb who is given options but makes up his mind where he is going with the ball before he even gets to the line .

We are at the point now where we needs to stop acting as though hes a 24 yr old QB and start developing gameplans to mask his flaws because we have no alternatives . id start scaling back some of the passing offense and run more with Forte and Bush and those big wideouts

To be fair to jay he hasnt had real protection. He had to deal with Jwebb for multiple seasons. He had to deal with K.Davis in the protection game and the passing game. He had to deal with Tice who after the fact seemed to know very little about offense.
Before Marshall came around who was his number 1 WR? Earl B? Devin Hester? It might have been Johnny Knox but Johnny is probably not more than a number two league wide.

What happened last game has nothing to do with protection he simply doesnt make good decisions with the football and for the last 4 years people have blamed it on the problem of protection but its time to move past that and start limiting his responsibility.

The more we improve his surroundings the better he should be playing but he is still doing the same things he did 4 years ago. We are 4 games in and he has 8 turnovers

[bearadonisdna]

jay is 30 years old and has been making the same bad decisions his entire time in Chicago . hes clearly proven throughout his time here that he cannot manage a game and cant get out of his teams way hes playing poorly.

What I see is a qb who is given options but makes up his mind where he is going with the ball before he even gets to the line .

We are at the point now where we needs to stop acting as though hes a 24 yr old QB and start developing gameplans to mask his flaws because we have no alternatives . id start scaling back some of the passing offense and run more with Forte and Bush and those big wideouts

To be fair to jay he hasnt had real protection. He had to deal with Jwebb for multiple seasons. He had to deal with K.Davis in the protection game and the passing game. He had to deal with Tice who after the fact seemed to know very little about offense.
Before Marshall came around who was his number 1 WR? Earl B? Devin Hester? It might have been Johnny Knox but Johnny is probably not more than a number two league wide.

What happened last game has nothing to do with protection he simply doesnt make good decisions with the football and for the last 4 years people have blamed it on the problem of protection but its time to move past that and start limiting his responsibility.

The more we improve his surroundings the better he should be playing but he is still doing the same things he did 4 years ago. We are 4 games in and he has 8 turnovers

That is a damning stat but bear in mind half of those turnovers came in this last game.

[chitownsports4ever]

To be fair to jay he hasnt had real protection. He had to deal with Jwebb for multiple seasons. He had to deal with K.Davis in the protection game and the passing game. He had to deal with Tice who after the fact seemed to know very little about offense.
Before Marshall came around who was his number 1 WR? Earl B? Devin Hester? It might have been Johnny Knox but Johnny is probably not more than a number two league wide.

What happened last game has nothing to do with protection he simply doesnt make good decisions with the football and for the last 4 years people have blamed it on the problem of protection but its time to move past that and start limiting his responsibility.

The more we improve his surroundings the better he should be playing but he is still doing the same things he did 4 years ago. We are 4 games in and he has 8 turnovers

That is a damning stat but bear in mind (no pun intended) half of those turnovers came in this last game.

I would totally give him the benefit of the doubt if he hadnt played nearly 60 games in his Bears career and already has nearly twenty games with 2 or more to's .

We cant bench him and there is no one to replace possibly even next year but weve got to lower our expectations of him and adjust the gameplan accordingly.

[bearadonisdna]

How is it impossible? Its the same system as last year

I agree. The players need to perform better.

It sounds bad to say, but I think Meltons injury and Nate Collins addition could be a blessing in disguise for the pass rush. Peppers should also be in better game shape coming into week 4. He did play better last week against a good Steelers defense so it's a good sign.

So now we know its not a blessing in disguise.

[bearadonisdna]

What happened last game has nothing to do with protection he simply doesnt make good decisions with the football and for the last 4 years people have blamed it on the problem of protection but its time to move past that and start limiting his responsibility.

The more we improve his surroundings the better he should be playing but he is still doing the same things he did 4 years ago. We are 4 games in and he has 8 turnovers

That is a damning stat but bear in mind (no pun intended) half of those turnovers came in this last game.

I would totally give him the benefit of the doubt if he hadnt played nearly 60 games in his Bears career and already has nearly twenty games with 2 or more to's .

We cant bench him and there is no one to replace possibly even next year but weve got to lower our expectations of him and adjust the gameplan accordingly.

Benching Jay assuredly is a non-option. Scaling back his responsibilities sure. But after giving up 30 by the half, who else is gonna take the responsibility of throwing the ball right? Jay is dealing with the congruent number of coordinators as he has had years with the bears. Thats kinda sad.
And its not like ur proposing a gameplan that we havent already seen since we had Jay. getting off the bus running but its been proven our running game cant sustain that responsibility in heavy doses.

[bearadonisdna]

Honestly despite our bad loss this week im still excited about this offense as much as almost any bears offense in recent bear history. Low and behold the Bears actually outgained the lions. So despite the hiccups i have faith in them and a posititve outlook for the offense. Key word offense.