Now before I get off on a rant about Cutler let me first address the Bears. Last year the Bears had a solid run to the NFC championship game with little to no respect from the national media. Every outlet from ESPN to NFL network where down on the Bears. The Bears beat some good teams and every time this occurred the other team beat themselves or there was some sort of break that went the Bears way. When they lost, like they did to New England it was what they where... A bad team. Well the last time I checked bad teams do not win 10 games and go on to the NFC championship game
If you look at the Packers run to winning the Super Bowl last season and the amazing stats put up by their starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Against Atlanta (the number one seed) Rodgers threw for 366 yards and 3 TD's while also scoring a running TD for good messure. His passer rating in that game 136.8
Against Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl Rodgers put up 304 yards 3 TD's and no interceptions and a 111.5 Quarterback rating. In his playoff run he completed 68.2% of his passes with 9 TD's and 2 INT's and a quarterback rating of 109.8
In the NFC championship Rodgers threw for 244 yards with 0 TD's and 2 INT's one in the red zone for a 81.1 QB rating. Hardly all pro numbers.
Now if the Bears are so bad why did the nearly beat the Superbowl champions without the aid of their starting QB?
This leads me to my next point: Jay Cutler.
Since his arrival in Chicago Cutler has been under more scrutiny then anyone I can remember in recent years. Now I get why the media has a bad taste in their mouths when it comes to Cutler. He is not a sound bite guy and generally appears to be annoyed when it comes to his dealings with the media. With that being said I always thought the media's job was to give an unbiased opinion. Personal feelings should not go into whatever piece you are writing or when you are reporting on something. The best I can figure this rule does not apply to Cutler.
When Peyton Manning or Tom Brady yell or show dis-aprovel of his teammates he is called a fiery competitor. When Jay Cutler does it he is a bad teammate or a cry baby. This is a load of crap. With full disclosure I realize that Cutler has yet to accomplish some of the things that these others I have mentioned has it does not make him any less of a competitor. The whole deal with his body language drives me up a wall. Take any quarterback playing today and put him on the Bears and lets see how they react. I love the Bears and always want them to do well but if you look at what Cutler has compared to a Brady, Manning or Rodgers and it is not on the same level. I would bet that anyone of these men I mention would have similar if not more harsh reactions if they where in the same situation.
Now by contrast an interesting thing happened a few weeks back when the Bears faced the Lions. The Monday night football crew rained praise after praise on Cutler. A funny thing happened the week that followed. The Cutler bashing came to a screeching halt.
All you heard about was his gutsy performance and how it was his best game as a Bear or maybe even of his Career. I have watched every game Cutler has played in a Bears uniform and have seen him continually get the snot beat out of him and always get back up. All the questions about his toughness are unfounded. If you watch how each and every game no matter how many times he is hit or sacked how he gets up and continues to compete you would never question the man's desire to win or his toughness. So now that I have gotten off my soap box all there is left is to say BEAR DOWN! Let me know what you think.
No comments:
Post a Comment