StrangeSox

QUOTE (Jake @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 08:16 PM) All of those excuses were true -- that's why they were/are convincing excuses. The lines were pretty bad, the coaching was questionable, and this year's defense is really f***ing bad. It devolved into a thing that may be one of the worst defenses in recent NFL history. There indeed was a time where Earl Bennett was a breath of fresh air as our best WR, which was emblematic of the crap we ran out there at that position. Unfortunately, Jay has never played past those things. This has easily been Jay's best year as a Bear, as it should have been with literally everything going for him. He has the best WR tandem in football, an easy top 5 RB, a revamped line, a true weapon at TE, and a brilliant offensive coordinator. We usually lose because of the defense. McCown was important this year. He showed how simply being semi-accurate, tough, and on top of the mental side of the offense was enough to guide such a talented team to some great offensive production. Maybe it wouldn't overcome the defense, but what do you expect with a journeyman QB? Cutler can do all kinds of stuff that McCown can't and often does those things, but the mental side of Cutler's game looks like a rookie's up against McCown's with all this talent around. If I'm going to go with the expensive QB, I want it to be the guy that at least sometimes will overcome this adversity. Any ol' McCown off the street can win the games the opposing team gives to you. If we're going to go for the big name, big paycheck guy, what I want is a guy who has some history of being so good that he often overcomes all the other bulls***. Today's game could easily, in a vacuum, look like an accumulation of luck for Aaron Rodgers. Over time, though, it seems rather expectable that things would go the way of Aaron Rodgers because he is great and it just doesn't matter that his defenses and offensive lines usually suck. This is a good post.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 08:01 PM) Let's not forget too that another franchise was willing to trade the guy, despite his elite talent. You realize you're trying to enlist the wisdom of Josh McDaniels in favor of your own argument? Edit realize several other people pointed this out already

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 07:58 PM) Great, so your statement was stupid and your repeated arguments in support were equally stupid. I agree. Even if you had couched that though I still would not have agreed. That's a simple, basic football play. 8th graders learn to never give up on a play until the whistle blows. You don't have to have a culture of getting after the ball to know that as a professional football player. My statement was fine for everyone else, including multiple people who said the same thing. I'm sorry you don't think coaching matters and are so bad at watching a football game that you can't see the difference between how they played under lovie. Edit; to expand a bit, do you think coaching makes no difference between for player discipline, unsportsmanlike penalties, pre-snap penalties, you know since they're taught from the age of 12 not to commit penalties so coaching couldn't possibly matter there.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 07:41 PM) how else do you interpret this sentence? Probably not as a literal statement of fact since its a counterfactual, but if that's all that is driving your silly posts on that topic I'll admit to being imprecise in my wording on that post.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 07:48 PM) Like what exactly? What have we said that's so unreasonable? We want someone who can beat the Packers? Yep, that's all you've said, point conceded, how dumb of us.

QUOTE (Jake @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 07:36 PM) You folks should have watched postgame press conference as Jay detailed exactly how he deserves as much or blame as anybody for why the Jeffery pass wasn't caught. He said outright that he threw it in the wrong place and made it much harder than it should have been. People act like I'm crazy for expecting excellence from a Chicago QB but we're eager to assume Jeffery makes an unbelievable catch like that would have been. A good leader assumes responsibility. Jay is usually not that great a leader but that shows maturity. It would have been a good catch, but not unbelievable. Something any top-tier wr should make when it hits him square in the hands. Nobody is saying it's crazy to expect and want excellence. Far from it. It's all of the other things you're saying regarding Cutler that seem pretty heavily biased.

Weren't jenks and Jake making a bunch of excuses for when mccown only put up 20 against a terrible Vikings team?

QUOTE (Jake @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 07:29 PM) Jim Miller said it best - "Jay Cutler didn't play badly. But was it great? No it wasn't." There is a matter of expectations here. Jenks and I are expecting greatness. We traded two first round draft picks for greatness. We've been paying him 10 million dollars per year for greatness. We are apparently considering giving him a 50% raise for greatness. It isn't what we're getting. We're getting the same old inconsistency. Too many possessions just given away by poor throws and decisions. In the game and drive where it mattered most, we came up empty. On non-QB matters, this is something to think about: it wouldn't be difficult to flip into a 3-4 scheme in this offseason. Think about the players under contract/we would want to bring back: all 3 corners (not that all three will come back, but that we would want them all), Briggs under contract, and then you have McClellin and Bostic as key cogs on rookie contracts, and then Ratliff/Wootton as some DL we'd probably like to bring back. All of these guys fit in 3-4. I would love Bostic-Briggs as the ILB. You have McClellin as rushing OLB. Corners are good to go. You need new safeties regardless. Ratliff made his name in the middle of a 3-4 line and Wootton is that perfect mixture of DT/DE to fit as a down lineman in a 3-4. Heck, even our 6th round pick Cornelius Washington would look a lot better as a rushing OLB (look at that guy's combine stats, good gracious). Also, Mel Tucker is a rare breed that has coordinated both 4-3 and 3-4 in the NFL. Our scheme today featured McClellin standing up almost the entire time BTW. With the amount of turnover we expect on D and the personnel that are going to stay, this would be the time to change if Emery and/or Trestman really want to do it. In the game and drive where it mattered most, Cutler made a good throw that should have been caught for a first down. That is why people think you're saying silly things.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 07:29 PM) I never said it doesn't matter, i'm saying it's not a direct cause. It's f***ing moronic to say a Lovie coached team wouldn't FOR A FACT make a simple mistake when Lovie coached teams made mistakes all the time. You're making Lovie out to be this f***ing perfect defensive coach when he was not. He was very good. He was one of the best at getting turnovers. He didn't make every perfect play ever presented to him just because he created a culture of ball hawking defense. Nobody is saying any of those dumb things, maybe that's why you're making silly arguments in response.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 07:24 PM) For the fiftieth time, why are we giving a pass to the players WHO WERE COACHED BY LOVIE SMITH!!!!! Some of them were, some weren't. Particularly, the guy who should have scooped that up for a TD was not. It's still been a year since he has coached them now and they've been coached by a new staff in the meantime. Do you really think coaching priorities don't make any difference? Or do you just really, really dislike Lovie so much that you can't even stand to see him mentioned positively in a very specific, minor way?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 07:23 PM) As long as they win and make plays when it matters. Bob Griese is the best QB in NFL history, and Kyle Orton was a good QB.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 07:22 PM) I'm sorry, that's just idiotic. Players made mistakes under Lovie too, regardless of the culture that he created for the Bears. Yes, but they really, really did not make that very specific mistake. It seems much more idiotic to essentially say that coaching priorities/focus makes no difference and to assume that a team coached by a guy who constantly drilled "grab every loose ball" into his players' heads would have made a very idiotic mistake on a loose ball.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 07:19 PM) I'm making sure I remember that a QB rating in the 80's is good to you. You can also hold it against the QB if the team gets 115 yards on the ground, but not if they get 160, and which ever QB wins the games clearly played better. I mean, I can't possibly imagine that if the game were a mirror image and Cutler had two interceptions and a fumble and only won thanks to a horrendously blown coverage and a ridiculous play on the fumble, Jenks and Jake would be saying that Cutler clearly outplayed Rodgers.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 07:17 PM) Did you watch the Bears defense when Lovie was here. They'd grab every loose ball even if it was clear that it wasn't a fumble. It almost got annoying. I noticed them doing it again in the second half, I'm sure after getting their asses chewed out.

let's not forget the other things he's said elsewhere, where he makes the implicit hatred of gays very, very explicit. Absolutely no one should be shocked that a man who compares being gay to bestiality and terrorism holds these views. QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 21, 2013 -> 10:59 AM) Oh hey, totally shocked that there's a video of the guy who compared homosexuality to bestiality saying a bunch of other awful things. http://m.nydailynews.com/1.1553737 That's also why nobody should ever buy the "I don't hate gays, but..." bulls***

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 07:05 PM) It's crazy to think 1-8 is not acceptable? Rodgers outplayed cutler because of 9 previous games? Huh, I thought you were making ridiculous claims about the game played today.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 07:05 PM) 160 is a huge step up for this defense. Not sure what you're getting at there. I love how you're pointing to a couple of terrible defensive plays while i'm talking about a career of suck from Cutler when debating what to do with his future. The dude isn't a winner. Plain and simple. He gets good stats against s***ty teams. He sucks against good teams on average. Why do we want to pay this guy franchise QB money when he's not a franchise QB? Oh, he's got an arm. Whoopty f***ing do. He's Jeff George 2.0. You're trying to change the topic to career numbers or future contracts after talking about the game that was just played, wherein you are pretty heavily implying that Cutler is to blame and explicitly claiming that Rodgers outplayed him. When trying to downplay Cutler's performance in this game, you point to Forte's excellent game. When it's pointed out that GB's running backs did even better and maybe Rodgers looks even worse in light of that, you try to wave that away.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 06:59 PM) Stats mean dick if you don't win. How's Cutler done against the best team in the division? The team that needs to be beat every year to get into the playoffs? For all the downplaying you're trying to get out of Forte, you seem to be missing the 160 rushing yards GB picked up today. Or, you know, the ridiculously blown coverage that I'm sure you'd hold against Cutler if one of his TD's came that way.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 06:57 PM) No, that's on the D-coordinator. Lovie wouldn't have let that happen. Papa Bear and Ditka too. Now that the game is over I'll go back to pointing out how dumb this is. Once again, people were only commenting on one very specific play. I really don't know why you can't understand that.

Rodgers made Conte blow that coverage and have a ridiculously wide-open WR on 4th and 8 in a make-or-lose play because He Just Wins, unlike loser Cutler. You'd think that Rodgers, who just makes the plays when they matter, wouldn't have gotten to a make-it-or-go-home fourth down, but it's all just a part of his clever scheme because he's so good. Cutler would probably just hit his receiver in the hands on 3rd down, expecting them to catch it or something. Such inferior play.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 06:54 PM) Terrible analogy. A QB can suck for three quarters and still make the plays to win the game in the 4th. A QB of all positions in basically all of sports has the ability to affect the game the most. Cutler had a more complete game than Rogers. Ok, great (and let's forget Forte's game or Marshall's ridiculous catch). Rogers won the game when it mattered. He made the plays when it mattered. That's all that matters in my book. But continue on Cutler-apologists. It's the WR's. It's the O-line. It's the coach. It's the play calling. It's the defense. It's the blah blah blah. Bottom line, the dude can't beat the Packers. He finally had a good game against the Packers and it still wasn't enough. Dude is not a franchise QB and I'd really hate it if the Bears committed a ton of money to him given the problems with the rest of the roster. That's really all I (and Jake) are saying. If he takes a reasonable sum of money, fine, bring him back. If he's asking for the moon, give him a nice handshake on his way out. You and Jake are saying dumb things about this specific game, not whether Cutler should be extended.

QUOTE (Jake @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 06:50 PM) I wanted Jeffery to make that play, but it was by no means easy and shouldn't have been a back shoulder throw. Where should it have been? It hit him square in the hands, and Jeffery has made way more difficult catches several times this season. It wasn't a guaranteed TD, but it's at least another couple of minutes off the clock and probably three more points. That changes what the Bears have to do even if GB scores. Some people are heavily implying that it's Cutler's fault. Some people are implying even more ridiculous things, like maybe McCown would have won that game. Yeah, probably.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 06:46 PM) Did he make the plays that needed to be made? Did he march his team down the field to a victory while his team was losing? I recall Cutler hitting Jeffrey in the hands on the 20 yard line that would have likely sealed the game, but I guess Jeffery would have caught that pass if it was thrown by someone else?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 06:45 PM) How can anyone say this with a straight face when one guy WON THE f***ING GAME and the other didn't? TWTL! The only stat that matters for a pitcher is the W-L record!~!!

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 06:43 PM) He hit Jeffreys in the hands down near the 20. He dropped it. Do you want him to run down there and catch it as well. Logic embrace it. Seriously. It wasn't an especially easy catch, but it hit him right in the hands. If he catches that, the Bears probably run the clock out a few more minutes and get 3-7 more points and they're on their way to the playoffs right now.