Jenksismyhero

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 12:43 PM) The Bears will not win a lot of games if they average 20 points and they scored 20 points against a team that had a solid but not spectacular defense a year ago. They scored only 20 in no small part because of 3 turnovers. Oh but guys got hurt and Marshall fumbled and Conte sucks and blah blah blah. So many f'n excuses for this guy.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 12:36 PM) With the defense and ST the Bears have, they need an explosive offense. How many NFL teams have explosive offenses with a mediocre "won't lose but can't win the game" QB's? Look, Cutler is clearly the higher ceiling guy. No doubt about that. He can make throws that McCown can't make. No one's arguing that. But over a season, while he'll make some spectacular plays, he'll also makes some incredibly stupid ones. Stupid ones that McCown didn't make, even in those 5 games. I think 5 games is a decent sample size. It's not the 1st game where the other team didn't prepare film on the guy. You have two of the best WR's in the game, one of the best RB's in the game, and a very good TE and o-line. You cannot have a QB that makes stupid, moronic mistakes. Those interceptions Sunday reminded me of his first few years here when he lead the league in red zone INT. He was forcing it. And he's always been that way. And you just don't need to do that with the weapons he has. You all can hope he works that out, but that's his style of play, he's never stopped doing that, he didn't last year even with this offense, so why do we think it'll change? Also, when was the last time Cutler won a really big meaningful game? He's been destroyed by nearly every favorite he's ever played against. Green Bay has owned him. San Fran is going to destroy us this weekend. His one playoff victory came against a team with a losing record. Do you EVER feel confident the Bears are going to go on the road as a legit underdog and win? I don't.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 12:30 PM) Dude had one of the best QB ratings in the 4th quarter last year and again this year led us on a comeback drive. Unfortunately it wasn't enough. I'm all for evaluating Cutler but he basically had crap to work with his first few years in Chicago. This is the year he deserves whatever happens. I won't base everything on the W/L record though because, quite frankly, we have a crap defense and a crap special teams that our team may not overcome. However, I expect our offense to be very good and put up a lot of points and Jay to have a huge year. This game did nothing to make me think that won't be the case. How can you ignore that 2 of his decisions LOST the Bears the game? That pick to the nose tackle was inexcusable for a guy in his 8-9th year in the league.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 12:23 PM) Has anyone said that there is a real distinct chance that McCown's year that year was a fluke and wouldn't have been duplicated even if he was with the Bears again? In a full season McCown isn't going to be the best QB in the league and have the run that he did. But I think he'd be just as good as Cutler in terms of winning games. McCown never LOST games with his play. He might not WIN them either. But with the weapons the Bears have, I dunno that a QB really needs to. Just be smart with the ball and let your play makers make the plays.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 12:20 PM) don't draw strong conclusions from small sample sizes? 5 seasons isn't a small sample size. And 6 games for McCown and 10 games for Cutler isn't insignificant either when you're comparing how the two played in the same offense. The fact that McCown could come off the street and dominate but Cutler didn't is pretty telling. And the fact that people keep giving him excuses is bordering on pathetic these days.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 12:02 PM) Flacco and Manning are exactly the hope with Cutler. Flacco had a perfect playoffs the year the Ravens won the SB. But Flacco hasn't done anything much of note before or since. In '06, sure, you could say a QB like Cutler might hurt your chances of winning some games because the defense was dominant. Now? With this roster? The Bears best chance at winning the SB is Cutler catching fire for 4 games in the playoffs like Flacco did in '13. Edit to address your edit: Cutler missed a bunch of games last year and we're one game into this season. Throwing out the game Jay got hurt last year and the game he came back (for rust purposes), it's a 10 game sample size with Trestman. If Cutler scuffles all year and the Bears are 7-9, then you have your answer. Draft a guy this year to groom to take over for Jay in two years... You had a high school football coach come in off the street and perform 10 times better than Cutler ever did last year, with the same team. What does that tell you?

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 11:44 AM) Did you just describe Cutler's first 4 years in Chicago? Jay is an objectively better QB than McCown. In the history of the NFL, has there ever been a great "system" QB? A guy that flopped everywhere else who became great simply because the coach was a QB whisperer? The simple fact is that, flaws and all (and those have been discussed ad nauseum), Jay Cutler provides the Bears with the best opportunity to win now. Brad Johnson would be your golden boy. Rich Gannon maybe. But yeah, there aren't too many. Still, there are plenty of QB's who have won SB's being game managers and/or allowing the talent around them to do the work. Flacco, Eli, Dilfer, etc. The question is whether Cutler gives you THAT much more of an opportunity to win. I don't think so. Because he f***s up games as often as he wins them. edit: also, all of those issues have been rectified, and Cutler is still Cutler so... if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's a f***ing duck.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 10:59 AM) McCown looks pretty lost in TB, to be fair. Just threw the ball up for grabs a few times last week and got burned. Did it last year and luckily did not get burned much. 1) atrocious o-line there 2) little to no weapons 3) lovie smith Also, while he looked terrible for 3 quarters, he looked much better in the 4th.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 11:04 AM) This is the entire point. A marginal to bad QB like McCown could succeed in the Bears offense because he simply didnt make horrible decisions. When in doubt hed throw the ball in a place where at worst it was an incomplete pass and sometimes his ultra talented WR's would bail him out. Im pretty sure that no one thinks McCown can throw better than Cutler or has the same talent as Cutler. (edit) And I hope Im wrong. Cutler can easily fix himself if he wants. First he needs to work on his footwork. Second he needs to make better decisions. Those arent impossible, its just frustrating that he doesnt seem to ever take that leap. Because if he does, he could easily be a top 5 qb. I say again. Nope. It's year 6. We've been saying this every year, and i'm sure Denver fans were saying the same thing. If he hasn't changed by now, he's not going to.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 10:05 AM) If Groce doesn't land Brunson, Evans or convince Murray to reclassify to 2015 and get him, there really won't be any reason other than blind hope to believe Groce will be able to win big at Illinois. I think that's a little unrealistic. He's going for broke, which is fine, but he's also grabbing good, solid, 4 year guys too. Illinois has never been "in" on so many top level recruits before, even if he doesn't land one. The program itself is getting deeper and better. He made the tournament and won a game in his first year (first tourney win in 7 seasons). Last year he had I think the youngest team in the big ten, playing 2 freshman significant minutes. If we're in the same position in 2016 - bubble team, no impact recruits - then I might agree with you. But not going into year 3.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 09:28 AM) The problem is those teams sit around 7-9 to the 10-6 range and get bounced in the playoffs or just miss them. These guys are death to a team becasue of the salary cap because they can not beat the good teams. Bingo.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 9, 2014 -> 08:18 PM) Jay is substantially better than "tall Rex Grossman." He's just not at the Rodgers-Manning level. Better, yes, because he's taller and he's had much better weapons. But significantly better? Not really. Cutler throws at a better clip (low 60%'s versus mid 50%'s). TD/INT ratio is about the same (usually a handful of TD's more than INT's). Cutler's QB ratings are mid 80's. Grossman was 74 (in 16 games) and 67 (in 8). The most important stat - winning - is also about the same. You can chalk that up to great defense v. bad defense (although the defense was still good when Cutler first got here), but at the end of the day to be a good to great QB you need to win despite your team sometimes and neither of them did that. I'm not saying he's on the exact same level, but he's a marginally improved Grossman who happens to be taller, which gives him a few advantages. What kills me is McCown last year. I mean, he had the best stretch of 5 games for a QB last year. And you know why? 1 turnover. And he didn't key in on Marshall every throw. Jay is terrible at doing both. And they'll continue to be a mediocre, average team because of it. And we can all hope that changes, but I dunno why we think it will. Oh, Jay's a different guy this year. He's more comfortable. He's being more of a leader. Yank yank. Serious question. This offense with Kyle Orton. Better or worse than Cutler? Orton was basically the same as Cutler his last 2 years starting for Denver stat-wise. Could he have game managed the team into the playoffs last year? I think so. Like McCown last year, Orton would have managed the game and not turned the ball over. Orton isn't going to Andrew Luck it and let you come back from 3 TD's down with a quarter to go. But he would have put points on the board. He would have controlled the clock. And while not having the higher ceiling that Jay has, I don't think he has the low either. And i'm not saying that the trade was a terrible move. You still make that move every day of the week. The ceiling was high for Jay a few years ago. But i think we've hit his ceiling now, and it's nowhere near as high as we all thought it would be.

Again, as would/does the fringe of nearly every fan base. Spurned lover response. I'm not going to freak out if he doesn't come here. I'll freak out he chooses Nova and Evans chooses OK State. That'll set Illinois back, yet again. And I think we lose out on Bragg. Get one of these PG's and Bragg is still a legit possibility. Brunson/Evans, Bragg, Williams and Jordan is a top ten class. Thomas would still be a possibility too.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 05:55 AM) There was lots of buzz with Cliff, Demetrius Jackson, etc. Illinois Loyalty is garbage. People post great links, but "any buzz" is pretty much BS. Posters there are sheep. 4-5 guys (prob the owner of the site) are supposed insiders and everything they say is taken as gospel. When they're wrong they chalk it up to a last minute, unexpected change. It's pathetic really. Just wait and find out today at 430.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 9, 2014 -> 04:59 PM) Too late for that now... It is, but people need to stop with "well if he..." He won't. He can't. He's not good enough. The dude is a taller Rex Grossman - absolute cannon for an arm but poor game IQ. Makes horrendous throws routinely. Wasn't good enough when the defense was great, and is definitely not good enough when the defense is mediocre. If we're going to wish for something, let's wish the defense and special teams start scoring TD's.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Sep 9, 2014 -> 04:55 PM) Throw Me the Damn Ball.....that is about all you need to know about receivers. They are always open. Cutler has his good days and his bad days. Hopefully the good out weigh the bad..... He is paid to win games not to manage games or lose games. It's year 6 folks. He's not good enough. Period.

Can we stop with the /shrugs? It's getting old. /sighs

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 9, 2014 -> 03:04 PM) I'm not saying it's better, I'm just saying that is my personal preference. I am assuming you will allow me that pleasure, at the least Hell no!

Brunson/Evans were probably guaranteed the starting job anyway.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Sep 9, 2014 -> 03:36 PM) You would have to investigate the depths to which the Hope Solo case could be compared to this. Good point.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 9, 2014 -> 03:27 PM) This wasn't a fight, though. Even a sucker punch is not getting you a lot of jail time in most cases for a first time offender. Unless it was that knock out game, but I think most of those sentences were higher because they changed some laws.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 9, 2014 -> 03:23 PM) You really don't get away with knocking someone out in public. Especially when there is video of the entire thing, and your victim is willing to press charges. Rice would have been looking at several years in prison. Probably wouldn't have got it, but he would have received some time, and it would have cost him a lot of money. Lol, no man. Not at all. Drunken bar fights happen nightly and people RARELY spend any time in jail for it. edit: other than the drunk tank anyway.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 9, 2014 -> 03:22 PM) If he had knocked out some random guy or girl in the elevator, I'm not sure that the prosecutors let him slide with a treatment program instead of going for 3rd degree aggravated assault like they originally charged. It ends up being an assault charge that takes a year to get to a trial (if he doesn't get a plea deal), for which he spends a night in jail, probably pays a big fine and gets some community service and probation. I'm sure a civil suit gets filed and he pays the guy to go away. There's a zero percent chance that, as a first time offender in the league, he's suspended for a game or cut from the team. Zero chance.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 9, 2014 -> 03:17 PM) He certainly committed a crime. Whether he gets convicted of said crime is another story, but I think he would have a hard time getting out of this one. But if I am a good person and for some reason my neighbor cranking Boy George at 1 in the morning bothers me so I go over and stab him to death, instead of putting me in jail, I should go to some classes to work on my behavior? If not, what is the cutoff? To me if this was a one time isolated incident, I would have figured, he would have come to his senses after he knocked her out, but yet he dragged her by her hair out of the elevator. If he is capable of doing that, why wouldn't he be capable of doing it again to anyone and why shouldn't he be considered a menace? Did that really happen? It's been a while since I saw the video. I thought he picked her up by the waist and then arms trying to get her out of the elevator. He was trying to cover his ass and get her back to the room, not be all neanderthal about it.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 9, 2014 -> 03:08 PM) If Rice had hit another guy, he certainly would have gone to jail, probably would have been sued, and perhaps unavailable to the Ravens this year anyway. I do agree, the outrage wouldn't have been the same, but Rice may have ultimately wound up worse than he is now. But read about abuse. This stuff is not made up. There is a pattern that develops, and Rice seems well into that pattern. Worse in the sense that he might have gone to jail for a night, but there's no way in hell he's losing his career. These guys punch each other in games with no fines or suspensions.