As last night's odd showing against the San Diego Chargers proved to the Chicago Bears and new Head Coach Mark Trestman, this whole thing is only gonna end one way.
Yes, the Bears prevailed on the scoreboard at the end of the night, though barely so, and how that happened was hard to understand after a myriad of Charger turnovers seemed to stake Treatman's troops to a lead thought insurmountable. But these games aren't about the final score, nor are they really about the stats either. They're about progress, or lack thereof.
Therefore, throw out the curious 98.6 passer rating generated by "franchise"-QB "Oh" Jay Cutler, and the eighty percent completion percentage. For Cutler, the more things change, the more they stay the same, and it must be apparent now to Trestman and Bears GM Phil Emery "Bored," both of whom have proven swftly decisive in their decision making, that Jay Cutler is, to paraphrase Dennis Green, is exactly what we thought he was.
That being an interesting football specimen with all the physical tools that would appear to be necessary to be an upper echelon quarterback in the NFL, sans unfortunately the most important ones - savvy, guts, and a willingness to learn.
Cutler's four completed passes - and five targets - all to best buddy Brandon Marshall "Tucker Band" were a sad display that confirmed ol' Jay has neither the patience nor the inclination to learn the guru Trestman's new system and operate within it. No, just like Cutler's kafkaesque rejection of "Meathead" Mike Tice's pi55-poor offensive system that saw him block out everyone on the field except Marshall last year, he appears to have decided once again - as of course everyone says he always does - to do it his own way.
Even Cutler's touchdown pass was an ill-advised throw to Marshall. But worse than that one was the interception he lofted Marshall's way through double-coverage. Throw in two sacks on the first three plays, both of which were due to Mr. Cavalliere holding onto the ball too long (another ill the Trestman offense is designed to eliminate that Cutler won't embrace), and you have nothing more than another fake-it-till-it-looks-close-enough-for-the-apologists-to-say-you're-making-it performance by the ertswhile underachiever.
Of course, this is how it has to be with Cutler. He is a coach-killer, having cost even his handpicked quarterback coach Jeremy Miller his job last year, not to mention of course a host of others over the last near-decade. He is 30 years old, halfway through camp, and still doesn't know enough of Trestman's offense - a relatively simple West Coast offense dressed up with fancy terminolgy - to avoid the same old sacks and interceptions that have plagued him his whole career. He will never learn.
Frankly, though the shoopster had an inkling this was all Jay Cutler was ever going to be, the crashing down to Earth has been swift and shocking to even he (or, as Packfan may prefer after comparing the shoopster in another thread and perhaps properly so to Christ, "He"). No, the shoopster thought Jay Cutler, as deliberately perverse as he is, would at least make things interesting. You know - come out, have a pretty good preseason, start the season off strong, then struggle a bit mid-season before rallying at the end of the season to fall just short of respectability - say, 7-and-9 - and make Emery's decision on what to do with him in the offseason all the more difficult. But it doesn't look like Cutler's even got the moxie left to mess with his detractors anymore, though; his preseason - as well as his minicamp - as been startlingly lackluster. Last night's Chargers game showed it's not even the beginning of the end anymore; but rather the end of the beginning.
And so it goes for Cutler. Matt Blanchard - despite the injury - suddenly looms as the quarterback of the future. And Josh McC(l)own, unbelievably, doesn't seem like a bad watch come football Sunday if Cutler goes down, as of course he will because he continues to hold onto the ball until someone offers to dislodge him from it. And thus does the shoopster break it down . . .
. . . Cutler's sad showing bogged down the offense enough to overshadow a strong start from Matt "Don't Call Me Fort, or Forty, For That Matter" Forte, who ran with the abandon that seemed to elude him the last two years. Later, Michael Bush"whacker" showed toughness and fortitude running through also-rans. Their one-two punch convinced Trestman to suspend his passing offense and rely on the run, which of course warms the hearts of meatball Bear fans everywhere who still believe the Bears could run their way to the championship the way our fellow poster Mr. Wade "led" them to the promised land in 1963. Two problems though - one, this isn't 1963, and two, Trestman didn't come here to hand the ball off. The fact that he was forced to do so by Cutler's ineptitude is another indictment against Cutler that Trestman won't be able to overlook for long . . .
. . . Indeed, it was the run game, along with special teams and defense, that won this game for the Bears. Can the defense turn in one last turnover-prodding effort this year? Though few thought so, they seemed intent on proving otherwise last night. Is Jay willing to let them carry his sorry a-fifty-five again this year? Sure seems like it . . .
. . . On Special Teams, "Dumb" Devin Hester didn't run backward, and that's an improvement. He also sat stoically on the sideline as Michael Ford "lTD" showed the kind of return game Hester only dreams about now. Ford also ran effectively out of the backfield in the second half, albeit against stiffs, but may have proven himself a sufficient enough double-threat to make Hester the one-trick-pony expendable. the shoopster wouldn't mind . . .
. . . Above all, though, it was refreshing to see something the shoopster hasn't seen in it seems like decades from the Bears - rookies on the field, contributing, showing more than isolated flashes but consistent streaks of professional football ability. Kyle "Not For" Long is obviously starting material, wherever the coaching staff decides to put him. Blanchard himself looked like a solid professional, not a skittish rookie, before getting hurt. And Jon Bostic has shown in two games the type of speed and power that ingrate Brian "Hollywood" Urlacher last offered in 2005 or so. Emery was spot on in jettisoning the politicking, divisive Urlacher, though his bonus baby of last year's draft, Shea Mc(Sm)ellin, remains a bust in the shoopster's eyes until he busts out, if he ever does . . .
. . . So it's out with the old for the Bears, and in with the new. And though of course that's what we all expected of Marc "Not a Breastman" Trestman's first season with the Bears, who knew so quickly that Jay Cutler would find himself on the wrong side of history? Outside of the shoopster, that is, and, probably deep down, Jay himself . . .