Tag: Jay Cutler (Page 15 of 32)

Cutler fined $20 K for abusing official

Per ESPN…

Cutler was fined as a result of verbal abuse toward the back judge, which drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the Bears’ 41-21 loss to the Cardinals. The Bears (4-5) have lost four of their past five games.

Yep, this fine is from the Bears’ frustrating loss on Sunday, not the Bears’ frustrating loss last night. (You know, the one where Cutler threw five picks.)

As a Green Bay fan, the only good thing about this season is that the Bears are struggling just as much as the Packers are. Cutler was supposed to lead Chicago to the promised land, but he’s led them to four losses in the last five games. With Philly and Minnesota up next, there’s a good chance the Bears will be 4-7 heading into Week 13.


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Are the Bears done?

With their 10-6 loss to the 49ers in San Francisco on Thursday night, the Bears may have sealed their fate this season.

At 4-5, the Bears would almost have to run the table to make the playoffs this year, a task that seems impossible with teams like the Eagles, Vikings (twice) and the Ravens on their second half schedule.

With their loss last night, the Bears are now 2-4 in the conference, with losses to the Packers, Falcons, Cardinals and 49ers – teams they’re currently battling in the Wild Card race. A loss to the Eagles next week would be a final blow to a team that has been stumbling backwards for weeks.

Of course, breaking down their record and looking ahead at their schedule are two minute problems considering they can’t run the football, Jay Cutler is an utter disaster in the red zone and the team has little to no fight in them. One would have thought that with their backs pressed firmly against the wall, Lovie Smith’s squad would have came out with more passion and emotion last night (especially after they were blown out at home last week by Arizona). Instead, they made mistake after mistake and failed to cash in on the multiple opportunities that were awarded to them by the 49ers.

The Bears essentially had one chance to turn their season around and last night was it. If they can’t beat teams like the 49ers, Falcons or Cardinals, how are they going to beat the Vikings twice or an Eagles team that is hungry coming off a loss? It might be safe to stick a fork in Da Bears, because they’re officially done.


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Jay Cutler + Red Zone = Disaster

When Chicago acquired Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos this offseason, it was all Bear fans could do from booking their plane tickets to Miami. They figured that since they finally had a franchise quarterback under center and that the offensive line had improved, there’s no way Da Bears wouldn’t challenge for a Super Bowl berth.

Then the games actually started and now they’re starting to realize that there’s a reason why the Broncos never got to the playoffs with Cutler as their quarterback.

Cutler threw a mind-boggling five interceptions in the Bears’ 10-6 loss to the 49ers on Thursday night. Not all of those picks were his fault, as Devin Hester fell down on one pass, the ref got in the way on another and San Francisco safety Mark Roman may have gotten away with interference on yet another.

But that doesn’t excuse Cutler for throwing two horrendous interceptions in the red zone – an area in which he continues to struggle this season – to kill drives. It’s almost like whenever Chicago reaches that spot of the field, Cutler breaks out into a cold sweat and forgets how to play. He’s so deathly afraid of the red zone that Lovie Smith might as well trot kicker Robbie Gould onto the field and take three points because there’s a good chance Cutler is going to throw a pick.

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Bears won’t fire Lovie Smith

Following their embarrassing 41-21 loss to the Cardinals at Solider Field last Sunday (which came just three weeks after an embarrassing 45-10 loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati), many Chicago fans were screaming from their rooftops for the Bears to fire head coach Lovie Smith.

But it isn’t going to happen – not this season, not next season.

After taking the Bears to the Super Bowl three years ago, Chicago signed Smith to a contract extension through 2011. It made sense at the top because Smith was one of the lowest paid head coaches in the NFL and if a team has a coach that can get them to the Super Bowl, it’s wise to lock them up long-term.

But three seasons later the Bears appear to be regressing and not progressing. The offseason acquisition of quarterback Jay Cutler was supposed to get this team closer to the Super Bowl, not third place in the overrated NFC North.

Granted, Smith has had to deal with injuries at the linebacker position and while the team has tried to motivate him, Tommie Harris almost looks like a lost cause right now. The newcomers on the offensive line haven’t gelled together either and Matt Forte has suffered because of it.

Still, a couple more blowouts and those screams for Smith’s head will get louder. But the fact of the matter is that those screams will fall on deaf ears because Smith isn’t going anywhere. He’s a cheap option for a cheap organization and he’ll be in Chicago until his contract runs out and the Bears can find another head coach that they can throw pennies at.

It certainly looks like a long shot at the moment, but maybe Smith can still get this thing turned around. Tonight would be a great starting point, as Chicago travels to San Francisco to take on a 49ers team that is reeling just as much as Da Bears are. A victory tonight and the Bears will have a winning record, while a loss might all but seal their fate.

Notice how I said “their” fate and not Smith’s.


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The NFC North is the most overrated division in the NFL

Once Brett Favre signed with the Vikings and the Bears acquired Jay Cutler this offseason, pundits couldn’t help but to gush over how good the NFC North Division would be.

But now that nine weeks are in the books, it’s clear that the NFC North is the most overrated division in football.

With Favre under center, the Vikings have been as good as advertised this season. But the Bears were crushed 41-21 at home by the Cardinals on Sunday and the Packers lost 38-28 to the freaking winless Buccaneers and rookie quarterback Josh Freeman, who was making his first career start.

Turnovers killed Green Bay today in Tampa. The Packers managed to rack up 404 yards of total offense, 170 yards on the ground (Ryan Grant was effective) and also held the Bucs to just 81 rushing yards of their own. But Aaron Rodgers was intercepted three times, including once with time ticking down in the fourth to seal Green Bay’s fate. (Tanard Jackson returned the interception 35 yards for a touchdown to put Tampa Bay up for good at 38-28.)

Somehow, the Packers allowed Freeman to throw three touchdown passes without much threat of a running game. Freeman was far from perfect as he threw an interception, struggled with his accuracy and fumbled a snap (which was recovered by Tampa). But he was solid in the second half, showed nice poise for being a rookie and bought extra time for himself while scrambling out of trouble. Head coach Raheem Morris said his rookie signal caller was ready to play coming into the game and it showed.

The Packers still haven’t beaten a team with a winning record this season. I’ll be the first to admit that I was wrong when I said in the preseason that they were Super Bowl contenders. They haven’t been able to overcome the injuries on the offensive line and the defense has been inconsistent. Rodgers wasn’t great today, but for the most part he has kept his team in games on his own by buying himself extra time to find open receivers.

Green Bay’s schedule is tougher in the second half than it was in the first. This is an 8-8 team at best and so are the Bears (if that). That’s not exactly what most pundits had in mind when they were talking up the NFC North in preseason.

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