Bear Down Baffa

April 2, 2009 – mark it on your calendars, folks.  It will go down as one of the greatest days in Chicago Bears history.  After decades of question marks, the Bears jumped into the fray and acquired Pro Bowl QB Jay “I’m a Bears Fan” Cutler from the disheveling Denver Broncos.  In doing so, the Bears dropped their drawers and finally exposed what was long thought to be a non-existent scrotal sack.  And in one fell swoop, they became the favorite to win the NFC without taking a single snap on the field.  

So just how big is this acquisition?  We tried several adjectives but nothing seemed to work:  ginormous was an understatement; huge was just inaccurate; and magnanimous was too soft.  So we did what we do best – we broke it down.  Here are the top 10 reasons this unprecedented deal is earth-shattering for the Chicago Bear franchise:

1.  The Bears never make huge acquisitions

If we don’t draft ‘em, we don’t get ‘em.  You could make the same argument for all Chicago sports teams, which makes this an even bigger deal.  But Bear management went out, sat at the negotiating table, pulled out their nutsacks like a big time sports team, and they got their man.  And to ante up two first round picks?  Typically, when Bear GM Jerry Angelo opens his wallet, it makes that slow screetchy “eeehhhhwww” sound, like the opening of a metal-hinged coffin that’s been untouched for centuries.  But he actually out-bid somebody!  That’s what makes this deal so perplexing.  NOBODY in Chicago expected something like this to happen.  EVER.

2.  The Bears acquired a QB

The QB position is arguably the most important position in pro sports, and by arguably I mean it is a fact, accepted by anyone who knows anything about competitive sport.  In spite of this fact, the Bears have never made acquiring a QB any more important than getting a new library card when it expires.  We’ve said we’re a run team, and we have to be because sometimes you literally cannot pass because of the weather.  So why have a high-priced Marino-esque QB when you may not even use him when it matters most, late in the year?  But because this position is so critical to the game, it can drastically impact your team – for better, or worse.  And in our case it has always been either worse or much worse.  But the Bears did what they have never done:  they made signing a QB so much a priority that they gave up draft picks for one.  Talk about jumping on a loose ball!

3.  Not only did the Bears get a QB, they got a great QB

We didn’t draft a molecular biologist from Ohio State, acquire some squirrelly and girly backup from Pittsburgh, or pick up a 40-something Montana hitch-hiking.  We went out and got a vibrant, young, talented athlete who can play the game and has a phenomenal arm.  And we got him entering his prime!  He’s only 26, but this kid has already thrown 1,200 NFL passes.  And he’s completed 62.5% of them (compared to 55% for Grossman and Orton combined).  He’s also thrown for 9,000 yards (Grossman and Orton combined for 11,483), 54 TD and 37 INT (Sexy and the Beard combined for 63 TD and 62 INT).  To put this into perspective, Cutler’s QBR is 87.1 compared to a 70.5 for our former two clunkers.  These are numbers that any team would envy, and that’s for the first 37 games of his career, people!

Here are Cutler’s career numbers versus Grossman, Orton and Bret Favre’s first 33 games.  Cutler leads the group in all categories – except INT’s:

	Games	Comp	Att	%	Yards	Yds/Att	TD	INT	QBR
Cutler	37	762	1,220	62.5	9,024	7.4	54	37	87.1
Rex	36	521	962	54.2	6,164	6.4	33	35	70.2
Orton	33	505	913	55.3	5,319	5.8	30	27	71.1
Favre	33	620	998	62.1	6,530	6.5	37	39	75.0

4.  Our whole team gets better because of this deal

Because we are a defense first team, our fate often succumbs to the “ineffectivity” of our offense.  And because our QB was so bad, we had no passing threat.  So defenses could key on the run, making our running game even worse, which made our offense suck even worse.  And by being so bad offensively, our defense had to carry a heavier burden, as we saw last year.  It’s like a bad apple, a weak link in a chain, or a slutty chick in high school with herpes – it only takes one to spoil the bunch.

Cutler has already thrown for more yards in a game (447, his 30^th game, 11/6/08) than any Bear in history (Jim Miller threw for 422 in ‘99).  And because our QB is actually good, our running game will get better, and so our offense will get better.  And because of that, our defense will get better.  We’ll be playing with less pressure, protecting leads, and we’ll be able to take risks.  That is when we can be aggressive, and when we are at our best.  And it will snowball all over our team.  Yep, everybody gets better because of this deal.

5.  Cutler “hearts” the Bears

Jay “The Butler” Cutler is, and always has been, a Bears fan.  Boom.

6.  We got rid of the Beard

In addition to the draft picks, we tossed in Kyle “I’m Not a Real QB, But I Play One on TV” Orton.  Sure he’s 21-13 (62%) as a starter (4 W’s were against Detroit, btw), but look at his stats (see above).  There is not a QB in NFL history with stats that bad that has that good of a record.  I think now that we don’t see him through Bears-colored glasses, we can all agree that he won in spite of how bad he was.  And like a good colon cleansing, we rid our bowels of the excess fecal matter that was Kyle Orton.

7.  We now have 5 players from Cutler’s alma mater, Vanderbilt

This includes last year’s first round pick, OT Chris Williams, who blocked for Cutler in college, and last year’s third round pick, WR Earl Bennett (* see below for more on him), who caught 79 passes and 9 TD’s during Cutler’s senior year at Vandy.

8.  We’ve got Cutler signed for 3 years

Cutler is halfway through a 6-year deal, his first.  So we’ve got him locked up for 3 years.  And if we can’t work out an extension, which judging by what we did to get him is unlikely, as a worst case we can franchise him for a 4th season.  So at a minimum, MINIMUM, that’s 4 shots at the title with a Pro Bowl QB.  That’s the Chicago Bears, folks.  I still can’t believe it.

9.  It shows our blog was right on with last year’s summary commentary

You may remember last year’s final post when we concluded with our Airing of Grievances on the season.  Apparently Jerry Angelo read our blog because this was our #1 complaint:

“Why can’t we have a decent QB?  We don’t need a Tom Brady, but he has to be better than the Beard.  Other teams seem to find them.  All we need is an Orton plus mobility and a long ball.  Or a Good Rex.”

Well, that is just what we got in Jay Cutler Supreme.  The Bear gods answered our prayers – and then some!  This is like a kid asking for a bike for his birthday and getting the Space Shuttle.

10.  This is the best player the Bears have signed since the greatest pro athlete of all time, Jim McMahon

With the confidence of Jimmy Mac, Cutler has been quoted as saying he has the strongest arm in the NFL, and he included the legendary John Elway by name.  Even if that’s true (and some say it is), saying it out loud (let alone publicly), takes balls the size of Montana.  And no, I don’t mean Hannah Montana, I mean the state.  And a set that big ought to serve him well as an NFL QB.

Not surprisingly, Cutler was born after McMahon’s rookie season (’82), when McMahon won NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year.  And on Sunday Cutler begins his fourth NFL season – the same season McMahon won his first Super Bowl ring.  And like McMahon, Cutler exceeds all expectations for a Bear QB – even mine.  We literally haven’t seen that before, or since, McMahon.  And Cutler’s healthy.  He doesn’t have the Jimmy Mac injury list, like the lacerated kidney in ’84 or the Charles Martin body slam in ‘86.  Cutler hasn’t missed a start due to injury going back to college, some 82 games.  So I hate myself for saying this, but considering he’s already got experience, he could actually be better than McMahon in a Bear uniform.  I never thought I would write those words.

2009-10 Prediction

Bear football has changed as we know it.  Jay Cutler is already the greatest QB to ever play for the Bears – and he hasn’t even played for the Bears yet.  He will take pressure off of everyone – teammates, coaches, even the fans.  Our field position will consistently be better.  We will score 7 more points a game and allow 7 fewer.  Our starters will only play three quarters and Matt Forte will be showered and on the sidelines in a suit for the second half.  And Cutler’s arm will lead the Chicago Bears like lightning leads thunder in the skies.

We’re going to go out on a limb here at the Bear Down Baffa blog.  We predict the Chicago Bears will go 16-0 and go on to win the Super Bowl, becoming the first team ever to go 19-0. You heard it here first.

Want To Know More About Jay Cutler?

Jay Christopher Cutler was born 4/29/83 in Santa Claus, Indiana and attended Heritage Hills High School in Lincoln City.  Not only did he earn All-State honors in baseball, basketball and football, his football team went 26-1 his junior and senior years, including a perfect 15-0 with a state championship his senior year.  The state championship game ended in OT when Cutler lateralled the ball to his running back who passed it back to Cutler in the end zone.  Other than banging the Prom Queen and her mom at the same time, that’s about as good as high school gets.

At Vanderbilt, Cutler started all 45 games, a school record.  He also set school records in:

Total offense: 9,953

TD passes: 59

Completions: 710

Attempts: 1,242

Passing yards: 8,697

Combined TD’s: 76 (17 rushing)

In ’05, Cutler won SEC Offensive Player of the Year.  In his final college game, he passed for 3 TD’s and 315 yards (a school record fourth consecutive 300-yard passing game) to lead Vandy over Tennessee for the first time in 23 years (the year before Cutler was born).  * Cutler’s final college play was the game-winning TD pass to now Bear teammate, WR Earl Bennett.

Taken #11 in the first round of the ’06 NFL draft, Cutler was the third QB after Vince Young (#3) and Matt Lienart (#10).  Cutler took over Denver’s QB duties from Jake Plummer in Dec. ’06, starting the Bronco’s final 5 games when they went 2-3 (.400).  He’s started all 32 games since, going 7-9 (.437) in ’07, and 8-8 (.500) last year.  That makes him 17-20 (.460) in his first 37 NFL games.  He also served as a Broncos team captain in ’08, and was named AFC Offensive Player of the Month in September.

Cutler also set the following Bronco single-season franchise records in his second full season (’08):

Attempts: 616

Completions: 384

Passing yards: 4,526

300-yard passing games: 8

Incidentally, Cutler has 10 career 300 yard-passing games.  The Bears have had only six this decade.  Rex Grossman ended a streak of 72 straight regular season games without a Bear passing for 300 yards on 12/12/06.  Brian Griese did it twice in ’07 and Orton did so once in ‘08.

Let the Bearing Down begin!

© 2009

This entry was posted on Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 3:13 pm and is filed under l) 2009 Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.