adam

Wow, these tests are easily circumvented and we get two guys nabbed in a matter of weeks? This is beyond ridiculous now.

Cutler's last pass was an INT in the 4th quarter with a chance to win, sort of ends his career in a ironic fashion. INT+loss+injury

The 6-4 Detroit Lions are in 1st place with a +6 in net points. Minnesota looks a shell of their former self, and GB at 4-6 is laughable. At 2-8, we are obviously out of playoff contention, especially considering we have 13 players on IR, plus Miller from last night. Sitton and Floyd also left with injuries, while Massie, Urein, and Hall were out. That does not include Callahan, Porter, McPhee, Goldman, Young, Wilson, and Royal who are all nursing injuries and may miss time as well. My question to you all is, are we being too hard on the team/coaches/management for this debacle? Did our expectations of improvement mask the fact that we have the most injuries in the league? I believe we now have the most on IR (14) in the NFL. SD has 13 and is 4-6 and is last in their division and will also miss the playoffs. I was thinking the defense was the problem, but we have scored the 2nd lowest amount of points in the league at 157 (only LA has less at 149). So we are 8 pts from being the worst scoring team in the league. Even the Browns have scored more than us. Can you imagine if we were just league average (230 pts)? That would be 73 more pts, or a TD per game, we would be a 5-5 team right now and only one game back of the Division lead.

Yeah, the more I think about it, it really irks me.

We had early 16-6 lead, 16-9 at half (amazing right?), then got shutout in 2nd half and lost 22-16 with multiple possessions to tie/win the game near the end. In those possessions, Cutler got sacked, strip-sacked, and threw game ending INT. The defense played doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde all game long. One drive, look dominant and next drive, look completely lost. The offense looked good in the first half and looked like a high school team in the 2nd half. Sitton and Miller got hurt, and Floyd got hurt so bad he was carted off on a backboard with an apparent neck injury. So Floyd completes the Quad-fecta, and joins fellow 1st rounders (White, Fuller, and a Long) with injuries. Mike Adams was worse than a tackling dummy (the kid's version with the sand at the bottom). He led to most of the pressure on Cutler. Leno is not a starting tackle. He completely ignored Vernon on multiple plays (both run and pass) and almost got Cutler killed a few times. Howard looked good in the first half, then grew stone hands in the 2nd, he had an eye injury that may have impacted his depth perception or something but he missed some very simple catches. 8 targets and 1 catch. I think the Bears receivers dropped at least 7-8 catchable balls Bellamy had a muffed punt bounce right to him and in good ol' Bears fashion missed it and the Giants recovered. O'Donnell's kicking was actually a highlight for the team. McPhee had a single tackle and was not visible all game. I remember some of us wanted Landon Collins in the draft, and he is on fire this year, and ended up with the INT that ended the game. Now more than ever, how did we pick Kwiatkoski, Bush, and Hall and not take a flyer with only one of those picks on Prescott? I feel like the coaching staff and Pace will get a pass on this season due to all the injuries, but I am assuming Cutler/Loggains will be gone. It seems like Cutler's presence has basically muted the team's identity. There is no doubt he has the physical traits to be a good QB, but there is just something always missing from his game. Again, I see him ending up like Fitzpatrick and ultimately playing decent enough for teams to take some flyers on him. What sucks is we are fighting for draft positions against some horrible teams. CLE would lose to themselves and should just forfeit the rest of their season. So we are going to draft at best 2nd and no worse than 5th (SF, JAX, NYJ). With those, I would take BPA, and then move into the back end of the 1st round and nab a QB (if we don't pick one first).

Romo is done, and Cutler will be gone one way or another. I would rather go with a rookie and work thru the growing pains.

What sucks is as bad as we are, Cleveland and SF are even worse and we are 1-2 wins from drafting closer to 10 again. We really need to lose out to have any chance at a top 3 pick.

You still play to win but you do not take any unnecessary risks with injuries, rest the vets, and let the kids play.

That is not the new Cleveland model, no way they take Cutler. Alshon maybe, but no way on Cutler. After the TB game, Cutler has now become a journeyman QB who will end up like Fitzpatrick.

The numbers say something entirely different though. If you take the top 10 teams in the league over the past 10 years (by record) and add up how many times they picked in the top 10, you will see that your theory does not stand up. NE, IND, PIT, GB, SD, BAL, DEN, DAL, SEA, and NO have only drafted in the top 10 in the last 10 years (100 potential picks) 12 times (and 5 of those were from DAL/SEA). So the other 8 teams only had 5 top 10 picks in the last decade. They have consistently won because of solid overall drafts, and not because of higher picks. There have only been 5 selections by these teams in the top 5 in the last 10 years with PIT not having a pick higher than 15.

We get a bye to get even more guys healthy, then have this remaining schedule: at TB 3-4 at NYG 4-3 vs TEN 4-4 vs SF 1-6 at DET 4-4 vs GB 4-3 vs WAS 4-3-1 at MIN 5-2 After beating MIN like that in prime time, this schedule seems pretty light.

20-10 win, but we totally dominated this game. It could've easily have been 38-3. 2-1 in the Division! 7-9 here we come!

Pro Football Focus @PFF

Wait, we just had a Cutler sprint out to the right and pass to Jeffery for 11 yards? What is going on? 7 for 13 on 3rd downs.

You can also see McPhee's impact on the defense. They have some swagger. Hicks is on fire and almost unblockable. 5 sacks and a bunch of hurries and QB hits. Now we just need a defensive turnover and to hold Minnesota without a TD. Where has this team been all year?

So I am impressed, the best defense in the league and we have a 20-3 lead, Cutler has 203 yards passing, a TD, no INTs, and has hit 8 different receivers; Howard is already over 100 yards rushing too. Defense has been borderline great with 4 sacks and only 90 total yards allowed. If not for a stupid 15 yard penalty on Washington, this might be a shutout. Again, it will come down to how we finish. We have had numerous 2nd half and 4th quarter leads and still lost.

Yeah, he looks horrible. Ball hit him in the back of the head. Cutler is not too sharp either. Defense is playing great though. We have been a 30 minute team, so lets see how we finish.

He also looked good on the long screen (34 yards). He already has 127 all-purpose yards in a quarter and a half.

Just because

Seems like the wrong link: http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/1791314...brian-hoyer-arm BS hit, if you watch it again, it was clear what Fagews was trying to do. Even throughout the entire hit all the way to the ground, and even for a second or two when he was on the ground.

That had to be one of the worst and biased officiated games I have seen in awhile. There were so many no calls against GB it was ridiculous. The refs alone accounted for 20 pts as they kept GB drives alive.

My guess is that Barkley starts against MIN and we see Cutler after the bye.

He has a torn labrum, there is no point risking any lost time next year. Let him get surgery and be done with it. This year is done. About injuries, they are part of the game, you probably can expect all teams to have 2-3 starters out at any given time, but I believe we are in double digits now (for starters). Cutler, Langford, Royal, White, Grasu, Sitton, and Long on offense, then Goldman, Ferguson, Houston, McPhee, Fuller, Floyd, Callahan, and Trevathan have all missed games.

So defense gets dink and dunked apart and then forces a FG. Offense can't get running game going and Hoyer has missed some deep passes.

McPhee, Floyd, Callahan, and Porter are all playing.