adam

Yeah I saw that, it was on Wednesday, so he will have a few days to recover. It didn't sound like it was something that would keep him out on Sunday.

I thought this was a pretty good article about the age of QBs: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14084886...bs-dominate-nfl If this holds true, and just looking at Cutler's progress this year, it would make sense to keep him around for a few more years. He is in his 10th year, and based on these numbers a QB peaks at year 12 and continues to have very solid years through year 15/16. Now obviously you can say small sample size or the numbers are bogus after 10 years because only good QBs are left in the league at that point, but that is not always the case. To me, stabilizing the QB position seems like the first and most important step to making a sustained run at the playoffs. It also means not having to worry about throwing multiple draft picks at the position and allows the GM some freedom and predictability. I would stick with Cutler for the remainder of his contract, or at least through the next 3 years when the cap hit is favorable: 2016 $17,000,000 2017 $16,000,000 2018 $17,000,000 2019 $20,000,000 2020 $21,700,000 Right now he has the 8th highest cap hit for a QB this year, but drops to 15th next year and 16th in 2017. To me, those are some very favorable team numbers, especially considering other QBs will be getting new deals between now and then to surpass Cutler's deal. Take a look at the article and let me know what you think.

The only good thing is that both teams only had 1 sack in their last games, so there is a formula for success out there (both losses). Another interesting note for both teams, STL was 3-5 at home last year and are currently 3-1 (so they may be due for a bit of a correction). Denver was 4-4 on the road last year and are currently 4-1. Again, going off norms, they both seem to be trending higher than normal. Hopefully we hit them both at the right time. Temperature is projected to be mid-40's with some wind on the 22nd, and Manning is obviously not as good in the cold or wind (especially with his ducksnort passes).

Very cool. We get bats (for gifts) from the Louisville Slugger factory dipped in wax at Maker's all the time (they do it for free). I am going to take a Blackhawks puck there to get it dipped next month.

I live about 45 minutes from the Maker's Mark Distillery and have been on all the bourbon tours in the area. Really cool if you are ever in the Louisville area.

We have as much of a chance as any of the other 3-5 team (very slim). With a win against STL, we would be 4-5 with 5 winnable games remaining. A loss and we are out. If you take a step back and look at each game, we really haven't played that bad. We had a halftime lead against GB, were only down by 8 after giving up a KO return TD and Pick-6 against ARZ at half, were only down 6-0 in Seattle with Jimmy the Pickle at QB with a missed muffed punt that should've been our ball in FG range before half. We had the Tate TD/INT go against us vs Detroit and had a 7 point lead against MIN with 5 mins left.

Alaska, This is just not the case, I watched this play over and over from a bunch of different angles and went back and watched other games with similar throws. If Alshon turns towards the sideline, then that would lead the DB right into the path of the ball, he is supposed to turn towards the inside (which he has done for everyone of those passes) and face the QB so he can pick up the ball in the air. If he turns outside, he is blind to the ball until he completes over a 180 turn while the DB is facing the ball the entire time. Now that would be a horrible designed play. If Verrett doesn't hold and pull Alshon away, it is an easy catch with Verrett completely behind Alshon (boxed out) on the play. I will try to post some pics from other games on the same route (where he turns inside every time). The one thing I find disturbing is the zero defect environment Cutler has to operate in. QBs throw INTs and fumble when they are sacked, it happens (and it is not always their fault). Favre, Marino, Manning, Brady, Brees, Elway, Bledsoe, Eli, Big Ben, Rivers, Palmer, Romo, and Ryan all have multiple double digit INTs and turnover seasons. The only guy that doesn't have that many is Rodgers, where I think the comparisons come in for Bears fans. However, there is no way to compare these two realistically, Rodgers has been on the same team, with the same HC, in the same system since he came into the league, and also had the luxury to sit until he was 25 behind a future HoFer. Then you can look at the plethora of WRs and TEs he played with and it is not even funny. Also, another huge factor is that GB almost always plays with a lead (Cutler has attempted 2190 passes while trailing to Rodgers 1231). That makes their offense even more potent because you can't pin your ears back and just rush the QB. If you still want to compare, lets look at how clutch those two are, in 126 starts Cutler has 20 4th Quarter comebacks and 24 Game-winning drives. In 111 starts, Rodgers has 9 4QC and 13 GWD (and he has cable). Those are the highest pressure situations you can be in, and Cutler basically doubles Rodgers. How about playoffs? Cutler is 1-1 in the playoffs and Super Rodgers is only 6-5. Besides their Super Bowl year he is 2-5 in the playoffs in 5 other seasons. He has been 1 and done 3 times. Cutler at least won a game the year we made it into the playoffs. Also, between the two, Rodgers has the lowest passing yards in a complete game with more than 20 attempts with 77 yards against Denver two weeks ago. Rodgers also had a chance to win the game against Carolina to add to his clutch totals, and what did he do, threw an INT that ended the game (then threw a tantrum and threw down a Surface tablet that was intercepted).

Yeah and we have been on the short end a lot. To me it is hard to imagine every official on the field misses that hold when that is where the ball was going. How many times do we get calls away from the ball, but in this case they miss that much holding which is clearly visible from multiple angles.

Cutler already throwing to spot, Verrett with full hand of jersey Cutler with ball almost released, Verrett pulling on arm Ball is out, Verrett pulling Alshon away from ball as he stumbles forward Alshon now a good 2-3 steps from original spot and Verrett using leverage against Alshon to drive on ball Just another view showing it wasn't a horrible throw. Verrett clearly got away with one there.

If you look at the official, he is not even looking at them until the 2nd to last screen grab and misses all the contact.

Rich Campbell ‏@Rich_Campbell 9m9 minutes ago Bears rookie OT Tayo Fabuluje has been suspended 4 games by the NFL for violating the league's policy against performance-enhancing drugs. https://twitter.com/Rich_Campbell/status/664186000613097472

Yeah absolutely. However, at first glance, the pass looked errant, and way outside, but if you see it from the other angles, you can see Alshon was pulled off his spot and lost balance stumbling forward before trying to jump back and reach the pass. This would be similar to a receiver falling down on a route and the defender in perfect position to intercept. My problem with the play was that Verrett was not flagged for either holding or illegal contact. On the fumble, he just needs to learn how to pull it into his gut when it comes out.

Check out the pics I posted from the INT in the other thread. It was actually a good throw and Alshon was pulled off the spot by Verrett.

The first frame and last frame superimposed: If Alshon is not pulled off the spot and gets a clean stop, he is clearly in line to make the catch with ease. 2nd frame and last frame superimposed: To me this looks like a back shoulder throw that Verrett pulled Alshon away from and used his momentum to move him off his spot.

6 yards down the field and Verrett is all over AJ Verrett pulling at AJ's arm as he stops his route (right where ball will be thrown) Verrett still pulling at AJ's arm as Alshon's momentum carries him away from spot Alshon is now falling towards camera and losing his balance (as depicted by right arm way out) Verrett still all over Alshon pulling on jersey to get around him (ball is released) Momentum of pull moves Alshon away from ball path as Verrett moves in behind Ball is thrown right where Jeffery was when ball was released

Cutler is on a current run of solid play that is longer than any other time in his career. Everyone always talks to Cutler's inconsistency or the Good Jay Bad Jay, etc. Looking over his Game Logs, you can see that was indeed the case for most of his early career. However, it looks like we have entered a new era and the sample size is large enough to believe it will continue. Starting in the Arizona game, he now has 6 straight games with a QB Rating above 88, and even excluding the partial game, he has 5 straight games with a QB Rating of 88.4 or higher. Looking back at his Game Logs, the closest run was 6 games to start 2014 where he was 82.5 or higher. Before that stretch, he never had more than 3 straight games above 80. That is crazy. Grouping his games with 20 or more attempts and an 80 QB Rating or higher, this is how his career has played out: 2009 - 6/15, 40% 2010 - 9/14, 64% 2011 - 5/8, 62.5% 2012 - 8/14, 57% -------------------- 2013 - 7/10, 70% 2014 - 10/15, 66.6% 2015 - 5/6, 83.3% So since Week 1 of 2013, Cutler has had a QB Rating of 80 or higher in 71% of his games with 20 or more passes, up 16% from 2010-2012 of 55%. Also, his current rate this year of 83.3% is his best run yet. To further support this theory, look at his INTs (which are obviously tied to QB Rating). His longest consecutive games with 0 or 1 INTs with the Bears is 6 games in 2012 (he had 7 in Denver in 2008). If you count the ARZ game, that is 7, and even without it, he has now had 6 straight games with 1 or fewer INTs. One other indirect stat that is tied to wins is the Opponent's score in losses. From 2013 until today, in games that Cutler played in, the Bears have 20 losses, and 14 of them (70%) have occurred when the opponent's scored 30 or more. From 2010-2012, we had 13 losses and only 2 games where the opponent scored 30+ (15%). Again that is crazy. We basically had no chance in 70% of our losses. In the 6 games where we lost and the opponent's scored less than 30, 4 of those were decided by 3 points or less. To further the point about the defense, we have only lost one game since the start of 2011 where the opponents scored less than 20 and Cutler played the entire game. If you count total games, then two, last season's finale against Minnesota where we lost 13-9 and a 13-6 loss against Houston in 2012. You would have to go back to 2010 to find other games where we lost when we held the opponents under 20. I know everyone has mixed feelings about Cutler, but if the new Cutler is going to be the Cutler for the next few years, it would be hard to let him go and expect a rookie to jump right in and produce at the same level. I really believe that Gase and Fox have had a positive impact on Cutler. He is still going to have some bad games and ill-advised throws, but those seem like they will be few and farther between from now on. TLDR; Cutler now has a decent sample size to show improvement and consistency this season and his career is trending upwards, though it may be hard to see with how the entire team and defense have played.

Here is what we have left, if we show any additional improvement, and get some guys back off injury, we actually have a shot at the playoffs, but the next 3 games will be critical. @ STL (4-4) - winnable game, STL defense is tough, and Gurley has emerged, however, we are better against the run than the pass, so this plays into our defensive strengths, and if Forte and Royal are back, we have great shot with our offense. vs DEN (7-1) - Denver's defense has masked just how bad the offense and Manning have been. A mid-November game in Chicago and Fox knowing a lot about the players gives us a shot. If Indy can beat them, we can beat them. I expect a close game, and would not be surprised if we win. @ GB (6-2) - We played them tough in Week 1 and they look vulnerable as hell right now. They will be coming off a Sunday afternoon game in Minnesota and we will be coming off an early game against Denver at home. Rodgers seems to have our number and they will be honoring Favre. This has GB blowout written all over it, and the media will aid in that view. However, I think it will be close and another winnable game. If we were somehow (a huge reach obviously) to win these first 3, I would have no reservations to believe we couldn't win out at this point. vs SF (3-6) - I can't believe this team has 3 wins, they are a hot mess with no running game and Gabbert at QB. This is a game we are supposed to win (at home) with an extra few days prep after Thursday game. vs WAS (3-5) - Another team with 3 wins that should probably have 1 or 2. They have been aided by an easy schedule, and this is another game we should win at home. @ MIN (6-2) - We should've beat them a few weeks ago and they look like one of the weakest 6 win teams in the league. They could be 6-7 by the time we play them again with game in OAK, vs GB, @ATL, vs SEA, and @ARZ. @ TB (3-5) - Lovie bowl, another team benefiting from a ridiculously easy schedule. Another game we should win. This is the farthest place we travel since SD. vs DET (1-7) - Last game of the season, and if Minnesota does falter down the stretch against a tough schedule, and Atlanta comes back down to earth, this game could be for a Wild Card berth against a team playing for the #1 pick. So if you consider that we are only playing for a Wild Card slot, we need to pass the lesser of GB/MIN at 6-2 (which I believe is MIN), ATL at 6-3, PHI/STL/SEA at 4-4 and NO at 4-5. I think MIN fades with that tough schedule and they end up 8-8, and 9-7 at best. GB probably wins the division with 11 wins, so it will come down to the other teams. Atlanta is an extremely weak 6-3, have lost 3 of 4 (only win was 10-7 against TEN), and they still haven't played Carolina. I see them going no better than 3-4 to finish 9-7 at best. Philly, STL, and NO all seem destined for 8-8, and Seattle's season seems like it will be determined this week against ARZ, but they can make a run with a super easy schedule down the stretch. I could see them winning 9-10 games. That means if we go 6-2 we will need a lot of help and tie breakers to get in at 9-7 (probably won't with current 0-5 conference record), or 7-1 and go 10-6 as the 2nd Wild Card. To me that seems like the only realistic way to make it in. Obviously a win in STL will go a long way towards this goal. A loss and we are done.

Once you are out of the top 6-8 picks, it seems like 9-20 are all the same anyway. With our last 5 games all being winnable games, I figure will settle in around 7-9 or 8-8 with a mid teens pick.

AZ, I agree, we were playing with a Guard as a Center (or 3rd String Center), a converted Guard at RT, a backup LT, and backup Guards. So our entire Offensive Line was in new positions from where they were in preseason with multiple backups starting. We were missing Matt Forte who had accounted for over 1/3 of our offense, haven't had White all year and was missing Royal again. To me that was much worse than the O-Line woes of SD and missing Allen. In regards to the game, the O-Line played decent enough to only allow one sack. The penalties were what killed us, but the TV never showed what Long did to get the penalty. The good part is we won with them playing like that, so if we get Grasu back and Ducasse can sit on his Duc-ass, we will be better next game (and will need to with the STL D-Line). WR - Alshon was clearly over-hyped because you can tell by his reactions after the drops. On the Pick-6, there was a lot of contact at the top of the route, and he was actually stumbling backwards when the ball was thrown. A bad throw by Cutler, but without contact, Alshon easily makes a play on the ball. After that he just said throw me the damn ball and started to make plays. I like that mentality from him. Every other WR was non-existent, which is fine until they start rolling coverages. TE - Probably the best all-around game for this group. They were everywhere, in the backfield, in the slot, on the outside, blocking, and making crazy catches. Miller's catch was Biletnikoff-esque, and one of the best catches all year. I love how it takes 3 dudes to take Bennett down. RB - Langford had 4 yards per carry with a make shift line, and had a ridiculous catch himself. He has played numerous positions and can't just see the potential oozing from him. If he keeps this up, this will be Forte's last year as a Bear. Carey looked solid as well. What I liked about both of those guys is they rarely went down on first contact (a lot of spin moves), and almost always fell forward. Cutler - The INT is on him, but like you said, there was contact at the top of the route which moved Alshon off his spot. 345 yards, 67.5% with a few drops, 2 TDs, and an INT is a really good game. INTs are going to happen, but the only play I didn't like is the fumble on the only sack. He needs to practice having his arm hit and how to stick the ball in his gut. Otherwise, he orchestrated some huge drives (80, 93, 80), and was incredibly solid under pressure and in the 4th (again). Lastly, the game could've gotten away easily after the Pick-6 and 13 point deficit, but Cutler didn't seem flustered at all (he wasn't throwing tablets - ala Rodgers, or fighting on the sidelines). DLine - Solid and stepped up when we needed them to. Houston came up big and redeemed himself after the penalty with 2 huge sacks when we needed pressure. The D-Line had a couple of batted balls (Sutton for sure) and only allowed Gordon 2.8 yards per carry. The Chargers only had 2 runs longer than 10 yards (10 and 15). LBs - It is funny that you mention Anderson, he led the team with 11 solo tackles and next closest was Jones with 5. Sure there were a couple of cross up plays, but that will come with more playing time. I know on the Woodhead pass they got picked by Gates on the crossing route. On the Gates long pass, it looks like he was expecting short pass in the flats and didn't follow Gates. Definitely a blown assignment, but again, it is a good learning point to build on. Otherwise, I was totally impressed with the gap discipline on running plays. We rarely lost gap control and there was always an LB or Amos in there to make a play on the ball carrier. Overall a decent game from another young group in the middle. I would like to have seen more from McPhee and Acho. CBs - Porter had a forced fumble and a huge pass defended on that last SD drive. Callahan wasn't get blown away and Fuller continues to make tackles. This group doesn't have much talent, so I would say this was a great game based on the talent level. S - Amos is legit and getting him a partner will be one of the top priorities in the offseason. Rolle is there for leadership and was not a liability from what I saw. Yeah, you know Woodhead is feeling that hit today. Special Teams - Gould was off, hopefully that is his only bad game of the year, because we can't afford to leave points of the board. Other than those missed kicks, a decent day covering kicks and Mariani actually had some positive returns. Also, I believe we didn't have any penalties on Special Teams, which helped keep field position. Coaching - All around great game plan. I believe the game was not as close as the score indicates. Defense only allowed 13 points on the road. Offense scored 22 with 2 missed FG's. Pick-6 killed another potential scoring drive, and Long's penalty took us out of FG range on another drive. So that is a 15 point swing and makes it potentially an 18 point win. Over 33 minutes of possession, 58/42 Pass/Run split, 9/15 on 3rd Downs, only 6 penalties. This team is very hard to read this year. The last 5 games have all been decided by 3 pts or less and we can be 5-3 just as easily as we can be 0-8. After seeing GB struggling of late, how Denver looked against IND, I think we can be competitive in every remaining game (though we will probably only win 3 or 4 of them). Good team win, hopefully we can use this as a building block and string together a couple of wins.

Well we beat Rivers and SD and the defense played pretty good. I think you have the game order messed up. The next 3 are STL, DEN, then GB. We finish with SF, WAS, MIN, TB, DET. That final 5 can't get much easier. 1. DET 1-7 (7) 2. CLE 2-7 (11) 3. SD 2-7 (9) 4. TEN 2-6 (32) 5. JAX 2-6 (18) 6. BAL 2-6 (4) 7. DAL 2-6 (3) 8. SF 3-6 (1) 9. HOU 3-5 (28) 10. TB 3-5 (27) 11. MIA 3-5 (25) 12. WAS 3-5 (20) 13. CHI 3-5 (6) 14. KC 3-5 (5)

Jay Cutler became the Bears TD Passing Leader with 2 TDs, passing Sid Luckman and also won his 47th game with the Bears, breaking a tie with McMahon. Jay now owns every major team passing record. Here is where he looks overall: - 2,545 completions (38th, 31 from 37th and Phil Simms) - 29,536 yards (45th, 209 from 44th and Jon Kitna) - 193 TD (T-46th, 1 from 45th and Ken Stabler) Robbie Gould - 1,142 Points (41st, 22 pts from 40th and Neil Rackers) - 260 FG Made (T-37th, 4 from 35/36th and Lou Groza/Neil Rackers) - 362 XP Made (51st, 3 from 50th and Bobby Walston) Alshon Jeffery (Bears All-time Receiving Numbers): - 231 receptions (13th, 7 from 12th and Dick Gordon) - 3413 yards (12th, 111 from 11th and Brandon Marshall) - 22 TD (12th, 1 from 11th and Jim Keane) Martellus Bennett (Bears TE All-Time Receiving Numbers): - 200 receptions (T-3rd, 42 from 2nd and Desmond Clark) - 2056 yards (4th, 583 yards from 3rd and Desmond Clark) - 14 TD (T-4th, 4 from 3rd and Desmond Clark)

Yeah it was Porter. Great win, the defense only allowed 13 pts, and the offense had some huge drives and 3 TDs. If Gould hits those FGs, it wouldn't have even been close.

Houston came up huge and redeemed himself after the penalty. Then Porter with a great pass defended.

Those missed FG's loom large, would be up by 9 here.

Wow what a drive. Miller with a silly catch.