Dallas Cowboys.....

December isn't here yet. December is coming.

I have been a Cowboys fan for as long as I can remember(I was four years old when they played their first game) and I would love for them to finally be back on top of the NFL again. I'm just not gonna get my hopes up until they prove they can win post-November games.

 

It's time. After Cutler threw 5 picks and the Bears lost yet again, it's time. It's time for a house cleaning in Chicago. The Bears trade for Cutler and promptly watch Josh McDaniels turn Orton into a decent QB. The Bears, meanwhile, take a good QB in Jay Cutler and make him worse than Orton. At least the defense didn't give up 40 points, but that likely has more to do with the Niners not having the offense that the Bungles and Cardinals do.

The Bears coaching clearly isn't anywhere near as good as the Broncos coaching and I'm all for the firing of Lovie Smith.

 

It's not Lovie's fault - or does he have GM powers? Whoever pulled the trigger on the Cutler deal should be fired. It is so obvious that Cutler is no leader of men. He is Ryan Leaf with a Jeff George arm, with the [bad] attitude of both. Watching the game last night, it looked like he was stoned. He looks like that all the time, though. I can see why the Broncos dumped him.

 

Leader of men? Somebody's been reading too much Peter King. I didn't see anybody criticize him as not being a "leader of men" after the wins over Pittsburgh and Seattle.

The alternative to not making that trade was staying with Orton as QB and the Bears weren't going anywhere with Orton. He's an average QB who's gotten excellent coaching from a head coach that clearly knows how to coach a QB.

Despite last night's horrible performance, I continue to think Cutler will become a great QB, but I don't see it happening with Lovie Smith as the head coach.

 

Cutler has a lot of talent, that's for sure. But his bad and selfish attitude will keep him from ever being a "great" QB. He's Jeff George all over again.

 

Let me strike a middle ground.

The final grade isn't in on the Broncos yet. Remember that they're one tipped ball from being 5-3. Who knows how they'll end up.

Any coach that can take Rex Grossman to a Super Bowl can't be bad. Lovie's playing the hand dealt him by ownership. They haven't figured out that a defense that's been on the decline and is aging isn't going to win you games. They haven't figured out that Devin Hester is the answer at WR. Throw in Matt Forte coming back down to earth, and you just have an awful recipie for da Bears. Cutler clearly could not stay in Denver and the Bears decided (right or wrong) that they couldn't get to that next level with Orton. So they took Cutler off Denver's hands (I personally think Denver might have settled for less than Orton from someone, but that's a different story). I still maintain that Denver got the better of Chicago in that deal. Cutler was poisoning the well in Denver.

Cutler has talent. Is he a Super Bowl caliber QB? I don't believe so, but then again, some rather average QBs have rings. Is he a great QB? Could he be great? Not so sure. Very good QB? Yes. But if you have no one to throw to, no one to hand off to, and a defense that puts you in bad positions on the field and the scoreboard, any QB not named Peyton Manning is in trouble.

Would you like a nightmare, CCROB? "With their first pick in the 2010 draft, the Chicago Bears select Jonathan Crompton, QB, Tennesse....." I kid....he's gotten better over the last few weeks. But you get the idea. I believe it's not all Lovie's fault and that it's not all Cutler's fault. He's better than Leaf and George, but he does have that Vanderbilt attitude, and that's what poisoned the well in Denver.

Speaking of which, may I throw in a Vandy joke? Vanderbilit Divnity professors all claimed a radical encounter with God this past week. They looked in the mirror. :laugh:

 

I disagree, but when you're the QB of a team with a terrible defense and a worse offensive line, you must play better than that. I regularly read a column written by a former NFL GM that says that only 2 of those 5 picks were really Cutler's fault. Maybe so, but this team isn't good enough to overcome 2 picks, much less 5. Cutler has to play better than this.

 

I think you hit the thumb with the hammer right there. The Bears D isn't porous, but it isn't going to win a majority of games either. So when you throw interceptions, you're putting the D in a bad spot. The Bears D can't afford this, so it's almost a two-edged sword. You're taking scoring chances away and putting your D in bad spots. Cutler has to manage the game better. That said, if you have WRs misrunning routes, for lack of a better term, you have INTs on their heads, not the head of the QB. Most QBs (almost all, to some extent) in most offenses (All, to some extent) do not throw to a player...they throw to a spot their receiver is supposed to be. If that receiver isn't there, there's a good chance someone wearing the other team's jersey could be.

 

If giving up 45 and 41 doesn't qualify as porous, I'm not sure what does. :wavey:

I noticed this in the Packers game, that Cutler throws to a spot far more than Orton ever did. Especially in that game, you could tell that the receivers weren't used to it and it absolutely led to one of the picks.

Let's not kid ourselves. The Bears defense, with Ron Rivera as defensive coordinator, was the main reason they made the Super Bowl. To this day, I don't understand why they ran Ron Rivera out of town. Ever since Rivera's been gone, the Bears D hasn't been the same.

The McCaskey's didn't get rid of Ron Rivera, Lovie did. The McCaskey's didn't bring in Bob Babitch to run the defense after Rivera, Lovie did. The McCaskey's didn't decide to run the defense this year, Lovie did. The only decision that Lovie's gotten right since the Super Bowl is to hire Rod Marinelli to coach the defensive line.

I disagree about Hester. He's getting more targets than any other Chicago receiver. One of Forte's problems is the same problem that Cedric Benson had, which is the fact that the offensive line isn't very good. The difference is that Forte still looks capable of being a RB and Benson looked abysmal. Jerry Angelo has tried to upgrade the O line, but some of this gambles (such as Orlando Pace) haven't really paid off.

I'm not sure which offensive linemen will be available after this season, but the Bears need to push hard to upgrade the line.

 

In a previous thread, you agreed with my critique of Hester and the WR corps, saying

I still think Hester isn't the answer. His numbers are worse than Ochocinco's for the past couple of years, and Chad's are products of what has been called "down years." When your leading receiver's best is a down year for a supposedly good WR, something's wrong.

At least they held the 49ers to 10 :laugh: I hate the Niners....was so wanting the Bears to maul them...literally.

Agreed on all counts. But still, Rexie's not even servicable. He's such a good QB that he lost his job to a guy Chicago didn't even want and had to beat out Dan Orlovsky for the backup job in Houston. Lovie's no Lombardi or anything. I just think overcoming that albatross is worth something.

I did not know this. That being the case, I do think a lot's on Lovie.

The WRs need to be let out of the cage, then. Let Hester run under some balls and run to some balls. You can't just throw every ball to a receiver and ask them to make 11 guys miss (are you listening, Lane Kiffin?)

 

Not being a Bears fan, you may not know this, but Hester only started playing the position in 2007. It's not like he was a WR in college and was drafted as a WR by the Bears. Thus, he didn't get the reps as a receiver in college that everybody else did. Not entirely a fair comparison with Ochocinco because of this. However, the fact that the Bears did this in the first place says something about their inability to draft or develop a WR.

This isn't what you said earlier.

Obviously, a mistake in what you wrote. No problem.

Did you know that Hester's 8th in the league in receptions and 12th in the league in receiving yards? He's got more yards than Santonio Holmes, Santana Moss, Greg Jennings, Steve Smith (Carolina), and Brandon Marshall. Even Marshall, who every ESPN football analyst said the Bears needed to go get. For having to learn the position as an NFL player, he hasn't done too bad.

 

The mistake was the first post. I maintain, as do every single Bears fan I know, that Hester is not the answer at WR. A good compliment, but not as your #1 threat.

I did know this. And I agree with you about the inability to draft and/or develop a WR. Why didn't the Bears go trade up (or better yet, not give away the store for Cutler) to get even a Massaquoi, let alone a Harvin or Maclin? Instead, they got....I forget his name from Oklahoma...I have an idea but don't want to mistype it.

All the WRs you compare Hester to are having bad years relative to their accomplishment. And Marshall? The Bears have enough Denver baggage, thank you

Hester is a great athlete, but you just cannot have a by trade DB as your #1 WR option.

Hester may very well have his best year yet as a WR. But is he giving the production that a playoff caliber #1 WR is giving? I don't think so.

All that said, remember, I'm a Bengals fan and Vols fan. What could I possibly know about football?

 

The Cowboys just cannot maintain their focus. They go on the road to win a big game at Philadelphia, then turn around a lose to a Green Bay Packers team that lost the previous week to Tampa Bay.

 

The Cowboys certainly are an enigma - up and down, down and up. Of course, I think over half the teams in the NFL these days are the same way - hard to predict what you will get from week to week.

 

Upon further review....

madre, while watching the Green Bay- Dallas game, leans over to me and states, "That is what it looks like when the wheels come off your wagon."

 

Keep in mind that the team does so poorly in the month of December, and that Romo has choked up in this month since he has taken the reigns of QB.

 

It's easy to tell that it's December - the Cowboys lost. And they have a very, very difficult schedule this month. 0-4 is not out of the question. It may be more of the same old, same old for us Cowboys fans.

 

Romo was 41/55, 392 yards, 3 TDs and no picks. Witten had a career game with 14 catches and 156 yards. Statistically, the 'Boys romped the Giants everywhere but the scoreboard. I guess getting fumed at Eli for autographing the visitor's locker room will only carry a team so far... Don't worry, Ken. January is right around the corner.