Posted on 01/02/2014 4:34:08 PM PST by mountn man
The Bears have made a long-term commitment to Jay Cutler, signing the veteran quarterback to a seven-year contract, general manager Phil Emery announced Thursday at Halas Hall.
"We're very excited to have Jay for the long term," Emery said. "He battled through the tough times and kept fighting."
Financial terms were not disclosed, but Bears receiver and Cutler pal Brandon Marshall tweeted "BOOM ... JAY 7 for 126 .. Congrats now let's go win." The deal reportedly includes at least $50 million in guaranteed money.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
That's because his parents raised him right! One of my good friends is from Mississippi and was a sorority sister of Peyton's mother Olivia at 'Ole Miss and they remain close to this day. She says that the entire family, including son Cooper, are some of the nicest, most down-to-earth people you would ever want to meet.
I have always liked Archie and Peyton, but I never cared for Eli. Part of that is because he plays for the Giants and I am (unfortunately) a die-hard Dallas fan. It is also because New York took former NCSU standout Philip Rivers in the first round of the NFL draft and promptly traded him to San Diego for Eli. I still think Rivers is the better QB because he is a natural born leader. Ever since my friend told me how nice Eli and his family really are, however, I have felt better toward Eli and was even a little sorry for him this year since he had such a terrible year.
My friend and I are the same age and we both graduated from college in 1972, the year after Archie and Olivia were married! A couple who can stay married for over forty years in the spotlight of the NFL are indeed special!
Cutlers fine. He’s got the best stats of any QB in the NFL in the fourth quarter. This is the first year he’s had a offensive line worth spit. The Bears defence sux. Not his fault.
And there's no such thing as Black Irish.
That's the only sentence in your post I agree with. Marshall, Bennett and Jeffries are incredible receivers.
Scratch that, Jeffries is RIDICULOUS!! He's alot of fun to watch.
The problem with the Bears defense is that the Bears Front Office let them get old with no real transition plan AND they don't have the talent to back up the starters.
You see, as much as I hate Jay Cutler (who lives 1.25 miles down the road from me.......) the real problem is the Bears Front Office.
Always has been, always will be as long as the meddling worthless McCaskey family owns 'em.
You know it and I know it.
Results: 62% disagreed with the Bears decision to re-sign him. 32% agreed.
Seems mine is the majority opinion on Cutler. Who also BTW is the most HATED player in the NFL according to NFL players.
There seems to be a direct inverse relationship between owners and their level of participation in team affairs. The more they get involved the worse
a team does.
You can also ask Chicago Cubs fans, although they're finally out from under the Wrigley banner.
I have no skin in the game as far as the Bears are concerned, but Mr. Cutler earned some respect from me when he spoke out against Obama during the last election. That took some courage.
Last August, Obama hosted the Super Bowl Champions at the White House. The president, who is a die-hard Bears fan, said that it was difficult seeing Green Bay beat his team and move onto the Super Bowl. He also had a suggestion. “If I’m a part owner … I think we should initiate a trade to send Rodgers down to the Bears,” Obama said. "
This was Emery and Tressman's first year. I thought that given the kinds of setbacks the Bears suffered, they did remarkably well. Emery reminds me a lot of Jim Finks, the GM who built the 85 Bears. It was Emery who made them draft Kyle Long, picked up QB McCown, and Tight End M. Bennett from the Giants before this season. I think it was Emery who brought in Tressman too. If you follow the Bears like I do, I have never seen the offense with these kinds of weapons.
The defense is obviously the next rebuilding project for Emery. I am going to be watching the coming draft very carefully. They need to replace Peppers, need another top flight linebacker and at least 2 quality DB's. That is a LOT of starters to replace in one year. None of the above is the current GM's fault. You can put it on the shoulders of the last GM and Lovie Smith.
I think the Bears will be a lot better next year. In two years under Tressman's system, they will be unreal.
Lol. Redskins fans too.
Actually, I do follow the Bears pretty closely (probably not as close as you.) Ok, I'll be honest rather than bombastic here.
The Bears problems of the past 5 years had alot to do with signing Cutler for $30 million while not investing in a front line to protect him. The guy has taken a beating in the last five years and while I haven't kept close count of the number of concussions he's suffered (I think three...) My dislike of Cutler aside, no one wants to see the guy become a walking vegetable much like Jim McMahon is these days. With everything that's being learned about the compound effect of concussions, the Bears really had to do something with the offensive line.
I tend to agree that given another year, the offensive line is going to mature quickly (they took big steps this year, save for the Eagles game) and in doing so will get better at protecting Cutler and opening up the running game for Forte.
The Defense is a bloody mess and for that I DO blame Lovie Smith, who IMO should've been FIRED at least two years ago (perhaps three) and not just last year.
BTW: I was familiar with Tressman's coaching style (open up the offense) and was glad the Bears hired him. Have to say, he LOST ME when he pulled McCown from the Starting Lineup and replaced him with Cutler for the Cleveland Browns game.
McCown had 12 TD's in 4 games, 1 pick, won 3 of 4 IIRC AND was the NFL's player of the week when Tressman pulled him.
I've NEVER seen a head coach pull a QB with a hot hand and replace him the way Tressman did. It simply defied all logic and only the most hardcore Jay Cutler worshippers agreed with that call. I got positively sick watching the so-called "sports reporters" here in Chicago get on their knees at the altar of Cutler proclaiming him to be the second coming.
I swear to Almighty God they're fools if they cut him loose ..... IMO he's a much better QB, makes better decisions and manages the game far better than Cutler. IMHO of course.
Yeah, I saw all that and wondered why they pushed Cutler back into the lineup when McCown was playing so well. But- the Eagles defense is a little better than the Dallas D this year so I can cut some slack to Cutler in that game. I don't think that McCown would have fared much better.
Even so, McCown has already mentioned that he wants to retire and this might be his last year. The Bears wanted make darn sure they resigned Cutler and by showing the commitment to him at that moment, it probably ensured he did not go free agent and leave. It might have been straight forward decision like, "our defense is terrible, we're not going anywhere even if we get into the playoffs, so let's make very sure we keep this QB. McCown may retire, and even if he doesn't, how many years does he have left anyway?"
When McCown was playing better teams, he completed a lot of passes, but could not do much in the red zone. That's not lost on management. They can't tell that to the fans who liked McCown, so we got the Kabuki theater about "Jay's our starting QB".
I am not too upset about this. Cutler is younger and is will probably be their future.
Bears, Emery want McCown back
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bears/post/_/id/4689762/bears-emery-want-mccown-back
Thanks for mentioning Sid Luckman. There's not a quarterback who draws a paycheck who shouldn't thank George Halas and Sid Luckman every time they take the field and especially when someone tells them what a great game they had. Luckman provided the template for every great quarterback since then and Halas showed him how he could do it. In fact, Luckman had trouble at first with the complexities of the new offense Halas devised but Halas believed in him and Luckman delivered.
If it wasn’t for one of the dirtiest plays in football history (the Charles Martin attack), I’m convinced the bears repeat and win at least one more.
I fully support this deal.
Go Pack Go!!
But Willie Gault left after the SB. That took the fast, deep threat away.
A lot of the team dynamics changed the next year or 2.
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