Looking For The Reset Button...

I hate this time of year. It happens every time, and now thanks to the NFL changing when the Pro-Bowl is played, this time of year got here even quicker than normal. The Pro-Bowl is usually the annual symbolic "funeral" for my 2010 Sports Season. I'm used to it being held after the Super Bowl and once it's over, it's pretty much hibernation time for me until baseball starts.

This year though (as it was last year), it's held the week before the Super Bowl. After watching about 10-15 minutes of it yesterday I had to laugh. The "efforts" or lack thereof from the NFL'S best players was comical. The version of Julius Peppers that takes plays off, was on FULL display yesterday as he literally jogged when the ball was snapped-and I DONT' blame him in the least! You can tell that the players are not going to kill themselves and shorten their lifespans for games that don't mean anything, and I believe yesterday's Pro-Bowl reflected that. So now we're left with a Super Bowl with two teams that I absolutely despise. After that, it's a slow burn.

Look I get it, the Chicago Bulls are doing things record wise that they haven't done since 1996-97. That's wonderful, believe me, and I have been watching them regularly even though I haven't written about them. Is it me, or does anyone else get the feeling that despite how well the Bulls have played, they can still go out there and get trounced by 30 on any given night? I just don't see them as a dominant team, but rather a very good team that will more than likely get bounced by Boston, Orlando, or Miami in the postseason. I guess I'm uneasy about a team that 65% of it's offense comes from the point guard.

Then you have the Blackhawks, who won't get interesting until the last month of the season. Lance Armstrong had a big "Expose" in sports illustrated two weeks ago, but it didn't really reveal anything interesting or new. Speaking of steroids, Tiger Woods still sucks at golf without them. College Basketball is still a joke as every year the Player Of The Year will be won by a Freshman, and then off to the NBA he'll go.

I guess what I'm saying is, we've got a long road ahead of us until April, but I promise you my loyal readers, that I'll do everything I can to keep it fun until then. So if my postings suck even more than they usually do for a while, hang in there my friends. I'm looking for the Reset button.

Shameful

Initially I had intentions of writing this obituary on the 2010 Chicago Bears season by postulating how Green Bay was simply a better team than the Bears. I was prepared to break down the offense, defense, and special teams efforts as I usually do after every Bears game. I was also intending to provide a glimpse into where the Bears are headed and what they must do this upcoming offseason. All of that has to take a backseat evidently because the big question on most fans minds isn't "Why Did The Bears Lose?", but rather "Did Jay Cutler quit on his team?"

“Jay was hurt...I don’t question his toughness, he’s tough as hell. He’s one of the toughest guys on our football team. He doesn’t bitch. He doesn’t complain when he gets hit. He goes out there and plays his ass off every Sunday.”


This quote is from Brian Urlacher after today's game. The same Brian Urlacher who 18 months ago was believed to have called Jay Cutler a "pussy". This is also the same Brian Urlacher who reportedly had to be separated from Jay Cutler in Las Vegas to avoid a physical confrontation once upon a time ago. Call it whatever you want, but like it or not, Brian Urlacher isn't questioning whether Cutler quit on his team. But wait, there's more:

"To all of u assaulting Jay's toughness. Are we 11-5 and NFC North Div Champs without him? No I think not. Please think before tweeting!"..."Dude r serious? I missed 4 games last season bc of an MCL"..."I will defend my QB all day. He was injured and he couldn't go. No one on our team questions his toughness POINT BLANK! He's a tough SOB"


That is from the twitter of Bears safety Chris Harris. The same Chris Harris who played today's game with a reported torn hip muscle. Not only does Chris defend his quarterback with the same veracity as Urlacher, but he also makes a coherent point about just how much Cutler means to this team.

I could keep going with additional quotes from other Bears players saying they don't question Cutler's toughness. I could go on and quote that Cutler himself said he wanted to go back out there and the coaches said no. I could also point out that Cutler has a reported MCL tear, WAS in fact SEEN LIMPING, and has an MRI scheduled for this week to confirm it, but it's really a waste of energy now, and the reason is simple:

People just do not, and will not like Jay Cutler ever, and anytime there is a glimmer of a reason to hate him, Cutler Haters will pounce on it. Whether it's his "poor body language", or "he doesn't publicize his charitable works enough" bullshit that people list as actual reasons as to why they hate Jay, it will continue forever. It appears to me that's exactly what happened today.

What's that you say? He was standing on the sidelines, despite his knee injury? That's actually not that crazy. Garrison Hearst once had a two hour workout for NFL Scouts with a torn ACL and showed no sign of injury. Again I must repeat this, Cutler wanted to go back out there! Exactly like he did when Cutler was concussed as a result of being sacked 8 times in the first half against the Giants this season. Cutler also took a helmet to the chin from Frank Zombo in Week 3 against the same Green Bay Packers and didn't come out of the game. Cutler also took another helmet to the chin during their Division Championship win against Minnesota, got stitched up on the bench, and didn't miss a snap. Oh and before I forget, Cutler was sacked more times than any other QB in the NFL this year.

Nobody wants to remember these facts though, because it interferes with their whole "Jay Cutler's not Chicago Tough" crackhead theory. Instead we're left with images of so called Bears fans in the picture above who are noting but football retards that shouldn't be allowed to play with matches. These are probably the same "Fans" who hated Kyle Orton and Rex Grossman when they were on the Bears, but now tell people they always believed in them.

BTW, did anybody notice that the Packers are pretty good today, and have opened as favorites to win the Super Bowl over the Steelers? I didn't think so...

50-50

That's what the odds are for the Bears to return to the Super Bowl. Hard to write that, and even harder to believe it, but it doesn't matter because that's the reality of the 2010 Bears season. With the virtual castration of Captain Happy Pete Carroll's Seattle Seahawks 35-24, the Bears find themselves back in the NFC Championship Game.

Standing in the way of the Bears return to the Super Bowl are their arch rivals, the Green Bay Packers. The Packers, it should be mentioned, are coming off their own very impressive castration of the Atlanta Falcons this week. As far as NFC Championship Games are concerned, this is pretty unprecedented, as the two teams have met only once before in the entire history of the NFL playoffs, and have never met for the NFL Title nor the NFC Championship.

As for that contest itself, it remains to be seen who will emerge victorious. As for this weeks game, here's what I took pleasure in:

Offense : In a word "synergistic". I had concluded going into today's game, that if the Bears were going to be victorious they were going to have to run the ball successfully. Not that running the ball well is all that shocking of an approach to winning football games (Doug Buffone), but a lot has been made this season about the run-pass ratio the Bears/Mike Martz called during games. Against the Seahawks, the Bears ran the ball 45 times and passed 29 times. In terms of yardage, 176 yards on the ground and 274 in the air. The key play wasn't a run however, but rather a 58 yard play action fake TD strike from Jay Cutler to Greg Olsen which was essentially the knockout punch the Bears delivered to the Seahawks in the first quarter.

From that opening TD strike, the Bears were in control of this contest. In what has become the norm, Cutler was good with hiccups of retardation here and there, as he could have easily had at least 2 interceptions on the day if Seattle's defenders had a decent pair of hands. Regardless, Cutler showed what has been true his entire career : you give him time, he will beat you. The axiom certainly rang true today as Cutler etched his name with Otto Graham into the history books today with two passing TD's and two rushing TD's in the same postseason game. Also, Matt Forte and Chester Taylor played the way the Bears front office envisioned forming a 1-2 punch that snapped off long runs and key 3rd down conversions.

Once again though, in what has become more than a cliche, the Offensive Line made all of this possible. Ever since Chris Williams was moved to left guard, this O-line has played much better and no matter what happens next week, have done a remarkable job this season.

Defense : The unit played as stingy as they've ever been today, limiting Seattle to 276 total yards, most of which were accumulated in garbage time. Just for good measure, the ghost of Tommie Harris got 2 sacks of Matt Hasselbeck, while the league's #1 rush defense allowed Marshawn Lynch and company 34 rushing yards on the day. The Seahawks were just as impotent through the air with 242 passing yards, but again most of that yardage was in garbage time. Key stat for the defense though was 3rd down conversions as Seattle was 3-14 on the day. The best thing any NFL defense can do is get off the field quickly. 3-14 makes that very possible.

Special Teams : After much talk about how the Seahawks planned to kick to Devin Hester this week, they backed it up by kicking to him and not allowing him to score. Robbie Gould was Robbie Gould, Brad Maynard was Brad Maynard, and overall the unit did what they are expected to do and that's get the Bears excellent field position.

Where Do We Go From Here : If you can find anyone who wrote, said, or went on any kind of record stating that the Bears were going to be one game away from the Super Bowl, please send it to me. Nobody, including myself though they would/should make it this far. I've doubted this team all year, and I don't have to think about it that long to find reasons why the Packers are going to win next week. Still, here we are. For better or worse the Bears have done what they needed to do to be one game away from the Super Bowl.

Can they beat the Packers? I definitely think so. The Bears know what Aaron Rodgers can and can't do. More importantly the Bears defense and linebackers know what the Packers offensive line can and can't do. Will it be enough? I don't know. I do know the Bears are plenty capable of winning as they have health on their side as well as some consolation that they didn't "show the Packers anything new" offensively during the last week of the season.

If the Bears continue to do the little things they've done most of this season, they'll be on their way to Arlington, Texas to play in the Super Bowl, and I'll be ready to apologize to Lovie Smith for calling for his firing a year ago....Wow...

Stuff That Pissed Me Off This Week

I should start out by saying that the senseless shooting in Arizona is absolutely tragic beyond words. I guess crazy people who belong to fringe polticial parties take empty bubble-headed rhetoric like "reload" a bit literally.

Be that as it may, I still had plenty to be absolutely dumbfounded by this past week, and here's a quick summary:

• Andrew Luck : I thought kids that went to Stanford were supposed to be smart? Evidently there are exceptions to this. For those of you not familiar, Luck was projected to be the number one pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. From every prognosticator to draft guru across the board, they were all in agreement that Luck would be taken #1 overall. One really nice thing about being taken number 1 in the NFL Draft is that the #1 pick is guaranteed $50 million dollars no matter what happens. Rather than take the guaranteed $50 million, Luck decided to go back to school instead. Ummm Andrew? You can still go back to school and get your degree and be the #1 pick at the same time. Yeah...it's quite possible for you to do that. Ray Lewis went back and got his degree. Larry Fitzgerald is doing the same. I'm pretty sure YOU can too. Oh you called Peyton Manning and he guided your decision to go back to school? Well I would have asked Peyton if he would have come out for $50 million guaranteed. I'm pretty sure Manning's answer would have been "YES". By the way Andrew, even if you have a great season and win the Heisman/National Championship, you STILL won't have improved your draft position. You know what you also won't have? The guaranteed $50 million, because after this little Lockout Strife gets settled, there won't be NEARLY the amount of money given to draft picks like there is now. Oh and one more thing numb-nuts....your coach just left Stanford. Read below...
• Jim Harbaugh : One of the worst kept secrets in college football (besides the Cam Newton nonsense), was that after pulling off one of the greatest turnarounds in the history of college football, Jim Harbaugh wanted out of Stanford. There are any multitude of reasons to pick as to why he wanted out, but whatever reason you pick, Harbaugh quickly became the "hot" name for any program college or pro with a head coaching vacancy. Those programs included the Carolina Panthers, Miami Dolphins, San Francisco 49ers, and his Alma mater the University of Michigan. The funniest part was, Harbaugh let it be known that there was something he hates each one of his options-most significant of which was that he hates the York Family. In the end that apparently didn't matter, as Jim signed a 5 year $25 million dollar contract to be the head coach of the Niners. On the surface this looks like a good move for the Niners, but leave it to me to find reasons as to why this is stupid. First of all, unless he plans on suiting up, the Niners still don't have a quarterback. Second, you don't replace a maniac (Mike Singletary) with another maniac. Harbaugh's mad scientist and "da fire & da passion" routine might work with college kids that who won't be there longer than 4 years, but it's a different animal when you're dealing with players that are under contract for longer than you and make a ton more money. Third, $5 million a year given to a coach that hasn't coached ONE DOWN in the NFL, is a pretty ballsy move to say the least. I'll be watching this one up close, I can promise you that dear readers.
• Seattle Seahawks : Just because it was a good game doesn't make it right. I was struggling as to whether I should I address my Hose Of Hate towards the Seahawks or the NFL in general for this one? There is no way any respectable football league worth a damn would have a 7-9 team not only making the playoffs, not only winning their division, but have them beating the defending Super Bowl Champs! The NFL is responsible for this ultimately, but I actually am confident that they'll do something about this during the next labor deal - mainly getting a salary cap that allows a team to maintain any excellence it achieves and not continue to feed the Parity Monster it's created. The fact that it's Pete Carroll enjoying the fruits of this crap really pisses me off. Carroll is one of the slipperiest scumbags to ever come down the pipe. He knew damn well what was happening with his program, and got out of dodge the second he (correctly) suspected there was going be sanctions handed down at USC. Not only did he get away with it, but had the gumption to use the term "teachable moment" when it comes to Reggie Bush handing his Heisman Trophy in! How dare you sir...how dare you. How do you sleep at night Pete? Oh yeah, on top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies. Oh yeah and I've had enough of Matt Hasselbeck's whole "YAAAAAY! THAT'S SUPER!" schtick too. I verbally urinate on the both of them.

As you can see I'm getting ready for next week for when the Seahawks return to Soldier Field. It's always good for my Inner Meatball to hate the opponent the Bears will be playing in the postseason. It takes my focus away on how bad I still think the Bears are despite their success.

Sobering

Football Gods are a fickle bunch aren't they? No matter what attempts are made to justify the contest, this was a tough loss for the Bears on Sunday. I don't want to hear any nonsense about "this game not mattering". Nor do I want to hear any crying about "How can Lovie leave the starters (read Cutler)  in for the whole game?" I'm also completely not interested in hearing any excuses of "this game will have nothing to do with the Bears playoff chances".

This. Game. Mattered. Lovie Smith realized that it mattered, and so did the rest of the Bears roster as well. It may surprise you to hear that I'm totally fine with playing the starters the entire game. I understand all the logic of resting starters for the last game of the season when you know your playoff fate is set in stone, but that's the point. The Bears DIDN'T know their fate until around a half hour to an hour before kickoff. They had to practice all week with the presumption that both Atlanta and New Orleans were going to lose. You cannot practice all week with your starters and then at the last minute decide all that work you put in this week is suddenly going to be scrapped at the last minute because you're afraid of getting guys hurt.


It's an untenable position to be in, and to criticize the Bears for conducting themselves in a way that would indicate they're trying to win a football game, is silly and half-assed. There's a fine line between courage and stupidity and as a wise old man told me a long time ago, "Sometimes in life, you just gotta show some BALLS". Unfortunately for us, that wasn't enough for the Bears to win this one. Here's what made me drink heavily on Sunday:

Offense : What a difference a week makes. After watching Jay Cutler and the Offensive Line drop 38 points on a 3-4 blitz heavy defensive scheme in the New York Jets, they completely regressed on Sunday against the Packers. Most of it was Cutler's fault from my view. Cutler seemed to not recognize any fronts or coverages the Packers defense threw at him and his stats reflect it, throwing for a paltry 168 yards on 39 attempts with two interceptions. The game ending second interception summed his day up perfectly as he had a WIDE OPEN Devin Hester and he sailed the pass about 10 feet over Devin's head. Offensive Line didn't help either, giving up 6 sacks the worst of which was a 3rd quarter Erik Walden sack courtesy of Frank Omiyale when the Bears were deep in Packer Territory. The Bears did run the ball pretty well I suppose. Matt Forte ran for 91 yards and had another 60 yards in receptions. Still, despite being able to run the ball, the Bears only converted 5-16 Third Downs. All of that suckage led to 3 points, and I'd be remiss if I didn't shout GREG OLSEN CATCH THE BALLLLLLLLL. 

Defense : Hate to waste a good defensive performance like the Bears gave. Particularly against an elite quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. The Bears stuffed the run (60 yards total), and limited the deep passing plays for the most part - save for the 46 yard Greg Jennings pass which led to the lone Packer Touchdown on the day. The Bears generated enough pressure to generate two turnovers (1 fumble, 1 int), but most importantly the Packers were a putrid 2-11 on Third Down. All in all, it was the ideal performance the Bears coaching staff asks the defense to do for each game. Again, pity it had to go to waste...

Special Teams : Really a non-factor. For once a team said they weren't going to let Hester beat them, and they stuck to it. Brad Maynard did his usual act, and Gould made his lone field goal.

Where Do We Go From Here : Why am I still confused about who the Bears will be playing? On paper it says the Bears play the winner of the Green Bay-Philly Wild Card game, but there's also a chance it could be the Saints if they beat Seattle too? Huh?! Anyway, my prediction is one and done for the Bears no matter who they end up playing. I just don't see how you can win without an offensive line in the postseason. I've been wrong before, and I hope I'm wrong again, but I just don't see playoff greatness in this team.

Again though, ANYTHING is possible in this version of the NFL...