Systems of Football: The All-Purpose Bears Game Thread

[PenFoe]

I feel like the idea that Cutler getting paid will keep them from re-building the defense is misleading. For one, it sounds like the cap is going up to $127 mildo next year, which'll help, but also where are these great defensive free agents that are going to take up that much cap room going to come from?

I'm willing to bet I've spent more time staring breathlessly at lists of 2014 NFL free agents than anyone here and I don't think the Cutler contract is going to keep Phil from landing the non-existent great players who will immediately fix all of our problems. Can you think of many mega-deal defensive free agents in the last few years who've been worth the money more than QBs who got extended? The Peppers deal is the closest I can think of, and even that has it's major drawbacks, as we are seeing.

Considering the defensive money coming Off of the books, there should be more than enough to re-sign Cutler, keep the offense intact, and just accept that the defense is a multi-year project that will require draft picks and more moderate free agent signings (more like DJ Williams and whatnot) to fix, and thus won't require the massive cap space people think.

WE BUILDING A DREAM TEAM HERE



But seriously, I'd take Tambi Hali's deal over Flacco's.

[SKO]

I feel like the idea that Cutler getting paid will keep them from re-building the defense is misleading. For one, it sounds like the cap is going up to $127 mildo next year, which'll help, but also where are these great defensive free agents that are going to take up that much cap room going to come from?

I'm willing to bet I've spent more time staring breathlessly at lists of 2014 NFL free agents than anyone here and I don't think the Cutler contract is going to keep Phil from landing the non-existent great players who will immediately fix all of our problems. Can you think of many mega-deal defensive free agents in the last few years who've been worth the money more than QBs who got extended? The Peppers deal is the closest I can think of, and even that has it's major drawbacks, as we are seeing.

Considering the defensive money coming Off of the books, there should be more than enough to re-sign Cutler, keep the offense intact, and just accept that the defense is a multi-year project that will require draft picks and more moderate free agent signings (more like DJ Williams and whatnot) to fix, and thus won't require the massive cap space people think.

WE BUILDING A DREAM TEAM HERE



But seriously, I'd take Tambi Hali's deal over Flacco's.

True but Tamba was a team extending it's own free agent with considerable leverage in terms of tags and whatnot. Hali cost the Chiefs less than he would anyone else, same as Cutler will be cheaper for the Bears than he will be for anyone else, although certainly not cheap. I'm talking about wading into the murky waters of the NFL unrestricted free agent pool, where the odds are you're better off trying to patch holes on the cheap and try to draft your core players than to try and commit big money to 31 and older defensive free agents.

Like I said, if they're throwing tons of cash at 31 year old guys either way, I'd rather that money go to Cutler who plays a position that tends to age slower than most others besides kicker and punter. Especially considering that the howitzer he has mounted on his right shoulder kept guys like Favre and Testaverde playing long after their expiration date because they could lose a few miles off their fastball and still be able to make all of the throws required.

[Brownie]

If Jay throws an interception on Sunday it's going to be a meatball apocalypse.

Or maybe when he throws his first interception.

There's probably going to be FAR too much weight put on these next few games, regarding Cutler's future.

Granted, that's what happens when you've played 5 uneven years, but still the opportunity for overreaction is off the charts.

It doesn't help that McCown's last start came against the #32 ranked defense in the NFL, and Cutler will be going against the #7 Browns. Even if he throws for a 240 yards and 2 TDs with a 95 rating or whatever that will still look bad in comparison to the THREE STRAIGHT 300 YARD GAMES FOR THE FIRST TIME EVAR (against the Rams, Vikings, and Cowboys. Hey did we mention he lost two of those games?) JOSH MCCOWEN.

As much as I want to go with the "McCown lost a few games" argument only the Vikings game was really maybe his fault. The defense has been horrible so to pin a loss strictly on him would be a bit unfair.

That said, he's just simply not as good as Cutler full stop. I'm looking forward to Jay taking what he learned from watching the offense and applying it to his hosecock of an arm.

Also, I really enjoy how angry this makes people like my brother.

What is your brother's take?

He just hates Cutler. He thinks he's the worst. I think it's based on him as a person. Not sure if he knows someone who's given him some insight or whatever but he got really heated when I told him he's a dope for thinking that McCown should start full time.

The big question I'd ask tje "McCown for full time starter" crowd would be: where are you expecting this team to go? If they even make the playoffs, what happens then? They get stomped because their defense can't stop anyone. Is that going to make you happy? Or do they just want McCown to be named the starter until he dies so that Cutler is exiled and Emery can get to work on building the defense back up? If that's the case this isn't about the playoffs at all.

So, would he want to catch balls from Josh, then? Is that what he thinks, too?

Are you putting on your Jay Cutler hat since he was kind enough to wear yours?

[Yeti]

If Jay throws an interception on Sunday it's going to be a meatball apocalypse.

Or maybe when he throws his first interception.

There's probably going to be FAR too much weight put on these next few games, regarding Cutler's future.

Granted, that's what happens when you've played 5 uneven years, but still the opportunity for overreaction is off the charts.

It doesn't help that McCown's last start came against the #32 ranked defense in the NFL, and Cutler will be going against the #7 Browns. Even if he throws for a 240 yards and 2 TDs with a 95 rating or whatever that will still look bad in comparison to the THREE STRAIGHT 300 YARD GAMES FOR THE FIRST TIME EVAR (against the Rams, Vikings, and Cowboys. Hey did we mention he lost two of those games?) JOSH MCCOWEN.

As much as I want to go with the "McCown lost a few games" argument only the Vikings game was really maybe his fault. The defense has been horrible so to pin a loss strictly on him would be a bit unfair.

That said, he's just simply not as good as Cutler full stop. I'm looking forward to Jay taking what he learned from watching the offense and applying it to his hosecock of an arm.

Also, I really enjoy how angry this makes people like my brother.

What is your brother's take?

He just hates Cutler. He thinks he's the worst. I think it's based on him as a person. Not sure if he knows someone who's given him some insight or whatever but he got really heated when I told him he's a dope for thinking that McCown should start full time.

The big question I'd ask tje "McCown for full time starter" crowd would be: where are you expecting this team to go? If they even make the playoffs, what happens then? They get stomped because their defense can't stop anyone. Is that going to make you happy? Or do they just want McCown to be named the starter until he dies so that Cutler is exiled and Emery can get to work on building the defense back up? If that's the case this isn't about the playoffs at all.

So, would he want to catch balls from Josh, then? Is that what he thinks, too?

Are you putting on your Jay Cutler hat since he was kind enough to wear yours?

I put my Jay Cutler hat on every night.

[Internet Apex]

I feel like the idea that Cutler getting paid will keep them from re-building the defense is misleading. For one, it sounds like the cap is going up to $127 mildo next year, which'll help, but also where are these great defensive free agents that are going to take up that much cap room going to come from?

I'm willing to bet I've spent more time staring breathlessly at lists of 2014 NFL free agents than anyone here and I don't think the Cutler contract is going to keep Phil from landing the non-existent great players who will immediately fix all of our problems. Can you think of many mega-deal defensive free agents in the last few years who've been worth the money more than QBs who got extended? The Peppers deal is the closest I can think of, and even that has it's major drawbacks, as we are seeing.

Considering the defensive money coming Off of the books, there should be more than enough to re-sign Cutler, keep the offense intact, and just accept that the defense is a multi-year project that will require draft picks and more moderate free agent signings (more like DJ Williams and whatnot) to fix, and thus won't require the massive cap space people think.

WE BUILDING A DREAM TEAM HERE



But seriously, I'd take Tambi Hali's deal over Flacco's.

True but Tamba was a team extending it's own free agent with considerable leverage in terms of tags and whatnot. Hali cost the Chiefs less than he would anyone else, same as Cutler will be cheaper for the Bears than he will be for anyone else, although certainly not cheap. I'm talking about wading into the murky waters of the NFL unrestricted free agent pool, where the odds are you're better off trying to patch holes on the cheap and try to draft your core players than to try and commit big money to 31 and older defensive free agents.

Like I said, if they're throwing tons of cash at 31 year old guys either way, I'd rather that money go to Cutler who plays a position that tends to age slower than most others besides kicker and punter. Especially considering that the howitzer he has mounted on his right shoulder kept guys like Favre and Testaverde playing long after their expiration date because they could lose a few miles off their fastball and still be able to make all of the throws required.

Cutler's franchise tag cap hit would be about 16 Mil. I assume his cap number will be in that range whether he's signed for one year or more. If they cut Peppers, Earl, Bush and Weems they save about 15. Nothing is fucked here except that they'd then have only 25 players under contract and be less than 45 Mil under the cap.

They should re-sign Cutler and McCown and then spend all the picks on defense. There will be a ton of guys making the minimum but at least they might have something to build around on D finally.

[CubFaninHydePark]

Nice to see Jay couldn't be bothered in his weeks off to forget how to throw lazy INTs on balls that sail.

This guy is trash. McCown can run the offense efficiently. Let Jay go. Save the money. If it falls apart, blow it up and draft Winston. Now he will be a true franchise QB.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

This guy is trash.

I hate Bears fans.

[Eli]

This guy is trash.

I hate Bears fans.

He's trolling us. He knows we know he's dumb, so he shows up every so often to say dumb things and get responses. These are the only kinds of posts he makes and he never actually engages.

[CBStew]

If it falls apart, blow it up and draft Winston. Now he will be a true franchise QB.

I don't agree.  Great defensively, but he needed Roosevelt to bail him out on offense.

[Tony]

Trolls, meatballs, dummies, whoever... Jay sure does make some stupid throws to give them material. Like SKO said on twitter, he doesn't always make it easy to defend him.

[Saul Goodman]

TJ, how do you grade this effort to ape your important work?

[SKO]

Trolls, meatballs, dummies, whoever... Jay sure does make some stupid throws to give them material. Like SKO said on twitter, he doesn't always make it easy to defend him.

Yeah, the first drive red zone interception was about as worst-case scenario as you could imagine. But whatever, he shrugged it off and ended up having a pretty good game. That game was perfect in that it gave everyone the evidence they needed to change absolutely nothing about their opinions, so, yay.

[Brownie]

TJ, how do you grade this effort to ape your important work?

I'm quite impressed, but couldn't the possibilitieologists at CBS focus on something more satisfying than Jacksonville making the playoffs?

[Tonker]

DAT MCCOWAN GUY WOULDDA WON MY MORE MY FRENTS.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

DAT MCCOWAN GUY WOULDDA WON MY MORE MY FRENTS.

Your whole more?