Jake

I think Illini need to go .500 in conference play and I'm not sure whether we can do it. Should be a fun and frustrating ride as always.

IMO it is a far, far more absurd argument to say that Lovie Smith would prevent that freak play than it is to say that Cutler could have/should have played better today

Jim Miller said it best - "Jay Cutler didn't play badly. But was it great? No it wasn't." There is a matter of expectations here. Jenks and I are expecting greatness. We traded two first round draft picks for greatness. We've been paying him 10 million dollars per year for greatness. We are apparently considering giving him a 50% raise for greatness. It isn't what we're getting. We're getting the same old inconsistency. Too many possessions just given away by poor throws and decisions. In the game and drive where it mattered most, we came up empty. On non-QB matters, this is something to think about: it wouldn't be difficult to flip into a 3-4 scheme in this offseason. Think about the players under contract/we would want to bring back: all 3 corners (not that all three will come back, but that we would want them all), Briggs under contract, and then you have McClellin and Bostic as key cogs on rookie contracts, and then Ratliff/Wootton as some DL we'd probably like to bring back. All of these guys fit in 3-4. I would love Bostic-Briggs as the ILB. You have McClellin as rushing OLB. Corners are good to go. You need new safeties regardless. Ratliff made his name in the middle of a 3-4 line and Wootton is that perfect mixture of DT/DE to fit as a down lineman in a 3-4. Heck, even our 6th round pick Cornelius Washington would look a lot better as a rushing OLB (look at that guy's combine stats, good gracious). Also, Mel Tucker is a rare breed that has coordinated both 4-3 and 3-4 in the NFL. Our scheme today featured McClellin standing up almost the entire time BTW. With the amount of turnover we expect on D and the personnel that are going to stay, this would be the time to change if Emery and/or Trestman really want to do it.

I'm talking about who our QB should be next season. I have no arguments about how good our D is. It sucks. It's the worst. I want to have some money available to spend on it.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 06:48 PM) I recall Cutler hitting Jeffrey in the hands on the 20 yard line that would have likely sealed the game, but I guess Jeffery would have caught that pass if it was thrown by someone else? I wanted Jeffery to make that play, but it was by no means easy and shouldn't have been a back shoulder throw. It also is far from a guarantee of a victory, since we were still quite far from a TD even with that catch. Nobody is saying this is all on Cutler or anything like this. Riddle me this: if GB and CHI swapped QBs today, who wins? I'm being told that Cutler outplayed Rodgers, so I suppose GB wins by even more?

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 06:43 PM) He hit Jeffreys in the hands down near the 20. He dropped it. Do you want him to run down there and catch it as well. Logic embrace it. Relax people. I don't know how you could say that Cutler played an amazing game today. The only reason we were in it on offense was one of Forte's best games of his life. Cutler played a fine game, he managed it well and made several very good plays, but I want to roll the dice on finding a guy that never loses games like this. I just don't want to pay Cutler to play better than he ever has before again. I guarantee, regardless of what he thinks about Cutler, Trestman will say the offense didn't do what it needed to today. This is a very, very bad GB defense. We have a very, very bad defense. You had to get more points than we did. Plain and simple. I think QB is responsible for a great deal of the scoring that we do. Nobody expected our defense to play well, but we have expected Cutler to play as well as the Aaron Rodgerses of the world for 5 seasons and it never even comes close.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 06:40 PM) You watched that game and think it was Cutlers fault. Really. I didn't say that. I'd like a defense that allows 14 points too. But since we're thinking about committing this quite remarkably good core of offensive skill players to Cutler for the next 4+ years, this is one of many different experiences that leads me to believe that he is just not the guy. And of course, keeping this QB will hamstring our ability to add veterans to the defense in the near term

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 06:37 PM) Yeah let's ignore the pretty awful first half. Cutler is simply not a franchise QB. He's a thrower, not a passer. He didn't lose the game for the Bears, but he didn't win it either. You can tell the difference between Rogers and Cutler - extended drives, extended plays and great decisions with the ball. I'd rather the Bears scrap the team and rebuild the next year or two and build around the O-line, Marshall and Jeffrey. Put that 16-18 million into some safeties and d-lineman. We're on the same page. It isn't that Cutler sucked, it's that a 15 million dollar QB wins a game like this, that was there for the taking even with a horrible defense. I'm not going to absolve the defense, but that doesn't mean I don't expect the offense to play over it. I do expect them to score 34 points against a defense that is IMO every bit as bad as ours.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 06:35 PM) You thought that was a good defensive game? They gave up 475 yards and couldn't get the Packers off the field. I didn't say that. I said we were consistently in the right defense and the players were not making the plays. There have been many games this year where scheme and play were terrible, but not today. Scheme was great. Play was bad, by and large.

This is a game your QB is supposed to get you. We didn't have a QB that could get us a win like this, at least not on the field

Tucker will have a very compelling case for his job as he shows how well he called this game and had his players completely let him down. You know what though, offense didn't do enough either. 28 points was never supposed to be enough in this one

A very "meh" day by the offense, a flukey and dumb play by the D, and a frustrating final drive by GB and there's your ballgame

This is a game where IMO the defense was brilliantly schemed and the lack of talent by the defensive players continually sabotaged them. We haven't been this schematically prepared for an opponent in a long time but it apparently won't matter

If Conte covers his man, there's no way there is a completion and possibly not even an attempt on that play

Perfect defense, bad execution once again

Clock becoming a factor

I feared a big play on fourth, so that was okay

Does GB run the rock here?

Run defense has been surprisingly competent short of a single play with Steltz's missed tackle

Questionable to not call delay of game

Either way, Ratliff made a great play there

Either make a stop or give it up quickly

Not a bad shot downfield, just couldn't bring it down. Was a really tough catch with where Shields was

Last time I checked PFF, we average about 10 ypc on runs outside the TE this season

Really need points on this drive, we're going to give GB a chance to legitimately control their own destiny and run the clock