Don't Look Gift Bears in the Mouth

After the 2008 season, the Bears traded away Kyle Orton and a wheelbarrow full of hot steaming draft pics to acquire Jay Cutler, making it the largest acquisition for the Bears at the time since Staley the Bear was drafted in the first round in 2003. Since then the Bears have had success, but has Jay Cutler?





No one doubts Jay Cutler's arm strength and his ability to make throws downfield. His interceptions tend to be of the Rex Grossman School of the Turnover Arts variety where they come from either forcing something that isn't there or misreading a defense. However, he has since becoming a Bear, seemed to have settled into his role and these turnovers are becoming increasingly more isolated.

So he has the arm, he has the ability, he's not making mistakes. Why is he not then putting up the numbers that would put him in the conversation for a Pro Bowl appearance?

Well, to put this diplomatically, if Jay Cutler was an F-18 and his receivers were his payload, he would be armed with a side of water balloons and maybe some illegal fireworks.

I really need to stop making Top Gun references.

Okay, so I'm exaggerating a bit, but lets take a look at the current compliment of receivers. The current corps consist of the following players:

Roy Williams, Devin Hester, Earl Bennett, Dane Sazenbacher, Sam Hurd and Johnny Knox.

Dane Sazenbacher wears Kyle Orton's old number 18 jersey and is half a foot shorter and probably runs about the same speed as Captain Neckbeard. He is essentially like having a smaller Kyle Orton as a wide receiver. Roy Williams lost his arms in a horrible industrial accident in Dallas two years ago. Earl Bennett is good but he would be lucky to be a number two wide receiver in any other franchise but the Bears. Devin Hester and Johnny Knox are speed demons but have trouble reading coverage and figuring out where to go to best drop the ball downfield.

Look, I know I'm not exactly being Sherlock Holmes by saying the Bears have issues at wide receiver (I will allow some time for my readers to clean off their monitors the spit-take residue I induced by laying down such a shocking statement).

But I say: what's the big deal?

The Bears are winning. They are playing good football without a receiver that combines both speed and awareness.

And this is leading to success. As Bears fans, we have become accustomed to our team being one of the most unpredictable clubs in the NFL. I think what the Bears are doing is trying to find some consistency, and it is finally showing with this offense. The line is tightening up, Jay Culter is getting some chemistry with his targets and finding a limited amount of success and of course Matt Forte having a ridiculous season helps.

Basically, what I am saying is with people clamoring for the Bears to land a flashy wide receiver so we can finally unleash Cutler on to the NFL maybe should take a step back until the success that the Bears are experiencing wanes. Yes, under the current personnel package, we are probably seeing the best of what we are going to see out of Jay Cutler: a pretty good QB that will win more games than he will lose. Maybe that's enough. He's not going to go to the Pro Bowl. But still, if he's winning games, yes, he is experiencing success. Changing up the people around him might be something the Bears should look into only if they fail to make a post-season run again this year. I'd rather take 11-5 or 10-6 and a shot at a playoff berth every season than a coin flip every year between 13-3 and 2-14.