Naturally, Jay Cutler not being able to finish the NFC Championship led to immediate speculation and plenty of phony, overly macho chest-thumping about playing through pain. When the word "pussy" was able to be said or printed, it most certainly was. I wish I could say that it was uttered strictly by ESPN personalities who seem to make it a point to be as stupid as possible, but unfortunately I saw even some friends of mine that were supposedly fans of the team pinning this loss entirely on what they believed was a quarterback's personal decision to sit out the rest of the contest with the Packers.
I've already had my say on this, and I'll stand by those comments. But for the sake of this blog, a few thoughts on the year in general:
- I don't know what to say about Lovie Smith. Part of me wants to rush to his defense and point out the job he's done with less talent than other teams. But at the same time, as the head coach of this team, much of the blame for the Bears final loss falls squarely on his shoulders. What was the problem with attempting a field goal? What was that timeout about with the clock already stopped in the fourth quarter? And how do you come out of that break with that end around call? And why in the fucking world was Todd Collins still the backup quarterback after his God awful performance against Carolina? Jerry Angelo has said that he wants to give Lovie an extension, but just as I thought a win over Green Bay would guarantee Smith could be coach of the team for as long as he wanted, the way the loss occurred now puts pressure on him to perform once again next year to see if he's truly deserving of any additional time leading this team.
- No, I have no idea what's the top priority in the draft for this team. They need a legitimate top wide receiving threat (Hello, Plaxico Burress?). There's the offensive line. And then there's the wondering about which soon-to-be free agents you hang on to, and which you let go. Whatever happens with the upcoming CBA issues, the Bears have some important decisions to make this off-season.
- I feel bad for Jay Cutler, and I'm sure he'll get loads of moronic haters for years to come, but I guess that in a way I look forward to laughing at how retarded these people's logic is when I have to listen to it. Somehow, I come out of this whole thing probably being a bigger Cutler fan than I was before, albeit mostly out of pity now.
- Also tremendously underappreciated this year—on a national level—was Julius Peppers. It seems that many pundits focus strictly on sacks, which totally ignores how effective he was on the line throughout the season.
- Brian Urlacher has to be in consideration for Comeback Player of the Year, and really, also bolstered his consideration for the Hall of Fame this season. People who complain that he's too old now obviously didn't see him play.
- If the AFC West is still rather "Meh" next year, then I actually don't think the 2011 schedule is too terribly intimidating—at least, right now it's not. Free agency could change a number of things, after all.
- Like I said, no complaints from me about this year. When the Bears are a winning team, they're fun to watch and the environment surrounding the games in this area are invariably a blast to be a part of. Yeah, so they didn't get to the Super Bowl. But again, keeping in mind how low my expectations were, this team made me pretty happy this year.
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