It's very obvious - and no leadership

[pjzabo]

This game put it all into glaring perspective for me, the awful ref show aside.

Cutler, aside from his obvious performance shortcomings, is not a leader. That's his M.O. and its clear. He's not a bad guy I'm sure, probably not the total ass a lot of Bears fans say he is, he simply does not lead the offense in any fashion. Matt Moore, while for sure not an excellent quarterback, has leadership qualities that his players respond to. But there are no leaders on the offensive line, that's for sure. The O-line penalties (some albeit barely deserved) are intolerable. Nobody takes ownership on that line. Pouncey? Please - he should be the leader. The TEs are invisible. Parker is invisible and does not fight for balls. Stills may be the most talented pure receiver but also does not strike out as a leader in the locker room, plus we have his anthem distractions. I used to love Juice but he strikes me a selfish player now. I get he is playing for his contract and I love the fire, but its all about him.

So no QB, a coach that blindly supports this under performing QB that the team clearly does not want to play for, an abysmal offensive line that cannot even handle the basic fundamentals of fielding the snap cleanly, forget being physically brutalized. I get it. Totally. The play calling is not even that much of a problem to me anymore. It's execution, pure and simple. The talent aside from the O Line and QB is serviceable if you ask me. That's what really hurts.

Defense. We spent real money. We spent real draft picks. There is some talent there, despite the bad contracts. There is NO leadership, no commitment. All the talk about their "meetings" this week. DISGUSTING. Tampa Bay with Fitzpatrick at home. PLEASE. I get how demoralizing 4 turnovers must be to the defense. But where is the pride? I point to coaching on this side of the ball. BIG TIME. I want Burke gone, like TODAY. His scheme, if you can call it that, is utterly predictable. He has neutered this defense. There is more here, its coaching.

I don't mind writing off this season, and unlike others, I don;t think it requires burning down the house. I'm realistic - Ross, TBaum, Grier, Gase are not going anywhere. But if at least the very obvious stuff is not addressed next season, I can't watch this team anymore.

 

[Butterfrog 2.0]

I agree with you about the offense, and the QB for sure but as it's been said 100x over here the season was pretty much shot the second RT17 went down. I'm 100% sure that Moore would have been a better option than Cutler as a starter, but Moore isn't a guy you want starting either. On defense I'm not real sure I agree here... I think there are leaders on this defense, they just lack the talent to defend certain things. Kiko Alonso couldn't cover a TE if his life depended on it, in fact ALL of pur lbs are terrible in coverage. Our safeties aren't much better either... we have SS's back there who are very active, and around the ball down near the box a lot but virtually never make plays downfield. The middle of the field is Wide open, all day every Sunday vs this team. Get 1 lb who can cover and a true FS who can actually cover and this defense improves by leaps and bounds.

 

[pjzabo]

Hey very fair point on the D and I agree that I had no expectations after RT went down. But it doesn't mean we shouldn't compete against other bad teams. Yes the 2xSS experiment is a failure to be sure. That needs to be addressed. I watched last years loss to Baltimore in a sports bar in Hilo, Hawaii (visiting my daughter). Bizarre to watch a breakfast game in HI with a handful of die hard Fins fans. And after that I said we have got to address these short TE passes in the middle because every other team in the NFL had the perfect blueprint after that game to TEAR us apart. And we still have no answer. And the Ravens pulled our pants down again this year but this time on national TV. But did anybody on this board think we did not have a stud D line going into this season? Where is the pressure? I watched the D line carefully all game. Suh is double or TRIPLE teamed and still no solution to pressure the QB. This not against Marino or Brady mind you. What is going to happen next week?? At some point is the scheme lacking? 4 turnovers is horrible, but our offense actually held the ball a little despite the constant problems on that side of the ball (that we have come to expect due to the lack of a quality QB or even second tier O line. Time of possession was pretty much a push in this game.

 

[Butterfrog 2.0]

I didn't think we had a stud D-line going into the season. We didn't have one last year and the only thing we did this year was add 3 rookies, and a solid yet unspectacular vet DE. Add in the fact that Suh and Wake are getting older also.