Bad Week for the Bears and Cutler
For Chicago Bears quarterback, Jay Cutler, this has not been a good week. Last Sunday, the Chicago Bears lost to the Arizona Cardinals, 41-21. And then, on Thursday night, the Chicago Bears lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 10-6. In that game against the 49ers, despite his first four interceptions, the Bears still had a chance to win the game at the end. However, Jay Cutler last interception was a costly one.
The Bears were at the 12-yard line of the 49ers, but Jay Cutler threw his fifth interception in the end zone to 49ers safety, Michael Lewis, at the end the game, which ended any chances of a Bears victory. If that was not bad enough for Jay Cutler, on Friday, the NFL fined him $20,000 for his unsportsmanlike conduct penalty during the game against the Arizona Cardinals. From being traded from the first place Denver Broncos, at the beginning of season, to the struggling Chicago Bears, what else could go wrong for Jay Cutler?
Well, there is nothing like a win to turn things around. The Chicago Bears will play the Philadelphia Eagles next week. Hopefully for the Chicago Bears and Jay Cutler, they can get a win to get into the playoff race. Though, it will be tough going against the Eagles defense. We shall see if Jay Cutler and the Bears can recover, so stay tuned.
(Sources: ESPN)
NFL Week 1: Great Debuts and Some Things Never Change
Brett Favre is back. Minnesota Vikings new leader, Brett Favre, had an great debut for the Vikings. With the help of Adrian Peterson, who had 180-yards rushing and scored 3-touchdowns, the Vikings beat the Cleveland Browns 34-20. Favre threw for 110-yards and one touchdown. Also, New York Jets new rookie QB, Mark Sanchez, was another player who had a impressive debut as well. Mark Sanchez through for 272-yards and had one touchdown to lead the Jets to a victory over the Houston Texans, 24-7.
One player that did not have a great debut was Chicago Bears QB, Jay Cutler. Even though the Bears had a chance to win the game, Jay Cutler’s 4-interceptions, including his last interception with 58-seconds left, would doomed the Bears and helped the Green Bay Packers get the victory, 21-15. And for the Detroit Lions, it was not a good day as well.
The Detroit Lions continued their regular-season losing streak to 18 games. The Lions lost to the New Orleans Saints, 45-27. Drew Brees looked awesome, throwing for 358-yards and 6 TDs. And for the Cincinnati Bengals, lady luck was not on their side. With 11 seconds left in the game, Denver Broncos wide-receiver, Brandon Stokley, caught a deflected pass and scored a 87-yard touchdown to help the Broncos beat the Bengals, 12-7 on an amazing and unbelievable play.
With great debuts from Brett Favre and Mark Sanchez, it was another great weekend of NFL football. But, for teams like the Lions, hopefully they can end their losing streak. But, only time will tell.
Cutler’s Trade to Chicago, Ends His Rivalry with Rivers
The Denver Broncos traded quarterback Jay Cutler to the Chicago Bears on Thursday, in exchange for QB Kyle Orton and two 1st-round draft picks in 2009 and 2010, along with a third-round pick this year. Jay Cutler had a great rivalry going with San Diego Chargers QB Philip Rivers, but with the trade of Cutler, their rivalry will have to wait until the Bears play the Chargers someday.
This was a good move for both teams. The Denver Broncos got the distraction out of the locker-room and now, the Broncos can move forward on building for the future. As for the Chicago Bears, they finally got the quarterback they needed. Plus, the Bears will also get a fifth-round pick from Broncos. Jay Cutler is a veteran quarterback with a good arm. With Jay Cutler and a strong defense, the Bears might be tough to beat.
Only time will tell on who got the better trade, the Bears or Broncos. As for the Rivers-Cutler rivalry, well it was fun while it lasted. The San Diego Chargers ended the Denver Broncos chance of making the playoff last year. Both teams were looking forward to continuing this classic rivalry with both QBs competitiveness in 2009. However, all good things in football must come to an end, but the Rivers-Cutler rivalry will not be forgotten.
Sources: (XX Sports Radio, ESPN)
Chargers Dismissed Ted Cottrell as Defensive Coordinator
After eight games into the NFL season, the struggling San Diego Chargers at 3-5 decided to make a coaching change to try to spark the Chargers defense. The Chargers fired Ted Cottrell as defensive coordinator. Inside linebackers coach Ron Rivera is now the new defensive coordinator for the Chargers.
Why was Ted Cottrell dismissed? Well, since the New England Patriots game, the Chargers defense has not sacked the quarterback in two games and the Chargers have lost both games. Even though the Chargers don’t have Shawne Merriman in their line-up due to an injury, the Chargers have good players on defense. With players like Luis Castillo, Jamal Williams, and Shaun Phillips, the Chargers should be able to put pressure or gets sacks on the quarterback. This will help the secondary to make plays. Instead, players like Quentin Jammer and Antonio Cromartie and others on the secondary have to stay longer with the receivers, which allows the opposing quarterbacks to pick apart the Chargers Defense.
So, what’s the problem? The coach needs to create the right schemes and put players in the right position to make plays and the Chargers Defense has not been doing that. You could say that it’s the other teams, however, when every opponent is not getting pressure, then it more on the what Chargers are doing or not doing. The Chargers needed to do something to spark the defense, enter Ron Rivera.
Ron Rivera was the defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears during their Super Bowl run in 2006 and a Super Bowl winner as a player for the Chicago Bears in 1985. Rivera did apply for the Chargers head coaching job, but was later hired as inside linebackers coach instead. Now Rivera has to find a way to bring back the pass rush and get the defense back in gear. If Rivera can figure out how to get to the defense rolling and with the Chargers high-powered offense, the Chargers could be posied to make their run. We shall see what happens.
Donovan McNabb Embarrassed by Team’s Performance
Donovan McNabb wrote in his blog, on Yardbaker.com, that he was embarrassed on how the Philadelphia Eagles played the last two weeks. Donovan McNabb felt that his team should have beaten the Washington Redskins and the Chicago Bears. Donovan McNabb reiterated his feelings at his news conference, on Wednesday. McNabb felt that the Philadelphia Eagles could have played better and that everyone, including himself, needed to step it up.
What’s wrong with the Philadelphia Eagles is that they are only just two games behind in the division. Anything can still happen, but the better team did win the last two Sundays. It easy to say we should have done this or that, but you got to make the plays to win games. Maybe it’s just one or two plays that decides the game, but that’s football. Like they say, “It is what it is” or “On any given Sunday.” That’s true in this case as well. Hopefully for the Philadelphia Eagles, they’ll listen to Donovan McNabb and do what they need to do to start winning games. Only time will tell where the Eagles go from here.
(Sources: Yardbarker.com, NFL.com, ESPN)