Bears 2nd qtr 2016 season

   The 3rd quarter of the season started this past weekend where the Bears had their bye week ending the 2nd quarter with a 2-6 record giving away 2 games more to the woeful AFC south teams leaving us all with shattered dreams of playoff hopes. But for us optimistic fools, we still see a chance of more football on January. But first, recapping the last 4 horrifying games of the Brian Hoyer era.

So, there goes the efficient but not so effective Hoyer who threw more than 300 yards in all the 4 games he started and finished… against teams that were down in the mud (except for Dallas) losing all but one game. Its arguable that the offense left too many points on the field and sometimes settled for FG when reaching the red zone and that the defense was to banged up or was just outplayed by the game plan or themselves that they couldn’t sustain a win with so few points scored by the offense. But the Colts and Jaguars games where there for the taking and they couldn’t be more different scenarios and what the team needed was for Hoyer to be clutch and finish those games in the final minutes, the receivers where there and the defenses were average at best but he couldn’t make the necessary throws. 

   Honestly I thought after the win against Detroit that if Hoyer kept playing like that and sustain those numbers with no turnovers, he was finishing the season as the starter and not because I thought he was better than Cutler but because he was more efficient on that offense, I couldn’t comprehend how you lose games with the numbers Hoyer made in those games and how the Oline got better with him playing but I knew that if he played like that against Green Bay he was going to be set, the coaches weren’t going to turn back to Cutler… and then BAM he gets hurt, lost for the season, and in comes the backup Matt Barkley who was not ready, not even close. Then “magically” Cutler is ready to play, which I looked at it as he was available if needed since after the Jacksonville game, if Hoyer started to play badly he would have started at Green Bay but now, like he stated, Fox didn’t have a choice. I see coach John Fox as somewhat lost on what to do with this team but I do believe he has good coaches working for him and are showing that with time they will know how to handle the players they have, I’m excited to see Howard, Meredith and Callahan grow into starting caliber players, it’s just a shame it took some games to know they could play and contribute, I wouldn’t be surprised if Deon Bush gets a crack at safety soon and plays well. 

   So, in comes Jay Cutler just in time to face another good defense if not the best in the league because Hoyer got to play the soft part of the first half… immediately I think Cutler is going to get hammered without his two starting guards and reporters are going to bash him like always. I can only thank the Eagles for showing Vic Fangio the way to destroy Sam Bradford and Dowell Loggins for protecting Cutler with bootlegs and read options which wouldn’t be possible if not for the great play of Jordan Howard, even better was that the Oline didn’t miss a beat. Now I must admit that Cutler could have given this game away but he got lucky when he threw the ball to Jeffery in the first quarter and almost got picked by Xavier Rhodes which would possibly resulted in a pick six but you need this kind of luck and it´s fair to get this lucky once in a while which Cutler rarely gets, for the rest of the game he played good enough mistake free football (except for that pass that hit Jeffery in the back of the helmet… what was that all about?) and the defense showed they can get to the QB when the Oline is a bad one, that helps players like Leonard Floyd to get the confidence they need to produce against better units.

   In short, Hoyer didn’t get far enough to show he could win against good teams, Cutler is and should be in command again but this time with no one to back him up and that is troublesome, good thing were starting to establish and believing in the run game so here’s hoping the Oline gets better with the return of Sitton and Long which I really don’t know how they got better in the first place, thank you football gods (or coaches, whatever).

    As for the record of 2-6 well, it’s going to be hard to get to 8-8 but with what I’ve seen of this team I still believe they can make it with the return of key injured players to the roster and I can even go further to believe they can get to the playoffs just because there aren’t that many dominant teams in the conference and Chicago isn’t playing any, the only teams who are contenders on their schedule are the divisional rivals and the Giants, winning those four are crucial if they want to go to the postseason. Next quarter is against Tampa Bay, Tennessee, NY and SF, Bucs and 49ers should be easy wins, Titans aren’t that good and Giants get hot & cold so winning 3 games at least gives them a chance to get labeled as an underdog for the final strech of the season, less than that and we can start waiting for the 2017 season which I believe does not have a good QB class, so until Ryan Pace doesn’t select a QB to groom, I would stick with Cutler and wait for the Bledsoe/Romo effect. The DB and EDGE group looks loaded with promising prospects and that’s good for the Bears who I think will part ways with Kyle Fuller, who just didn’t play enough to show progress because of injuries, and at OLB you can never have too much young speed on your defense.

And congrats to the Cubs, here’s hoping the Bears get some motivation and fighting spirit out of that excellent world series.