Well, That Was a Kick in the Junk

For everyone that is laughing at the Bears for giving up a lot of draft picks for Jay Cutler, and getting an alleged turd in return, I ask you this—would you like Cutler over Sagevaris Jacksonfels? I know I would. I understand that it was a steep price to pay, and the Vikings, after paying a steep price for Jared Allen last season, couldn’t do another trade like that two years in a row, but did it have to be the Bears?

There are few certainties in my life as I age; sometimes those truisms are all you can hold on to in tumultuous times. For example, the annual St Louis Cardinals devastating shoulder injury has occurred, this time taking out Troy Glaus until the All Star game. Whew, glad that’s out of the way. Ohio State always has great running backs. France gets their ass kicked in battle. Illinois politics is corrupt. The Chicago Bears have quarterbacks that are terrible.

You see, the one thing that’s held back the Bears over the years is that they couldn’t find a quarterback that was NFL caliber, which would be okay if they weren’t an NFL franchise. They even made it to the Super Bowl with a great defense and a quarterback named Rex the Wonder Dog. Had they had Jay Cutler on that team, they quite possibly would have won that game.

The Bears have a lot of similarities to the Vikings offensively—good running game, an emerging tight end, and a HUGE question at quarterback. Their wide receivers are bad, but I can expect them to get better simply for the fact they have a better QB throwing to them. The Bears were 9-7 with an average defense and bad quarterback play. Is Cutler worth 2 wins? Yeah, I think he is when you look at his stats and realize that he went 8-8 on a team with a defense that’s slightly worse than some good high school programs. Get a proven WR, like Torry Holt, give him a good running game that will allow Devin Hester to make some plays, and all of a sudden the Bears are a thoroughly dangerous team.

But that dominating defense that is the Bears calling card slipped a little bit last year, and they’re a year older. The Bears have a much better quarterback than the Vikings, but the Vikes still have the better defense, running game, and receivers, making them the more complete team.

If Sage "We Worked on That Trade For Two Years" Rosenfels improves the quarterback play minimally, by just a win, they win the division, but the Bears will be hot on their heels all season long.