I don't see it. Theyre in win now mode with veterans all over the roster. All that goes out the window if they let Cutler go and start over with a rookie. The Bears could have beaten GB in 2011 with better WRs.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

The NFL has changed. You can win with a young quarterback. Assuming Cutler doesn't have a career year, it's not a stretch to think that a younger QB could be a suitable replacement for cheaper with more potential.

Ironically, it's much of the same logic that forced them to move on from Orton. The goal is not to have an average quarterback. The goal is to have an elite quarterback and every season that Cutler plays it becomes less likely he'll see massive improvements.

It also is shaping up to be a real good year to get a quarterback in the draft.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I suspect "yet" may be the operative word.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

If I were them I would silently hope to suck this year and get a guy like Bridgewater. He can spread the ball around like Trestman wants, brings the running element that teams playing the bears do not have to prepare for and he is going to be CHEAP. You can go and get some other players with a young cheap QB. You might be screwed once its time to pay him but you cross that bridge when you have to just like Seattle and San Fran will.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

I agree.

Darkside's face is stupid.

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The recent success of young QBs has nothing to do with youth; they're good because they have talent. That they are also young is coincidental.

It is a stretch to think a younger QB could be a suitable replacement because rookies have never done it before at the NFL level. For every RGIII, Luck, and Wilson, you have Blaine Gabbert, Colt McCoy, and Matt Leinart. I'm all for the Bears grabbing a can't miss prospect in the draft should one fall to them, but I don't think the success of some young QBs in the league should have any bearing on how the Bears judge Cutler moving forward.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Truth.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

You seem to think the Bears can't win with a young QB. There are many examples of that not being true. Of course a new QB may be bad. Our current QB may be bad too. When you factor in the price Cutler will demand, and the average results he has provided so far, it's not a major gamble to think someone else could come in and be average too with a higher upside. At some point, you have to trust your GM to make a good pick.

It would be different if Cutler were putting up numbers like Tony Romo or Matt Ryan. Instead, he's putting up numbers like Christian Ponder and Ryan Fitzpatrick.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Of course it's possible that the Bears can [eventually] win with a young QB. My issue is can the Bears still win "now" if they go with a young QB next year? I don't think so. And yes there's more upside with a highly regarded rookie or young QB like the backup in DC (the name escapes me), but guys like Marshall, Forte, Bush, and the entire defense will likely age out by the time the next QB finds his way. I think any transition period between Cutler and the next QB, if he's a rookie or similarly experienced, will mean the beginning of the end for much of the "supporting cast."

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

The Bears aren't winning "now" now.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

Sure, that may be the case. But I want to make a distinction between my own opinion of their window to win, and how the Bears see themselves and their championship window. It seems to me that Emery thinks the Bears can win "now," as demonstrated by signing veteran players at skill positions to complement Cutler, the Bushrod signing, and the LBs he signed after Urlacher left. To me, those signings smack of a "win now" line of thinking.

That being said, while I think they're still behind teams like San Fran and GB in talent, I wouldn't be surprised if the Bears went deep into the playoffs. The Ravens are the most recent example of a winning team that incongruously straddled the line between good and mediocre + during the regular season, and I can see the Bears having success at this point in similar ways. You don't have to be excellent in all facets of the game to find yourself in the Super Bowl, in my opinion. It's not that I'm confident of their chances, it's just that I think they're sufficiently talented enough to passively reap the benefits of NFL week to week randomness.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Word.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Well hey...

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Jay is definitely going to have the ass this weekend. His woman got busted by Evanston police for not having a valid Illinois drivers license. Sounds like it was far more of a pain in the ass than a ticket as it involved going into the station and posting bail.

http://www.tmz.com/2013/09/06/kristin-c ... n-chicago/

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

To her credit, it's kind of a revenue-grubbing law that has been quietly installed recently... I'm not sure why one would assume that one would have to have an IL license, if you still had a valid one i another state.

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

If your passing offense is as putrid as the Bears', you most certainly do have to be excellent in all other facets of the game, and sometimes even that's not enough (see: last season). A poor passing offense also makes it far more likely that the Bears (who, offensively speaking, have been a high-variance team since Cutler arrived) will be the victims of randomness than the beneficiaries of it.

I don't get the Ravens comparison at all. If we use Cutler's arrival as the comparison point, the Bears have gone 7-9, 11-5, 8-8, 10-6, with one division title (1-1 playoff record). In that same span, the Ravens have gone 9-7, 12-4, 12-4, 10-6, with two division titles, four total playoff appearances (7-3 playoff record) and a Super Bowl win. I'll spare us a comparison of the passing numbers, but suffice it to say, if you see these two teams as similar, you must think Trestman is some kind of sorcerer.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

I used the Ravens as an example of a team with rather unremarkable personnel (outside of specific stars like Rice and Suggs) being able to go deep into the playoffs as a result of good coaching and taking advantage of random schedule and game quirks. The Ravens have been better record-wise over the time span you mentioned, but I don't believe there's a great talent disparity between the two teams despite the disparate records. Also, and this doesn't mean much, but the 8-8 season should have an asterisk affixed to it since they were something like 7-3 before Hanie replaced the injured Cutler and went 1-5.

This is admittedly simplistic of me, but if the 2012 Ravens can go deep into the playoffs, so can the 2013 Bears. I guess where we differ is where you seem to be pessimistic about the offense and its passing attack, I am slightly optimistic. In addition to a new TE and Jeffery's expected emergence as a solid possession WR, I am encouraged by Trestman and Emery's goal to get Forte involved as a receiver as well. I think 21-23 ppg is the ceiling for this team in its first year of Trestman's offense, and if the defense remains more or less consistent with last year's performance (3rd overall in points given up), the Bears are in the playoffs.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Better line, upgraded TE, good offense for Forte, presumably better play calling... it's time for Jay to put up or shut up.

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

I love this gif.

Who wouldn't have this reaction with that meathead following you around

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Offense needs to go through Forte. IMO he needs to be the best player in order for the Bears to have success. A Pro Bowl year from Forte and we are talking Super Bowl.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!