If Robert Kraft gave me an opportunity to select any five guys from one team to join the Patriots, I’d select Devin Hester, Matt Forte, Marion Barber, Julius Peppers, and Brian Urlacher -- all of whom play for the Chicago Bears. And yet, despite being totally happy with my hypothetical selections, I can’t help but notice that analysts almost never pick the Bears to win games. While the Packers and the Saints have fans across the USA, it seems to me that Bears fans are entirely situated in Illinois, and they’re generally the only ones who give the Bears the odds of winning on any given Sunday or Monday.
Now last night, a filthy game of bone-splitting football took place in Philadelphia, and everyone across the country picked the Eagles to win. The reason for this, in my opinion, is entirely suspicious. The Eagles haven’t necessarily played poorly this season, but there is such a thing as the “eye test,” and in this case, the eye test told me that Philadelphia’s newfound success and confidence was flowing from the strength of a win streak, which is perhaps the flimsiest hook to possibly hang your hat on. Win streaks are like dollars, they come and go, and you just end up having to go out and earn more. If win streaks earned championships, we’d have four Super Bowl rings instead of three.
Earlier, of the five Bears I expressed a hypothetical interest in acquiring, I left out Jay Cutler. The reason is simply because I wouldn’t trade Tom Brady for anyone. Brady is the best quarterback of all time, and he’s completely irreplaceable. But for the sake of argument, if we didn’t have Tom Brady, and Robert Kraft’s offer was still open, I’d replace my Barber pick with Cutler, and I’d be pretty happy knowing that the most underestimated man in football was gonna be controlling our offense.
Jay Cutler takes a lot of heat. People really don’t like him, and at times it’s obvious why; he almost always looks disengaged from the game, and he constantly appears irritated with his teammates and his offensive coordinators. I’m aware of his look, and in a word, he looks disinterested. But I’ve watched this guy for a few years now, and I can tell you that this guy is not detached or disinterested or disengaged from the game of football. This guy wants to win, and he wants to do it at the expense of your self-respect. This guy is less Tim Duncan and more Kobe Bryant. I’ve noticed that the more you watch Jay Cutler, the more you realize he’s less of a cavalier-kinda-guy and more of a psychopathic competitor with an arm like a flare gun. Added to this is the fact that he gets viciously knocked down as much as any quarterback in the NFL, and he never complains; he simply gets up and throws mustard-laden footballs and embarrasses the guys who knocked him down. And yet, this guy can’t seem to get any respect.
As a die-hard New England fan, I’m ethically barred from actively rooting for another team while the Patriots are still in it. But I should admit that my three favorite football players of all time are Tom Brady, Gale Sayers, and Walter Payton -- and two of those guys are Bears. And I felt like I was the only guy who knew the Bears were going to beat the Eagles last night. Why nobody else saw that coming is beyond me. So what exactly does Jay Cutler have to do to earn a little respect?
