By Jim Coffman
It has to be called McDaniels’ Folly doesn’t it?
In the end, that’s how the Broncos’ ever-more-unfathomable trade of quarterback (the most important and difficult single position in all of team sports) Jay Cutler to the Bears will be remembered. You could hear it in announcers Al Michaels’ and Chris Collinsworth’s voices right from the get-go last night during the broadcast of the Bears’ pre-season contest at Denver.
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When they referred to Denver rookie head coach Josh McDaniels, the one whose inability to establish rapport with his team’s 25-year-old Pro Bowl quarterback led to the transaction, they didn’t come right out and say, “He seems like such a bright young man, how could he have been such an idiot?”
But the insinuation could not have been clearer and they kept it up all night long. In the end (a long, fourth-quarter interview) we found out former super-safety and new NBC studio analyst Rodney Harrison – local guy, former Western Illinois standout who won two Super Bowls during his six-year run with the Patriots after nine years with the Chargers – capped it all off by saying that yes, he thinks McDaniels is an idiot too.
The main thing I don’t understand is why the 33-year-old former Patriot offensive coordinator took the job with the Broncos if he didn’t want to work with the immensely talented signal-caller who was already there – the kind of quarterback who throughout NFL history has been far too valuable to trade?
The fact is that in the aftermath of the announcement of this deal, no one has been able to find a comparable move in the last 30, 40 or 50 years. In fact, there hasn’t ever been one.
McDaniels was apparently on the job for less than a month before he reached out to the Patriots, trying to set up a trade for the quarterback he worked with the season before – former Patriots back-up Matt Cassell. Cassell was good last year in relief of Tom Brady but he was playing in the best offense in the league. It was all downhill from there as Cutler got wind of the trade talks, experienced extreme agitation, conveyed that to his employers and soon convinced them to move him out.
One inescapable conclusion is that McDaniels values his offensive system over all else. Cassell had been an unknown back-up (he went to USC but was never the starting quarterback there) before replacing Tom Brady in the first game in 2008 amidst a historic collection of offensive talent (the one that went 19-1 the year before with Brady at the helm) and taking the team to an 11-5 record. McDaniels must have believed Cassell could run the system better than Cutler. I wonder if he’s at least starting to realize that virtually no one else agrees with him. Or at least no one else believes that in this sort of a situation, a coach shouldn’t change the system (a West-Coast-type possession passing scheme that of course isn’t really McDaniels’ but is mostly what was there before he took over the Pats offense with some elements from a few other schemes mixed in) to suit the talent. No wonder the Broncos fans were so upset last night.
Some observers have made fun of the fact that stories have been written surveying Bears fans and finding that yes, they do remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they found out their team had traded for Cutler. The fact of the matter, though, is that thousands of local football fanatics knew the importance of acquiring a young, franchise quarterback far better than McDaniels did. The fans who didn’t know quickly communicated with the ones who did (including the many Bears fans with jobs in the local sports media) and the celebration began in earnest almost immediately.
One of the most prominent voices still expressing significant doubts about Cutler despite the massive majority that feels differently is former Colt head coach Tony Dungy. Dungy believes Cutler’s immaturity is a big problem. That’s an easy thing to say when you’ve just spent seven seasons coaching with Peyton Manning at the helm.
Seriously, though, perhaps it takes watching your team struggle for decade after decade without ever having anything consistently special behind center to truly appreciate what a great quarterback can do. It would have been okay if we could have skipped the suffering, but it is great to be here now.
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As for the specifics of Sunday night’s game, well, first we must bust out the usual qualifier stating that none of it means anything. Let us remember yet again that this was an exhibition contest, one in which both teams almost certainly declined to reveal a whole lot of what their primary schemes will be when the real games start.
Still . . .
Look, Devin Hester is back to return a punt! It’s about time! If Hester is going to avoid a repeat of last year, when he never did take an opposing kick back for a touchdown after having piled up the return scores the two years before, he probably needs to practice a bit and he hadn’t in the first two pre-season games.
And here’s the first one, and . . . Hester fails to field a short kick (it may have been physically impossible to do so but still . . . ) and it bounces, and bounces, and bounces some more, moving the Bears at least 25 yards further back in their own territory.
And later on in the first half, here’s the second opposing punt, and Hester is going to catch this one, except he’s signaling for a fair catch, and he’s moving back inside the 10, all the way to the 5!
Yikes, Devin, we don’t mind if you field it at the 5 (although good punt returners let the vast majority of kicks inside the 10 go) – just don’t fair catch it! And the next punt is straight out of bounds and the next one . . . okay, this looks promising, Hester is headed right, a few blocks are lining up and then . . . ridiculousness! He cuts it up and just like that he is 50 yards up the field. Hester didn’t quite score (he was tackled at the 5) but his 54-yard return was longer than any of his returns last year and it set up the Bears’ first touchdown.
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Those were some awfully good catches by Matt Forte and Greg Olsen during the highly satisfying 98-yard scoring drive at the end of the first half. On the catch that brought the Bears into the vicinity of field-goal range, Olsen (who earlier in the march caught about a 20-yarder in stride and uncontested) was hit hard the instant the ball arrived but still hung on. And on the touchdown, Forte was covered like a Velcro blanket and yet still managed to grab a low pass (it had to be or it would have been knocked away) and secure it before he hit the ground.
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The Broncos probably have the best cornerback tandem in the league (Champ Bailey and Andre Goodman) and they just about completely shut down the Bear wideouts in the first half. And it didn’t matter. The defense was solid (although the most important thing was probably a series of Denver penalties), the special teams came up with a perfectly timed big play and Greg Olsen was featured prominently in the aforementioned great drive. The wideouts barely contributed but the Bears ended up dominating the half. Not that it mattered, either. Only two more weeks until it does.
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Jim Coffman rounds up the sports weekend in this space every Monday. He welcomes your comments.
Posted on August 31, 2009