By Jim Coffman
Will the fact that Jay Cutler occasionally causes opponents to absolutely lose their minds – cue the tape of Cleveland Brown defensive coordinator Rob Ryan screaming “Fuck you! Fuck you!” at the quarterback on Sunday, help him win a championship? Because that’s all that matters – we really don’t care if he is a delightful chap to have around, we just care if he puts up victories. Cutler is who he is and he may change a little as he goes along, but he won’t undergo any sort of startling transformation.
Cutler plays the part of the infuriating adolescent so well it sometimes drives foes to absolute distraction (he must have been a joy to parent during that last stage when kids are still communicating regularly with mom and dad but the tone is changing and they revel in things like catching them in contradictions). And we all know guys who never really got out of that stage, they just transferred their scorn from parents to peers. Last season saw opposing quarterback Phil Rivers (San Diego) professing his hatred for his rival and other opposing players have labeled him a punk in comments scrubbed clean for public consumption. And of course there was Bobby Wade yammering about Brian Urlacher thinking Cutler was “a pussy” early on during training camp. Urlacher denied it (after all, Cutler was his teammate now).
Even the quarterback’s helmet contributes to the effect. You can barely see his eyes peeking out through the top of his face mask. The effect is similar to the one affected by a teenager rebel who lets his bangs grow down over his eyes. You know he can still see, but surely he can’t see as well as he could if he just got a haircut. And no this isn’t personal; my 10-year-old son Noah prefers his hair short and hasn’t quite reached that stage in life to which I am referring (although I’m sure we’ll get there soon enough).
So, does Cutler the Infuriator cause opponents to lose discipline more often than not? Or does he inspire them to play better? Only time will tell.
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There was some great stuff in the Trib this past week from Dan Pompei about Cutler’s passer rating when his team falls behind by multiple scores (it falls to an average of 68.7 and in those situations in his career, Cutler has thrown 12 picks to only 6 TDs).
Pompei responded to feedback from his column a couple of days later by pointing out that other star quarterbacks have much better numbers in those sorts of situations.
The Packers’ Aaron Rodgers was impressive in just such a scenario Sunday. After the Packers fell behind 24-6, he led them to three touchdowns to pull within a score. But rookie-of-the-year so far Percy Harvin then turned in another big kick-off return (back past the 50) and the Vikings were on their way again.
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Back to coach Ryan for a moment. The season began with such promise for Buddy’s boys. The twin sons of legendary ex-Bear defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, Rex and Rob, went into the season with new assignments that were filled with potential. Rex Ryan took over the head job with the New York Jets and the team rushed out to three straight impressive victories to start the season. But yesterday’s 30-25 loss to the Dolphins dropped them to 4-4 on the season. And of course Rob Ryan is still looking for his second victory in Cleveland (the team fell to 1-7 Sunday).
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And back to the Bears – I won’t be breaking down the specifics of Sunday’s drudgery in this space. You knew going in a game with the Browns wouldn’t assuage the doubts raised by the debacle in the Queen City (Cincinnati), didn’t you? When does the Cardinal game start next Sunday?
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Jim Coffman rounds up the sports weekend in this space every Monday. He welcomes your comments.
Posted on November 2, 2009