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Chicago Bears’ Offensive Issues Not All On Jay Cutler

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By @brianneal23

Chicago Bears Offense Jay Cutler

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The Chicago Bears‘ offense wasn’t bad against the Buffalo Bills Sunday in a losing effort. They still had 427 yards — 341 netted through the air and 86 on the ground — and were able to convert a solid 5-of-12 third downs. However, three turnovers and a lack of execution cost them down the stretch, as they only scored 20 points.

Many fans and analysts have pointed at Jay Cutler for the Bears’ hardships this past weekend. He threw a couple of interceptions and couldn’t lead them to a score on their overtime possession, nearly throwing his third pick of the day on third-and-long before the team’s final punt and defensive series. Although several of his throws were questionable in this game, the other 46 were not.

Cutler ended the day 34-of-49 for 349 yards (sacked twice for a loss of eight total yards) with two touchdowns, two interceptions and an 86.2 passer rating. While it certainly wasn’t a perfect day, the negatives in this game are deceptive and far outweighed by the positives. Not to mention, the playcalling didn’t help him out in this one either.

Out of the two interceptions, only one was his fault. On the first, it was clear that Martellus Bennett didn’t run the correct route out of their bunch-right set, as he wasn’t even looking for the ball when Cutler threw it, and the QB wasn’t under pressure or appearing to force it at all. It was a simple miscommunication and the TE messed up.

The second interception, however, was certainly on Cutler. I will argue that the playcalling was poor on this one as it was a play-action pass and they had barely been running the ball all game — 49 passes to only 18 runs — but No. 6 still made the poor decision to throw the ball over the middle late into the play. It was a broken play and he should’ve just thrown it away.

That pass and the one on third-and-long off his back foot in overtime are the only questionable throws Cutler made all game, though. Other than those two passes, Cutler played as solid a game as you could ask.

But as fans and analysts, someone is always trying to point the finger at some for a loss. One small finger may be pointed at Brandon Marshall for his costly fumble when the Bears were tied 7-7 early in the second quarter and threatening. That play killed a lot of momentum the offense had built up to that point, and Buffalo would drive down for a field goal, making that first Cutler interception on the next drive (the one where Bennett ran the wrong route) all the more devastating. The Bills would score off of that turnover as well, making it 17-7 and all of the rhythm the Bears’ offense had to start the game was gone.

The real culprit in this game, though, was head coach Marc Trestman. I’m a big fan of Trestman and truly do believe he is an offensive genius, as well as a genuinely good person which is an overlooked characteristic when it comes to head coaches. Despite this, he dropped the ball in this one.

As mentioned before, the Bears had a 49:18 pass-run ratio in this game. Keep in mind, the most they were down by was 10 at any point, and came back halfway through the third to tie it. There was never a reason to abandon the run game.

Trestman got too pass-happy with his playcalls, however, and it cost the Bears this game. If they had committed to the run just a little more — I’m talking maybe 25 runs instead of 18 — the passing game would’ve opened up even more and they probably would’ve scored one or two more times, while also keeping their still uninspiring defense off the field. And also don’t forget that Matt Forte was having a solid game on the ground. The Bears were successful on the majority of their 18 runs and were rushing for well over four yards a carry on average.

The whole point here is, don’t put all the blame on Cutler. He did make one or two bad decisions, but out of 49 pass attempts and 51 total dropbacks, every quarterback in the NFL will. If they’re to have any shot against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football next week, sticking to the run a bit more will be key.

Brian Neal is an NFL and NBA contributor for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @brianneal23 and “Like” him on Facebook.

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