David Sims is carrying us to Week 9 of the NFL

Why are you disregarding turnovers?

 

Oh wait, *now* you care about those stats enough to mention them. How odd...

 

I'm not. I don't know what you're getting at. But if you want to stake a claim to Andrew Luck and Jay Cutler playing equivalent football, I'll just let you ride with that.

 

I'm not. I just don't understand why yards and completion percentage only count for some QBs.

 

Cutler doesn't rank high in anything. He is all right in completion percentage and touchdowns (seventh in both).

But another big point of what I said is what he is doing to contribute to losing games. Of the Bears' five losses, you can put two, maybe three largely on his carelessness.

You're so wedded to the idea of the Bears having other problems that you dismiss this problem that they also have.

 

http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/October-2014/Jay-Cutlers-Weird-Bad-Season/

 

Cutler is seventh in both those stats, as you mention, and 11th in touchdowns. In other words, about 1/3 of the way down the list of NFL starters. I think that's about right. I'd take the following NFL QBs over him without hesitation:

Luck
Big Ben
Peyton
Brady
Rivers
Rodgers
Brees

I'd probably take Ryan and Romo, too. Maybe Stafford, particularly once you factor in the age thing. I'd listen to arguments about Newton and Wilson, and Palmer is having a hell of a year. That puts Cutler at 15th best in the league, at the low end of my rough list. I get that he's expensive, but as a Vikings fan, I know that league-average at QB isn't necessarily a bad thing. Bears fans know that, too.

 

I have no doubt that if you try hard enough, you can attribute any number of losses to a player you don't like.

Again, if Cutler is a problem, what's the solution? Aaron Rodgers isn't hitting free agency. Blow it up and spend two or three years waiting to see if you won the QB draft lottery?

 

You would "listen to an argument" about taking Russell Wilson over Jay Cutler?

Lord in Heaven.

 

Huh. I wonder if both WRs have been fighting speed-killing leg injuries that might hamper their ability to get open deep...

 

I'd rather blow up a team whose pieces don't fit, yes.
But they would never do it, anyway, so there's no point talking about it.
Too much money and ambition have been invested in Cutler and the supporting cast.

 

We're pretty much on the same page here.

If you want to tell me that Cutler is an ordinary/OK QB that isn't good enough to prop up an aging roster and a subpar coaching staff, and that they'd be better off blowing it all up and starting over than trying to reload for one last shot every year, then I'm pretty sympathetic to that argument. I'm not *sure* it's the best path, but it's close either way.

But the idea that Cutler is having a bad season (by overall standards, not just by his standards) or that he's somehow "the problem" or whatever is a lazy narrative.