FanPost

It's the Wide Receivers

Not Cutler. (Well, a little Cutler, but mostly them).

To quickly preface this point, I just want to say, I'm not making excuses for him just to make excuses (I have nothing particularly invested in Jay Cutler) but because so much of what is going on is clearly a systemic problem rather than an individual problem.

If you go through his picks one by one, you can tell that he is playing with garbage out there, and that a lot of the picks are caused by other players. 

Pick #1 is totally on him - no excuses here, as even if that lineman doesn't get pushed back into coverage, the receiver was double covered anyway.

Pick #2 would have clearly been a nice sideline completion if Hester doesn't fall down.

#3 is on Hester again. I don't know if bumping into the ref slowed him down, as Millen indicated, or just that Hester didn't finish his route (which is what I think) but clearly he expected hester to continue moving to spot, and Hetser didn't. This was very similar to the interception last week, where Earl Bennet stopped running on a route, making Cutler look bad.

#4 was more iffy. There seemed to be pass interference on that play, but I think the defender would have been able to break up the pass regardless of the interference.

#5 was on the receivers as well (and maybe the O-line). It's the last play of the game, and Cutler knows he has to throw it. The pocket is collapsing, and nobody is open. He can try to run for it, but he's a good 12 - 15 yards away - way too much ground to cover. Basically, he has to throw it in there and just hope something good happens. It didn't - but you can't exactly blame him. Go back and look at the play, and tell me who he should have thrown it to - there wasn't anyone open at all.

Which brings me to the broader point. He doesn't have very good WR's. They are quick, and some have good hands, but they don't run good routes, they don't get open, and they are terrible at adjusting to defenses. Cutler seems to often assume that they are way better than they actually are - putting the ball where they're supposed to be - but they never make it there.

I would have more of a complaint about a lot of these forced throws, if I could point to someplace else on the field that he should have thrown it to - but I can't because that place doesn't exist. If he didn't try to make these throws into tight coverage, he would end up taking a sack or throwing the ball away on 70% of the plays.

All of this is also tied into the O-line, because if they gave him more time, it would also give the WR more time to get open, and if they could run block, it would force defenders to respect the run, opening up some of the secondary - but as I said, it's a complete systemic breakdown, with each failing part exacerbating all the other failing parts.

At least the defense (which also stinks) played a little better...

This Fanpost was written by a Windy City Gridiron member and does not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of its staff or community.