Maybe it was the 50 year wait since Sid Luckman. Maybe it was the success that Jim McMahon had. Perhaps I was hypnotized during Erik Kramer's 29 TD season. Or maybe I was briefly bamboozled by Jim Miller's 400 yard game. I might have even let myself be a little bit teased by the short lived Cade McNown/Marcus Robinson hookups. I just didn't realize how great it would feel to have an actual QB.
It is almost like rooting for a different team. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Bears fan and I love the power run game and nasty defense, but how can you not think about a 70 yard TD pass to Hester sprinting down the sideline with the CB trailing back 5 yards? Or the pocket breaking down and Cutler sidestepping one tackler, stepping up in the pocket and connecting with Greg Olsen 30 yards downfield to convert a 3rd and 15?
Our line isn't great yet, but with some pickups and Cutler, it looks a bit more solid. Our receving corp is still pretty poor, but it stinks just a little bit less. Hester could top 10 TDs this year. Olsen should finally become the Pro Bowl TE he should be.
QB always meant something a bit different in Chicago than in the rest of the league. QB was just a job you held for 2-3 years or 2-3 games as of late until the next guy game along. Maybe you got 4-5 if you happened to have a great running back or defense to play with.
I know I'm jumping the gun a bit and things could go completely the opposite direction, but it is hard not to think about what a QB the caliber of Cutler could mean for the organization in the future. Even after his years are up. Now that the Bears have had a taste of real quarterbacking, can they ever go back to the way we were doing things?
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The Race for 1,000,000
Currently, 6 SBN NFL blogs have gone over 1,000,000 visits. Three NFC North teams are in that next batch that could get over that mark this year. Numbers are as of 4/14:
Windy City Gridiron - 876,430 (+27,188)
Daily Norseman - 719,321 (+18,597)
Pride of Detroit - 708,348 (+34,817)
ACME Packing Co - 222,170 (+8,874)