Do YOU Want To Deal With Jay Cutler?: The Next Bears Offensive Coordintor

I was elated to hear that Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner was fired. But the next step is equally as important and crucial as firing Turner- hiring his replacement. If the Bears hire someone equally as dumb and worthless as Turner- then his firing will be for naught. I was excited to hear that Charlie Weis' name was rumored to be in the mix for the Bears O-coordinator job. Everywhere Weis has gone, he's always had a top notch offense and he's always been able to develop quarterbacks. Say what you will about Brady Quinn and Jimmy Clausen, but Weis has helped refined and sharpen these guys' skills and I think he would have made a great mentor for Jay Cutler. But my excitement was premature because Weis was recently introduced as the Kansas City Chiefs new offensive coordinator. So who should be the next coordinator?

The two leading candidates seem to be Mike Martz and Jeremy Bates. I have huge reservations about both candidates. First Mike Martz. Martz was Lovie's head coach in St. Louis during the Greatest Show On Turf. But as Martz's career has shown in San Fran and Detroit, it was clear Martz' offense succeeded in St. Louis because of the talent and not because of Martz' great coaching skills. In The Blueprint, author Christopher Price chronicles the recent success of the New England Patriots. He talks about the 2001 Superbowl between the Rams and the Pats. He talks with players and coaches during that year and they fully admit that that defense was very skilled to defend against Kurt Warner and the pass, and not against Marshall Faulk and the running game. In fact, if the Rams had even done a steady dose of the run and the pass, instead of focusing on the pass like a Mike Martz offense will do, the Rams probably would have won that game. This was an in game skill that Martz could have and should have noticed. But he didn't and the Rams ended up losing that game.

Mike Martz loves to throw the ball- probably more than an Andy Reid offense. Which means that if Martz becomes the new O-coordinator, Jay Cutler will probably throw for 5,000 yards. While this might make Cutler a great fantasy QB, it won't help Cutler develop and it won't help the Bears win games. When Martz was the coordinator for Detroit, Jon Kitna threw for a crap ton of yards and TDs. But he still threw a lot of interceptions. Martz just wanted to throw the ball without really developing the QB to help his QB throw the ball accurately. This would not bode well for Cutler. The guys already throws a ton and is pass happy, and already throws a crap ton of INTs. If the Bears do end up hiring Martz, Cutler will still have the same problems and nothing will be solved.

Another problem with the Bears is that they weren't able to get their running game going. I still put most of the blame on the offensive line, but still, in a 16 game season, there's absolutely no reason Matt Forte should not get 1,000 yards rushing. But what has Mike Martz shown that he will help Forte and the running game? In fact, hiring Martz seems like it would stunt the growth even further of Forte because of the pass happy nature of Martz. Sure, Martz knows Lovie very well and I'm sure they would work great together, but it's all about the product on the field. And with Martz, I can't imagine based on the large sample of his work, that the Bears would be a better team.

Next, we have Jeremy Bates. Bates was Cutler's former QB coach in Denver and was USC's offensive coordinator last year. The problem I have with him is that he is fairly inexperienced. He worked for Tampa Bay the year they won the Superbowl, but was the "offensive quality control" coach for two years and only the assistant QB coach one other. He was the QB coach for the Jets in 2005 and the QB coach for Denver in 2007 and 2008. Which led him to his job at USC. I actually wouldn't mind the lack of experience if Bates has proven to me that he did well in his little football time. The year Cutler went to the Pro Bowl was the year the Broncos were essentially down in every game which forced Cutler to throw a lot and gain yards and TD stats. But when you look beneath the numbers, Cutler still wasn't THAT good and clearly the coaching didn't help because he regressed in 2009. And then we go to USC this past year. This decade, USC has historically had great offenses and damn fine QBs including Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, and Mark Sanchez. No matter who seems to be the QB, the QB and offense seemed to do well. Except for last year- the year Bates was the O-coordinator. I'm sure it would help that if Bates was the offensive coordinator that Cutler would respect him, but he hasn't convinced me that he can successfully develop a QB or run a successful offense.

So while I poo-pooed and dismissed the current choices, I frankly don't have any better solutions for you. Ideally, I would like a guy that has shown to me that everywhere he goes, he has had either great offenses or has developed QBs. A guy like Charlie Weis. One of the reasons Kentucky fans were so elated that John Calipari recently became their coach and why Notre Dame fans should be happy with Brian Kelly because everywhere these guys have gone, they have recruited well and won. A lot. I want a guy like that, but unfortunately, I don't think any guy like that is still available.

I think the next best solution then is to find a way to develop Jay Cutler. If you looked at every other stat of his besides INTs, you would like what you saw. He put up more yards, more TDs, and had a better completion percentage than other QB in recent (and probably past) Bears history. But his obvious, glaring problem is his high interception rate. While I admit the cause of this is based upon my amateur eyes and news reports, the reason Cutler throws all these interceptions is because he has such a great arm that he feels he can force balls into tight spaces. But because either we have shitty receivers or because of the low decision making by Cutler, he does not complete a lot of passes when he does that and those balls ended up being intercepted.

I think there is a solvable remedy though for this that is currently within the McCaskeys reach and that is hiring the correct offensive coordinator/ QB coach. I can't remember who, but some sports radio talk show was talking about this and I actually agreed with them. The personality and the coaching style of the two coaches the McCaskeys hire can affect Cutler's personality and hopefully this affect his play.

Cutler is an asshole. Cutler is a dick. Culter is a cunt. Jay Cutler is not like a Peyton Manning where he is nice and people respect him. Cutler is that bully in high school who a lot of people like but rubs everybody else the wrong way. It is because of this personality that Culter defiantly throws passes he thinks he can make. I'm sure Turner and Lovie and everybody else yelled at him for his poor decision making- but he's fucking Jay Cutler and he does what he wants. There were reports that he completely lost respect for Turner and the offensive staff (although I wouldn't have respect for Ron Turner either...)

But I think there still is a way for a coach to get to Cutler. Whether it be that the offensive coordinator is chill and laid back but the QB coach is strict and hard and a dick back to Cutler or vice versa, some coaching change was and is necessary to get through to the jerk that is Jay Cutler. This new offensive coaching staff needs to find a way to get to Cutler and teach and develop him to cut down on those dumb, risky passes that Cutler loves so much and teach him that it's OK to throw the ball away or dump the ball off to Forte when you don't have anything open.

So maybe Jeremy Bates is the right candidate because Cutler has openly admitted that he wants Bates for the job. Or maybe Mike Martz's pass happy offensive will help Cutler. But no matter who becomes the Bears next offensive coordinator, something drastic needs to be done to improve this offense. Either that or draft and pick up better offensive lineman this free agency. That helps as well.