Dan Pompei Joins the Over-Reactors. I’m starting to wonder if the Tribune is ordering their writers and staffers to sound the doomsday alarm over preseason games because it’s getting a bit absurd. I live in Queens and read the Daily News and New York Post (two of the nation’s most hostile, rabble rousing rags) every day and neither has sounded nearly as despondent about the Giants and Jets – two high-expectation teams that have looked abysmal this summer. Pompei goes so far as to reach, “But great quarterbacks don’t have games like Cutler had Saturday.” Really? Great quarterbacks don’t have bad preseason games? Do I even have to do the research or can we assume Pompei is incredibly incorrect? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the only thing I don’t love about being a Chicago Bears fan is the seeming joy some fans and media derive from wallowing in the misery of failure.
Major Wright seems to not have not gotten the Lovie Smith memo. He is brash and vocal. He’s not married to the “do what the team feels is best” and “whatever helps the team” language that seems to permeate out of Halas Hall under this regime. He may be the kind of thing this defense needs and he’s not shy about letting us know about it. Shortly said, I’m rooting like hell for this kid.
Positivity and Jay Cutler? In Chicago? Say it ain’t so! Neil Hayes cites both Joe Thiesmann and Rich Gannon as believing Prime Cutler is going to do big things this season in Mike Martz’ system. I happen to agree with them.
Third and Long. Anybody who has rooted for the Chicago Bears during the Lovie Smith era knows that third-and-long defense have been the blight of the entire organization. This difficulty usually leads to an in-depth (and somewhat angry) dissection of the Lovie Deuce scheme and the usage of teams like “soft” and “terrible”. The reason is simple: third-and-longs depend on pass rush and coverage and the Bears have been wretched at both for years. That is why there is more pressure on Orange Julius this season than any other player on the team.
