Jay Cutler has gotten a lot of criticism for turning the ball over too much this year, and rightly so.  Through 8 games, he has thrown 8 interceptions and fumbled 9 times, losing 4 of them.

I want to go through each of Cutler’s interceptions and break down what went wrong.  I will be splitting the blame into one of three categories:

1. Poor decision.  This is when Cutler makes a poor decision to force a ball into traffic.
2. Poor throw.  This is when the decision to throw is not necessarily a bad one, but the throw is inaccurate.
3. Miscommunication.  This is when Cutler and the intended target are not on the same page, leading to a ball going to nowhere and a turnover.

I’m not going to bother with Cutler’s most recent interception, which came on a hail mary against New England last week.  That’s a play where you don’t care about the turnover but are just chucking it up hoping for a miracle.  I will however, break down the other seven, showing gifs of the plays (hover over gif with mouse to get it to play) and assigning where I think the blame is due.

Let’s get right down to it.

Interception 1

Cutler’s first interception of the year came in the 2nd quarter of their first game.  On a 1st and 10, he looked to tight end Martellus Bennett deep up the seam.  The pass went well behind Bennett, who ran down the field while Cutler seemingly threw it thinking he would stop. Cornerback Corey Graham saw the pass and cut in for an easy interception.

Note: At one point, all of these gifs worked. But alas, they are now just pictures of the first frame of the gif. Sorry. 

Verdict: miscommunication

Interception 2

This one came later in the Buffalo game.  Rolling out to his right, Cutler forces a pass to Bennett back into traffic that goes right to defensive tackle Kyle Williams.  It is a ball that should have never been thrown.  This play also does feature a miscommunication, as wide receiver Santonio Holmes blocks for a run instead of running the clear out he was supposed to, but it doesn’t directly feature in the interception (though Cutler likely would have run for a 1st down if Holmes had run his route).  Still, that does not excuse this pass, which simply cannot be thrown.

Verdict: Poor decision

Interception 3

After going more than 2 games without an interception (though he did have a couple potential ones dropped in that span), Cutler jumped back on the wagon in week 4 against Green Bay.  With the Bears trailing 24-17 in the third quarter, Cutler tried to squeeze a 1st down pass in to Josh Morgan on a slant.  Green Bay cornerback Tramon Williams had lined up inside of Morgan and was sitting on the slant. He did not get the interception himself, but he did deflect it to linebacker Clay Matthews.

Verdict: Poor decision

Interception 4

On the very next drive of the Green Bay game, Cutler looked for Brandon Marshall down the right sideline.  He thought Marshall was running a comeback route, while Marshall ran a go route.  Green Bay cornerback Sam Shields ended up catching the pass with nobody within 10 yards of him.

Interception 5

In the first quarter against Carolina, Cutler threw a pass to Brandon Marshall deep down the middle of the field with three defenders around the ball.  Some people argue this was pass interference, but you can never throw the ball over the middle of the field with that many defenders there.

Interception 6

Late in the Carolina game, Cutler targeted Santonio Holmes on a slant over the middle.  The pass was a little high and behind Holmes and the safety behind the play was able to catch it.

This is a bit of a tough one to decide on.  It wasn’t a bad decision to throw it, as Holmes was open.  But I’m not 100% sure whether Cutler missed the throw or Holmes was rerouted from where he was supposed to be by the linebacker in coverage.  It looks as though Cutler steps into the throw with solid mechanics, but the pass is too high for a small receiver like Holmes to catch in stride.  I’ll say this is a combination of both and split the blame between miscommunication and poor throw.

Interception 7

This is the trickiest of the interceptions to figure out.  Cutler tried to get a pass in to Bennett, who was double covered, and overthrew him by a mile.  The safety coming in behind the play (a good 8 yards behind it) comes up with the interception.

On the surface, this seems like both a bad decision and a bad throw by Cutler.  But he was adamant after the game that he threw it to the spot it was supposed to go to, and Trestman indicated the same the next day.  This makes it seem like there was a miscommunication between Bennett and Cutler on what route to run, and Cutler thought Bennett was heading farther up the field.  Either way, it was still a throw into more traffic than I’d like, so I’m splitting the blame on this one.

Final tally

Here’s the final tally for Cutler’s 7 interceptions looked at here (again, I am excluding the hail mary against New England because it doesn’t really fit any of these categories):

• Poor decision: 3.5
• Miscommunication: 3
• Poor throw: 0.5

Let me be abundantly clear that I am not doing this to make excuses for Cutler.  He is obviously turning it over too much, and at that point it doesn’t really matter whether the interceptions come from miscommunications, poor throws, or poor decisions.  They have to stop, or more realistically be significantly reduced.

Rather, my intent is to try to figure out where the interceptions are coming from.  What has to change to limit the turnovers?  Let’s look at the three factors.

Poor decisions

Cutler has a penchant for forcing passes into traffic, and we see that here with half his interceptions coming from poor decisions, with several more poor decisions that featured dropped interceptions or interceptions called back by penalties..  He’s always going to be a guy who takes some chances, and that’s never going away.  With that said, one interception every two games from poor decisions is something you can live with (which is good, since that will always be there for Cutler).

Poor mechanics

The plays that need to be eliminated, or at least vastly cut down, are the miscommunications and poor passes.  I’ll talk about the poor passes first.  These usually result from poor mechanics, which has been an issue at times for Cutler this year.  It didn’t show up much in this study, but it is a big reason he is struggling so much to complete passes downfield this year.  According to Pro Football Focus, Cutler has been accurate on only 36.7% of his deep passes so far this year, 21st out of 30 quarterbacks with 15+ such attempts.  He is throwing off of his back foot too often instead of stepping into his throws, a regression back to 2012 and before habits, and that needs to change.

More relevant to turnovers are Cutler’s 9 fumbles in 8 games.  This is also largely due to poor mechanics, as he is not properly protecting the ball when the pocket collapses around him.

Miscommunications

Perhaps most troubling is the startling number of miscommunications on Cutler’s interceptions.  Four of his seven interceptions (again, not counting the Hail Mary) have involved at least some sort of miscommunication, with a 5th having a miscommunication on the play that was not directly involved in the interception.

It is baffling why there are so many of these issues on an offense that returns pretty much every key figure from last year.  Sure, two of the five miscommunications mentioned above relate to Santonio Holmes, who is new to the offense and was brought in late in the preseason.  But the other three are with Cutler and either Martellus Bennett or Brandon Marshall, who he has been playing with for a while.

I don’t know where all these miscommunications come from, but somehow Cutler needs to make sure he is on the same page as his receivers going forward.  Limit these miscommunication turnovers and avoid the rash of fumbles caused by poor mechanics, and suddenly Cutler’s play seems a lot better.

Find a way

It’s one thing to say what needs to be done.  Doing it is a different challenge. But somehow, some way, Jay Cutler needs to improve his mechanics and Chicago’s offense needs to avoid the miscommunications leading to turnovers that have plagued them through the first half of the season.

Embrace the mediocrity, Bears fans.

You might as well do it now, because the Chicago Bears certainly did this week.

Coming off an embarrassing blowout loss at home to their hated division rival, a good team goes out and finds a way to win the following week.  It doesn’t have to be spectacular, but it has to be effective.  Whatever it takes, good teams find a way to get it done.

The Chicago Bears proved this week that they are not a good team.  Instead of finding a way to win by any means necessary, they had a game handed to them and found ways to lose it.  So it’s high time that Bears fans universally acknowledge exactly what their favorite team is: mediocre.

Underachieving

On paper, this should not be the case.   Chicago has the talent to be one of the best offenses in the league, which-coupled with an acceptable defense- should be enough to win a lot of games and propel them to they playoffs.

But games are not won on paper, and the Bears have proven through 5 weeks the peril of preseason paper analysis.  The defense has mostly been about as expected so far, but the offense is not living up to its status as the highest paid unit in the NFL.

Familiar script

Both sides of the ball seem to be plagued by the same dumb mistakes over and over.  A missed assignment here, a lazy effort there, a careless mistake costing the team at the worst possible time.  These same errors keep repeating themselves time and time again, leading to a talented but inconsistent team that is the very definition of mediocre.

Perhaps worst of all is the seeming lack of leadership and attitude emanating from the Bears.  Players don’t seem to care when they mess up, and nobody steps forward in a crisis to stop the bleeding and get things sorted out.

Now perhaps things can get better.  The Bears have Been besieged by injuries so fast this year, and getting healthier should certainly help some.  But all the talent in the world won’t make any difference until this team finds an identity and leaders who can hold them accountable.

Hope is not lost

Bears fans looking for hope need only glance north a few miles to Evanston, where Northwestern’s football team seemed headed for a lost season just two weeks ago before finding an identity , beginning to play with an edge, and reeling off two impressive victories.

It can be done, but the first step is admitting a problem.  Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald did just that before helping turn his team’s season around.  I will be watching Chicago’s leaders-Marc Trestman, Jay Cutler, and Brandon Marshall-very carefully this week to look for similar acknowledgement from them.

It is certainly possible that the Bears scan still turn their season around, but right now I look at them and see a whole bunch of mediocrity.  They will beat some teams based simply on having more talent than them, lose some games they should win, lose to most good teams they face, and end up right around 8-8 again.

Embrace the mediocrity, Bears fans.

Longtime Chicago cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tillman was placed on season-ending injured reserve this week after he tore his triceps against San Francisco this past Sunday.  This marks the second season in a row Tillman’s season ended early due to the injury.  With two straight injury-shortened seasons and a contract that expires at the end of the season, this seems to be the end of the road for the 33 year old cornerback, though Tillman has vowed his career is not yet finished.

If Tillman has indeed reached the end of his career, he has nothing to be ashamed of.  The 2003 2nd round pick has played 12 years, all for the Bears, and generally played at a very high level.  He reached two Pro Bowls (2011 and 2012), was named a 1st team All-Pro once (2012), and holds franchise records for defensive touchdowns (9), interception return yards (675), interceptions returned for touchdowns (8), and forced fumbles (38).  Tillman also owns the franchise forced fumbles record for a single season (10, tied for NFL record) and single game (4, NFL record).

Canton worthy?

There is little doubt that Tillman is the greatest cornerback the Chicago Bears have ever had, which is no small feat considering the illustrious defensive history of the franchise, but a more interesting question posed to me by Lorin Cox was this: does Charles Tillman belong in the Hall of Fame?

This is a difficult question to answer as there are a number of factors that go into a player’s Hall of Fame candidacy.  Let’s start with a look at the numbers, which were kindly provided by Lorin. The table below compares Tillman’s vital statistics to those of several recent defensive backs who were inducted into the Hall of Fame, as well as two active players who will undoubtedly go into the Hall of Fame after they are done.  Note that all of the above statistics about Tillman’s franchise records above are from the official Wikipedia page listing Chicago Bears records. These may differ slightly from the stats listed in the table below, which are from Pro Football Reference.

Looking at these numbers, two things stand out. First, if this is indeed the end of Tillman’s career, he did not play for as long as most of his compatriots. This will hurt his volume numbers some and may damage his Hall candidacy.  Second, Tillman’s numbers absolutely stack up, even on a volume basis.  He has more tackles and defensive touchdowns than three of the other seven players and has forced more turnovers than four of them.  His forced fumbles stand out well ahead of the group, thanks largely to his signature “Peanut Punch.”  If there is one place where Tillman is clearly lacking, it is in interceptions; his 36 falls well short of the rest.

When you look at per-season numbers, however, Tillman’s case begins to look even better, as you can clearly see in the table below.  His 3.27 interceptions per season fits in nicely, and his forced fumbles per season dwarfs everybody else.  Tillman rates well against his peers in both tackles per season (2nd) and turnovers per season (first by a mile).

More than just numbers

Of course, there are many more factors to consider than just numbers when evaluating a player for the Hall of Fame, especially for defensive players who are not pass rushers, as statistics often fail to accurately reflect their play.  We’ll start with the areas where Tillman excels before moving on to where he might struggle.

The 50 media members who vote for the Hall of Fame often take off-field actions into account, and Tillman’s sparkling record there can only help his cause.  Tillman was named the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2013 and has a long history of charity work and community involvement in Chicago.  He seems like a genuinely nice guy who everybody likes and respects, which can go a long way in the voting room.

Tillman also has a well-publicized signature play, the Peanut Punch.  This has increased his national profile and should help him get votes as well.  The Hall of Fame is partially about telling the story of the NFL, and being well known for something that coaches now try to teach their players helps make it easier to consider you an important part of that story.

But there is one essential area where Tillman is very lacking that I think will ultimately keep him out of the Hall of Fame.  Tillman has simply not garnered enough national awards for his play.  He has only been to two Pro Bowls and was only named an All Pro-1st or 2nd team-once.  It will be extremely hard for the national media to convince themselves that Tillman was one of the best players of his generation when he was only considered one of the best four players at his position one time in his entire career.  If he had been voted to a bunch of Pro Bowls, that might help overcome the lack of All Pro nominations, but alas, that did not happen.  It seems kind of silly that a popularity contest based on fan voting would be a factor in determining who is worthy of the Hall of Fame, but that does indeed appear to be the case.

Hall of Very Good

Now that I’ve told you that I don’t think Tillman will make the Hall of Fame, I’m sure some people are wondering if I think he should.  I’m sorry to say that, when looking at things objectively, I don’t.  Tillman was a very good player for a very long time, but I don’t think he was consistently great.  Therefore, I don’t think Tillman belongs in the Hall of Fame, as much as it pains me to say it.  To me, Tillman is the definition of a guy who belongs in the Hall of Very Good, a term I believe was coined by Peter King (though I cannot find a source to confirm this).  He was a very good player and a great man, but is just not quite at the caliber of somebody who deserves to be immortalized in the Hall of Fame.

So here we are.  It is painfully obvious that you cannot win in the NFL without a good quarterback.  It is equally apparent that, if you find that quarterback, you are eventually going to need to pay him a lot of money to stick around.

If you pay your quarterback too much money, it can hamper your ability to build a good team around him (a must for a championship winning team), leaving you with a good team that will be consistently competitive but probably come short of winning a title as teams with comparable quarterbacks playing on much cheaper deals are able to pass you by (before they have to pay their guy as well).

You have to think that there is some sort of tipping point where teams would be better off dumping a high-priced veteran and taking their chances in the draft, and the rapid recent inflation of quarterback contracts may make it that we are passed that point.  But it will take more time to really know for sure.  To date, no quarterback has won a Super Bowl on a contract averaging more than $16.5 million per year, but the first contract exceeding that didn’t come until two or three years ago, so that’s a very small sample size.

Differentiation at the top

Of course, one other thing you have to consider here is that there is a difference between quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees and guys like Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Jay Cutler, and Tony Romo.  All have similar contracts paying them massive amounts of money, but the second group needs better talent around them to perform at a high level (and will still likely not reach the same level as the first group on a consistent basis).

You can build a championship team around Romo, Cutler, Flacco, or Ryan, but I am not sure if you can do so while paying them that much money.  This will be an issue for teams like Seattle, San Francisco, and Carolina in upcoming years; their quarterbacks will be due for new contracts and go from being underpaid to overpaid, forcing the teams to let some of the talent around them leave because they can no longer afford to pay them.

Let’s look one more time at the groups of teams based on quarterback situation and how they performed in 2013.  One twist this time: I’m splitting the thirteen teams with established veteran quarterbacks into the four elite quarterbacks (Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees) and the other nine.  Let’s see how the data looks.

Well that’s interesting.  Paying established non-elite veteran quarterbacks  big money, at least this year, didn’t seem to pay off.  Teams with those guys actually fared slightly worse, by and large, than teams with slightly worse but significantly cheaper quarterbacks.  Consider that the group that might be looking for new quarterbacks this offseason-Cincinnati, St. Louis, Tennessee, and Arizona-paid their starting quarterbacks an average of just under $5.4 million in 2013, while the nine teams with non-elite quarterbacks on veteran contracts-Atlanta, Detroit, New York Giants, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Dallas, Kansas City, and San Diego-paid their quarterbacks an average of $12.6 million.

This is only one year and is a small sample size, but it certainly suggests that paying a non-elite quarterback big money (which every one of those nine teams except Kansas City has done) is not a recipe for success.  Those teams were worse on average in wins than the teams with unsettled quarterback situations going forward, put roughly the same proportion of teams in the playoffs (two out of nine compared to one out of four), and neither group found much playoff success (combined 1-3 playoff record, with the one win coming when San Diego beat Cincinnati, so one of the teams in these groups had to win).

Paying your elite quarterback, meanwhile, appears to be an investment well worth making.  Elite quarterbacks got paid big money-an average of $15.2 million in 2013-but delivered.  All four of them made the playoffs, three of them won at least one playoff game, and one of them will be playing in the Super Bowl.  The performance of elite quarterbacks, in fact, is nearly identical to that of established quarterbacks on rookie contracts, which will be something interesting to monitor in future years.

Looking ahead

One way or another, we will see in the next several years just how intelligent the recent quarterback salary inflation is.  The early results suggest big contracts for non-elite quarterbacks will come back to haunt their teams, but it is too early to say for sure. If teams can continue to win consistently after giving quarterbacks big money, the salaries should only continue to grow.

But what if new teams like Seattle and San Francisco keep cropping up for two or three year runs when they find a good young quarterback who is extremely cheap and are able to contend by using that extra money to put a great team around them?  What if recent large contracts handed out to second-tier quarterbacks (and ones soon to be given out to guys coming off rookie deals) end up hurting teams more than they help?

It’s all about the quarterback in the NFL, but the next five to ten years should help illuminate just how much a good quarterback is worth.

Playful hazing of rookies is a time-honored tradition in the NFL. Rookies are forced to carry veterans’ pads throughout training camp, receive whacky haircuts from teammates, and have harmless pranks done to them.

These can be fun team-building activities and — as Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen pointed out — can serve as a good way to remind rookies that they have not yet arrived but rather are starting over at the bottom of the totem pole.

Over the line

But hazing can be taken too far.

When hazing advances to the point where it’s no longer fun and playful, it becomes harassment and even outright abuse.

That is what seems to have happened in Miami, where second-year tackle Jonathan Martin recently left the team after claiming he was abused by veteran guard Richie Incognito.

The evidence against Incognito appears fairly cut and dried. A voicemail that he left on Martin’s phone has gone public in which Incognito, who is white, uses racist insults against Martin, who is black — and on top of that, threatens to kill him.

This voicemail is surely not an isolated incident. It was left for Martin last summer, and Martin did not walk out on the team until late October. Incognito is accused of repeatedly texting Martin and threatening to hunt down members of his family and harm them.

It all came to a head in the team cafeteria, when Martin reportedly sat down at a table — only to see all his teammates get up and go elsewhere. Martin stormed out of the room and has not been back for over a week now. Instead, he checked himself into a hospital for emotional distress.

Backing the bully

Unsurprisingly, many people around the NFL are speaking out on this issue. What surprises and disgusts me is how many are defending Richie Incognito over Jonathan Martin.

The Miami Herald reports that most of the Dolphins players are supporting Incognitorather than Martin. New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle has blamed Martin for allowing this to happen rather than putting a stop to it himself. Various NFL executives have called Martin a coward (anonymously, of course, because they’re too cowardly to put their name to that statement) for failing to stand up to Incognito.

We the fans are being treated to a glimpse into the machismo culture of the NFL, and I for one do not like what I see.

Players are taught to police themselves and settle things on their own, but Martin cannot be faulted for running away here. Incognito, after all, has a long history of aggression, bullying, and starting fights.

Given what Dolphins players are saying right now, Martin is probably safe in assuming his teammates would side with Incognito over him if it came down to a physical confrontation. Football players have a career that puts them at risk of physical harm and injury on a daily basis, but nobody should have to work in an environment where they believe their coworkers are intentionally trying to hurt them and their loved ones.

Obviously, none of us has been in that locker room, so none of us knows the full story. But I do not need to be there everyday to listen to that voicemail and know it has gone far beyond what should ever be considered acceptable.

Any player who blames Jonathan Martin for allowing this to happen quite frankly is an idiot, and any executive who agrees that should lose his job on the spot.

Enabling the bully

I know the NFL cultivates a tough-guy culture and running away doesn’t fit in with that, but this isn’t just some minor hazing we’re talking about. This is a serious verbal assault of a nature that may very well constitute a hate crime.

Martin would have been well within his rights to immediately take that voicemail to the police last summer, but instead he chose to put up with the maltreatment for several more months.

Blaming the victim rather than the bully only perpetuates the bullying culture. It is not the responsibility of the victim to put a forcible stop to bullying; rather, it is the duty of those in authority to quash aggression before it escalates to violence.

Wrong message

What’s most troubling about this situation is that athletes are supposed to be role models for the youth of this country, many of whom idolize these men as heroes.

Bullying is already prevalent among American youth. Young people are singled out based on their sexual preference, physical appearance, or any number of other reasons. Bullying drives far too many teenagers to despair and even, tragically, to suicide. How dare these professional football players stoop to blaming the victims rather than the perpetrators!

They are sending the message bullying is acceptable until the victim makes you stop. So that skinny little nerd with glasses on the bus who would have no chance against you in a fight is fair game. After all, it’s his fault, not yours!

Rather than criticizing Martin for running away, his peers should applaud him for making a smart decision. Sometimes the best choice is to go to the authorities instead of trying to handle something on one’s own. Martin found himself in one of those situations, correctly identified it, and took action.

Jonathan Martin should be commended, not condemned, for his courage.

When news broke this morning that linebacker Brian Urlacher was officially retiring after 13 years in the NFL, just one phrase came to mind.

Thank you, Brian Urlacher.

Thank you for continuing the storied tradition of outstanding middle linebackers in Chicago. Thank you providing the Chicago Bears with 13 years of incredible play and top-notch leadership. Thank you for putting up with all the terrible offenses in Chicago and still managing to keep the team competitive. Thank you for helping restore a moribund franchise to respectability.

And last — but certainly not least — thank you for knowing when it was time to walk away. The writing was on the wall already last year, when you struggled through the season after admitting your knee would never be the same. That story continued this offseason, when the Bears announced you would not return.

Bears fans’ worst fears jumped to the forefront when rumors swirled you might sign with the rival Minnesota Vikings, but that died down after they denied being interested. When the Vikings, famous for taking the washed-up leftovers of the rest of the NFC North, said no, it was obviously time to hang them up. But we all know that many players often ignore the signs with delusions of grandeur and wallow in misery at the tail end of their careers.

Bears fans like myself are immensely relieved today that we get to claim you as only our own. You played your entire career for one franchise — no small feat in today’s NFL. As a result, Chicago fans will put you alongside Ditka, Butkus, Payton, and Halas as greats that belong to them and them only. We don’t have to erase the memory of you limping around as a shadow of yourself in a strange uniform, like Bulls fans with Jordan, Packers fans with Favre, San Francisco fans with Montana, and so many others.

I am particularly grateful to not have to go through a Favre-like scenario, where some Green Bay fans are still angry at him years after he retired. Things seemed like they might be headed that way when you had some angry comments on your way out of town, but you softened your stance considerably just a few days later.

Right now it may seem like a bitter pill for you to swallow, but in time you will surely come to realize that this is for the best. You have the privilege few players ever enjoy: to go out (mostly) at the top of your game, having lead an elite defense for the franchise you defined one last time. Surely that’s better than toiling away for a bad team in a strange city for the last couple years!

So once again I say thank you, Brian Urlacher. Thank you for everything.

Brian Urlacher, Charles Woodson, John Abraham, Dwight Freeney, James Harrison, and Casey Hampton all have much in common.

They have all been perennial Pro Bowlers, they were all cornerstones of their respective franchise cornerstones, and they may all get serious Hall of Fame consideration.

They were all starters in 2012.

And they are all out of a job.

It’s nearly a month into free agency already, and almost no team has shown much interest in any of these men. How could such capable, experienced players find themselves on the outside looking in?

All about the Benjamins

As with most things in life, it all comes down to money.  All of these players are in line to take a significant pay cut from their previous hefty contracts, and not all of them may be willing to do so.  Brian Urlacher, for example, was offered a one-year, $2 million contract by the Chicago Bears, which he turned down and called a “slap in the face.”  Yet if he wants to play football in 2013, he’ll probably end up playing for even less than that.

Other veterans face similar pay cuts from previous lofty salaries, and many — Elvis Dumervil, Brent Grimes, Nnamdi Asomugha, and Antoine Winfield to name a few — have been cut and left no choice but to sign new, significantly smaller contracts.

The NFL is finally starting to see the effects of the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, and it is not looking pretty for veterans.  Many of them were very happy to see rookie salaries slashed and veteran minimum salaries increased, but the flip side of this is that younger players are now significantly cheaper than veterans. As a result, teams placing an emphasis on acquiring young, cheap talent. Aging veterans who are used to getting paid well find that the league is not nearly as kind to them as they might like.

Speed kills

Another reason older players are finding themselves phased out is simply due to their lack of speed.  The NFL is increasingly becoming a pass-oriented league, making it ever more challenging for defenders to keep up in coverage.  Older players tend to struggle in space. Charles Woodson is still solid against the run and can make some intelligent gambles to produce turnovers, but he has also been prone to getting burned in coverage the last few years. Woodson is right when he says that he has no job because of his age.

Conclusion

Welcome to the new NFL, where young players are at a premium and older players can either swallow their ego or pack their bags.  Although this can be hard for the players and fans to accept, it is probably better for the league, as it allocates more money for true stars and gives more young players a chance to prove they belong.  Greater depth, competition, and parity are a large part of what has made the NFL the most popular sports league in America, and these changes from the new NFL collective bargaining agreement should only continue that beneficial trend.

As a huge Chicago Bulls fan, I thoroughly enjoyed their recent game against the Miami Heat. It’s always must-see TV when your favorite team goes up against the league’s best, but the atmosphere around this game was even more intense because Miami entered the contest on a 27-game winning streak, the second longest in NBA history.

Chicago won an entertaining game 101-97, and I loved every second of it. But afterwards, I couldn’t help thinking about how my game-watching experience now is so different from what it was ten—or even five—years ago. I watched the game at home by myself (I know, I’m a loser), but I was not alone. Thanks to Twitter, Facebook, and other social media, I was able to share in the highs and lows of the game with thousands of other fans, many of whom I didn’t even know.

Ten years ago, I would have had to go to a sports bar for a similar experience (ignoring the fact that I was only 14). And I would have shared the moment with the somewhere between 10 and 20 people. Instead, I reveled in each highlight dunk, complained about each suspect foul, and cracked dozens of jokes at Miami’s expense along with fellow fans from around the globe.

This experience was not limited to simply this one game, although it was magnified by the significance of the contest. Similar ones happen for fans everywhere whenever their favorite team is playing, whether the platform is Twitter, ESPN, or another social media outlet. Being a fan today is not just about watching the games. More than it has ever been, fandom is about experiencing moments together with your fellow fans.

Well, maybe not more than it has ever been. Sports bars, tailgates, and game parties, which offer much of the same camaraderie (and arguably even a better version of it) have been a staple of fandom for years. Maybe it’s simply easier to be a part of these moments now—especially for those who live out of the media market of their favorite teams—since you don’t have to leave your own couch.

Alone among millions

Is this trend good or bad for sports fans? Much like the social media technology itself, I think it’s a little bit of both. It’s great to be able to experience these moments and events together, but it should not replace actual person-to-person contact. I’d rather watch a game with four or five buddies and stay off of the internet than sit by myself and be “hanging out” with other fans online. Unfortunately, the former option isn’t always possible, so the second one is a much better alternative to sitting alone and talking to no one.

The other issue is making sure that you don’t get so caught up in talking about the game that you actually miss out on the game. When I am really into a game, I find social media too distracting, as it’s easy to get wrapped up in debates and/or conversations and miss what’s actually going on. Thus, I turn my computer off (I’m still stuck in the Stone Age without a smartphone), or at least only look at it during commercials.

What does this all mean? What am I trying to say here? I’m not sure I have a grand point. I just think it’s cool that we can share in our fandom in real time during games, even if there’s nobody else there with us. That’s a privilege previous generations of fans didn’t have, and I want to take a moment to appreciate it. I also hope that we don’t gradually lose out on the old-school ways of experiencing sports together.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson had a historic 2012 season, setting a new NFL record with 1,964 receiving yards. Perhaps his most impressive feat is that he did this despite going against Richard Sherman and Charles Tillman, the two cornerbacks who made the All-Pro team, in three of his 16 games. In other words, Johnson (or “Megatron,” as he has been dubbed), played three games against the two best cornerbacks in the NFL and still shattered the record for most receiving yards in a season.

How well did Johnson perform in those three games? The answers might surprise you. Let’s take a closer look at the per-game numbers.

It’s apparent that Johnson did not fare very well against top-flight cornerbacks. His completion percentage was significantly lower than either Tillman or Sherman gave up for the year (47.1% and 63.3%, respectively, per ProFootballFocus); the same was true for his yards per target against both Sherman and Tillman (7.3 and 5.9, respectively).

ProFootballFocus assigns grades for players for each individual game based on how well they perform relative to average. In the three games against Tillman and Sherman, Johnson posted three negative scores that together added up to -2.6. By contrast, his other 13 games featured 11 positive scores for a cumulative total of 28.9.

What does this mean for Johnson and the Lions?

Megatron destroys most opponents

Take a second look at those numbers Johnson posted in those other 13 games. He was stellar, averaging over 10 yards per target and 140 yards per game. Sure, some of it was against lesser opponents with terrible pass defenses (the Jacksonvilles and Tennessees of the NFL), but there were some other solid pass defenses in there too: Arizona, San Francisco, Minnesota, and St. Louis jump immediately to mind. The fact that Johnson could still break the previous yardage by over 100 yards record despite having these three poor games speaks volumes to just how incredible he was in the other thirteen.

Credit Tillman and Sherman

The success that these two cornerbacks had against such a dominant receiver speaks volumes to just how great they were last year, especially since on multiple occasions they were left to cover Johnson alone. This is also a testament to the rest of the Chicago and Seattle secondaries, especially the safeties, often helped double-team Johnson. Voters don’t always get their selections for the All-Pro teams right, but in this case they were 100 percent correct in saying that these two were indeed the best cornerbacks in football last year.

Pressing needs

If they want to become a winning team again, the Lions need other passing options to emerge as reliable targets.

Even though Johnson was unable to make plays against Chicago and Seattle, quarterback Matthew Stafford still threw his way an average of 11 times in those games. Admittedly, that was down slightly from the 13.3 targets Johnson averaged in the other 13 games, and it was also a slightly smaller percentage of total teams targets (24.1% versus 27.7% on the season); but that is still too many targets for a player  struggling to produce.

Against Seattle, Titus Young was able to take the pressure off Johnson, converting his nine targets into nine receptions, 100 yards, and two touchdowns. In the two games against Chicago, nobody was stepped up. Not coincidentally, the Lions beat Seattle and lost twice to Chicago.

Detroit has already made one move to improve their passing game this offseason, signing running back Reggie Bush, a pass-catching specialist out of the backfield. They also will get receivers Nate Burleson and Ryan Broyles back healthy. The Lions need them to take advantage of favorable coverage due to teams blanketing Johnson, which will in turn also help reduce the coverage on Johnson and free him to make more big plays.

Conclusion

Calvin Johnson is an incredible player, one who has clearly established himself as the best wide receiver in the NFL over the last two seasons. But his struggles against top-shelf secondaries show that he is not invincible, and the onus is now on Detroit to surround him with the necessary talent that will allow him to dominate against even the best competition.

It’s never easy to say goodbye.

Unfortunately, Chicago Bears fans find themselves having to do exactly that with Brian Urlacher. After two months of hoping he would be back with my beloved Bears for another year or two before riding gracefully off into the sunset, news broke yesterday that this will not happen. Chicago wanted Urlacher back, and Urlacher wanted to be back with Chicago, but the two sides split over a money difference.

Living legend

Brian Urlacher’s numbers speak for themselves. In 13 years with the Bears, he played in 182 games, amassing 1,353 tackles, 41.5 sacks, 12 forced fumbles, 16 fumble recoveries, 22 interceptions, and five defensive touchdowns. He was the 2000 Defensive Rookie of the Year, was named to eight Pro Bowls, was a first-team All-Pro four times, and won the 2005 Defensive Player of the Year award.

But Urlacher’s impact on fans like me far transcends the numbers.

He has been with the Bears since 2000, when I was 11 years old. To me—and many others—Brian Urlacher is the Bears. I literally cannot remember a time when Urlacher was not a member of my favorite football team. I grew up living in Southern California and South Florida in the days before it was easy to follow your team from afar (thank you, internet!), and was lucky if I got to watch the Bears play two or three times a year. I also didn’t start following football seriously until around 2003 or so, when Urlacher was already established as the face of the franchise.

I moved to Chicago in 2006, right when Urlacher was in his prime and leading one of the NFL’s best defenses on a Super Bowl-bound team. I will never forget him matching Reggie Bush stride for stride down the length of the field in the 2006 NFC Championship Game, or intercepting hated rival Brett Favre and returning the ball 85 yards for a touchdown in a 2007 rout of the Green Bay Packers. These memories and many more will be with me forever, and I am sure the same is true for many other Bears fans.

Mixed emotions

I’m still trying to process the idea that Brian Urlacher will not be a Bear.

For over a decade now, the franchise has been defined by their dominant defense — with Urlacher at the helm — carrying a marginal (at best) offense. With Urlacher gone and moves being made to improve the offense, that identity is changing in a hurry. Objectively, I can look at Chicago’s recent track record and see that might be a good thing, but the fan in me is finding it hard to say goodbye to what I have known and loved for so long.

My greatest fear is that Urlacher ends up pulling an Olin Kreutz and settles for less money to go play elsewhere for a year (or part of a year in Kreutz’s case) before accepting the inevitable and retiring. It would feel wrong to see Urlacher in any uniform other than Chicago’s. I cannot stand the thought of rooting against Urlacher in a football game.  Although this is extremely selfish of me, I truly hope Urlacher is unable to find a team willing to pay him what he wants this year. I want nothing more than for him to retire as a lifelong Bear, joining other Chicago greats like Walter Payton, Dick Butkus, and many others.

The first reaction of many fans will be anger directed at the Bears, especially after Urlacher dismissed Chicago’s offer of one year at $2 million as “a slap in the face.” Others will surely resent Urlacher for refusing to play for less than $3 million per year. Personally, I hold no ill will toward either party. They both have to do what they think is best for them, and in this case that means going in different directions.

Saying goodbye

Even as I struggle to bid my fond farewell, I can think back on Brian Urlacher’s career in Chicago and take solace in one thing. I had the privilege of watching an all-time great player, the second-best middle linebacker of his generation, play for my favorite team for 13 years. During that time, he provided consistently excellent play on the field without creating any problems off of it. I can’t ask for any more than that.

Thanks for the memories, Brian.