Kyle Orton - Leader of Men

Dude, you have to check this out, Clark Judge - it's like a wrongness world record attempt

If Bears live, die by run, why did they get Cutler?

...because he's like...a top ten* quarterback.

This is my take on the Chicago Bears deal for Jay Cutler: They were better off with Kyle Orton.

You heard me.

"you heard me"...ah, the mating call of the obnoxious moron.

Orton can't throw the ball as far or as straight as Cutler, and you won't find anyone drooling over the velocity of his passes. But he has something Cutler does not

a dinosaur.

and that's a high score in the leadership department

998,101, one summer in Louisville, it was awesome. I remember it like it was yesterday, we were all eating pizza, getting stoned and watching Russ Meyer films and Kyle is like "dude, I'm totally acing this game of "The Leadership Department" and we were all gathered around like, glued, fucking GLUED man. And Gonzo is like "more like weinership department". Classic. Anyway, top that Steve Wiebe!

and, sorry, but I'll take that over physical ability any day.

ah, the Eckstein clause of sports debating. You sly dog.

As a rookie, he led the Bears to a 10-4 record -- including an eight-game winning streak -- before Rex Grossman returned. A year ago, he was back as a starter and was there for critical late-season overtime defeats of New Orleans and Green Bay. OK, so the Bears didn't make the playoffs but don't blame Orton. Blame Chicago's 21st-ranked defense, a unit that blew three 10-point leads and self-immolated in a last-second loss to Atlanta.

ugh, I promised myself I wouldn't look up stats for an NFL article in April, but here I am. Fine. Let's take a look at these four defeats.

@Carolina, the Bears had a 17-3 lead with 5:24 remaining in the third, and lost 17-20. Orton's performance? A scintillating 19/32 for 149 yards. Oh boy, wave the towel's he's smoking. I do confess he didn't throw an INT, but no TD either, a better quarterback definately could have staved off this loss.

@Atlanta, what Judge doesn't tell you here, is that the Bears looked TOAST here, were down 10-19 with just over four minutes left. They then had a bad onside kick situation happen to lose 20-22. Orton was fine here, 26/43 for 286 yards and a TD, this is a push, but it's not a "lost victory" at all as much as a crazy game.

As for those two other games? Chicago won them...so, yeah. Let's look at the other losses, one Grossman started, so that gets thrown out.

4 games, 68/126 (54.0%), 798 yards (199.5pg), 7TD, 5INT...and only one of those games was to a playoff team. You ask me, that's a below average QB. You wanna know how many games all season Cutler threw for less than Orton averaged in these games? THREE.

At the NFL winter meetings last month, Chicago coach Lovie Smith said the Bears were a running team that had to play good defense, and no one disagreed. So what's a running team doing acquiring a quarterback who can throw the ball the length of Michigan Avenue? You tell me, because I think the Bears were better off with Orton.

aside from that being retarded, the Bears missed the playoffs last year, so like...how are they "better off". You concede Cutler is more talented right? So how could this be such a horrible move, how could they be better off with Orton, who couldn't get them even to the playoffs? Surely it's worth a try, a more talented player, really if you're honest, light years more talented, to make this team a playoff contender? What's wrong with being good at passing AND running? What is possibly bad about getting better at an aspect of playing football? Maybe that isn't "aside", maybe it's just retarded.

He fit their personality.

their personality of losing football games. Great. They wanna CHANGE the personality, so the teams results change, because they weren't good. Understand? No? OK; too much, too soon.

He wasn't flashy, but he was effective before suffering an ankle injury. He was tough. He was gritty. And he won. Look it up: His record as a starter is 21–12, not bad for someone whom critics portray as the NFL's version of the Venus De Milo. Cutler is 17-20, never made the playoffs and never had a winning season.

so let's get this straight. When the defense is poor, and Orton loses, it's not his fault, but when it's great and he wins, he's awesome. Pick a side, you can't have the cake and eat it too. Plus, didn't you just say the defense was bad? Right? So, I guess that means another aspect of the team needs to be good to make up for that right? Right?

So the Bears trade away Orton and three draft picks and, sorry, Chicago, your team just got fleeced. You need offensive linemen. You need receivers. You need a defense that must play better. Yet you just traded away the first round for a couple of years for a guy who throws a pretty pass and can't play .500 football in the AFC West.

I find this truly incredible. The whole wave of anti-sportswriting blog stuff has been to mock the excessive QB love. The whole neglecting the other positions on the field, easy way out, lazy, slap dash approach to football analysis has somehow culminated in this. It's turned back on itself and we have someone suggesting that the QB is essentially the least important position on the field, and that is absurd. Look, if you want to paint this as an ill-begotten attempt to cash in on a half baked team way too early, trading their future for the now when they aren't that good, be my guest, but the team is immediately and markedly better right now, very probably a playoff team IMO, that was clearly their goal, they are likely to succeed.

Tell me Chicago knows what it's doing.

you can debate the goal, say it's sacrificing some long term goal, fine, but for the goals they want to achieve, yes, I will take the Clark Judge Challenge - Chicago knows what it's doing.

Smith had it right when he said you win in Chicago by running the ball and playing solid defense. The 1985 Bears had Walter Payton, a lights-out defense and Jim McMahon at quarterback. McMahon was tough, gritty and capable of big plays when you needed them, but he was hardly the second coming of Sid Luckman. He was perfect for that team because he epitomized its personality -- which was tough, gritty -- yeah, I think you get the idea.

Anyway, the Bears have to be that way because when it's November and December on Lake Shore Drive you don't win by having Jay Cutler throw the ball into 40 mph winds.

Farve, Brett. And before you shreik in disgust at my blasphemous suggestion, fuck it, maybe he can be that good. Why not? No one knows for sure and he's goddamn talented, I know that.

You win by running, locking down your opponents and avoiding mistakes. Anyone have any idea how many interceptions Cutler launched last year? I do. It was 18, and only Brett Favre had more.

even you, Judge, make that comparison, in a contrived, convaluted, Jimmy distorting your entire argument kind of way.

Then there's the matter of what Chicago gave up -- two first-rounders, a third-rounder and Orton. Are you kidding me? So Cutler was a Pro Bowl quarterback. Big deal.

well yeah I agree, it is a big deal. Oh wait, you're being sarcastic. Let me try! Sure, Tom Brady has two Superbowl MVP's, 4 Pro Bowls and three time Superbowl champions, BIG DEAL. Cutler is a tremendous talent who is still only 25. His QB rating is 87.1 already. McNabb's is 85.9 and nine years older. Matt Hasselbeck? 84.5 and 10 years. Eli Manning? 86.4 and three years. This guy is for real and he's damn good. Oh, and for reference sake? Orton is 79.6 and three years. That's a pretty marked fucking difference if you ask me. Maybe not 2 1sts and a 3rd, but maybe. I'm terrible at assessing draft picks in the NFL, but I will say, he's MUCH, MUCH better.

DeAngelo Williams wasn't elected to the team, which should tell you about the credibility of the honor.

we're not talking about D'Angelo Williams...stay focused Clark.

won't argue that Cutler is one of the most talented quarterbacks in today's game

well I mean, apart from today, where I am spending several hundred words to this exact effect.

but I also won't argue that he's one of the most spoiled prima donnas, either.

All you need to know about this guy is that he once said he had "a stronger arm that John [Elway], hands down" and that "he'd bet on it against anybody's in the league" -- as if that somehow measured his greatness. First of all, I don't know that he has a stronger arm than Elway. I don't know that anyone does.

so you don't know, Cutler does. And hey, fuck it, is this such a terrible fucking thing? He has confidence, he's even a bit of a dick, awesome. His role is to win games, fuck up the other team, show bravado down by five with a minute and a half off the clock and fuck your girlfriend. These are the time honoured attributes of the successful quarterback, and confidence, even arrogance, even being a dickness, might not only be acceptable, but a necessary condition.

Second, Elway made a name for himself not with his arm but with wins and fourth-quarter comebacks. In his second year, Elway went 13-3 and won the AFC West. In his third year, he was 11-5. And in his fourth, he was in the Super Bowl. That's how you measure quarterbacks, Cutler, not by arm strength.

yeah, but the quote's about arm strength, not about quarterbacking in general. So, maybe he's right, as you said, you have no real opinion on the issue. Reading comprehension is fundamental for a journalist.

Third, let's say you buy into Cutler as a franchise quarterback. OK, fine. So where's his franchise wide receiver? Devin Hester? Please. Earl Bennett? You've got to be kidding. There isn't one.

you're absolutely right. My God, you're right. EVERYBODY, NO FOOTBALL IN CHICAGO EVER! There's no point improving the team at all, because other areas won't be great. It's a sad day, but Clark Judge has opened our eyes and unshackled us from our blissful ignorance, it's hopeless. Black, everywhere black, as night!

I imagine they'll find them anyway

false alarm! FOOTBALL IS BACK ON!

but they just mortgaged the future for a quarterback who, when faced with winning only one of his last three starts last season, couldn't close the deal.

setting aside the fact that every Orton failure is someone else's fault and every victory is a resounding triumph of his winning-leadershipness in your Universe and Cutler can do no right, isn't it possible that this was an embarrassing hiccup from an inexperienced quarterback that he could learn from, vow never to repeat? Surely that limitless pride you referred to before would have taken a hit, he'd have taken this to heart and be determined to prove something to everybody. *shakes fist* Prove to everybody! Anyway, isn't this HOW quarterbacks learn and become leaders and have steel for bones, ice for veins and a silly hat with a a propeller on it with "LEADER" written on the front?

Now he's going to magically transform the Bears into a division champion all over again when he couldn't do it with Mike Shanahan in the AFC West?

I dunno...maybe. I don't think he'll use magic as much as propelling the ball forward using his biomechanics and the laws of physics. But sure, why not? Those 10-6 Minnesota Vikings looking a bit imposing for you Judge? That massive 1.0 game canyon too much to cross? Give me a break, this article couldn't get more ridiculous if...

There's a better chance of Terrell Owens serving as grand marshal at the next Mummers Parade.

ding!

And who's going to protect Cutler's back? Chris Williams? He can't protect his own back. I know the Bears think he'll be OK, but that's what they said when they drafted him, and look how much he started last year. He didn't. Orlando Pace? St. Louis was only too glad to let him walk, and the Rams’ offensive line was horrible last season.

well at least try to improve the passing game, and part of the improvement is the QB right? I mean look at Romo or Roethlisberger, Romo's line is good, Ben's is not, but both use mobility to make themselves tough targets in the pocket. Who's to say Cutler can't do this. That's one point. Secondly, while I am pretty sceptical of Pace (and this is from the poor bastard who keeps picking the Rams), he's still a HoF tackle, it's not like LUDICROUS to suggest he could help is it? My point is, Cutler is better than Orton, by extension, the Bears too will be better, much of this other stuff is just conjecture, you can make an argument either way, fine. So why are you being such a, for lack of a better word, dick, about this? Why not just admit you just don't know? And of course, the existence of the site is why, you want a "story" instead of writing intelligently about sports.

*Quick check

Tier 1 - Brady, P.Manning
Tier 2 - Brees, Warner
Tier 3 - Romo, McNabb, E.Manning, Roethlisberger, Palmer
Tier 4 - Cutler, Hasselbeck, Rivers, Ryan
Tier 5 - Schaub, Delhomme
I hereby call my claim defensible