Poor Jay. On a night when his defense finally showed up against an opponent who had been taunting them all week with boasts to “destroy” them, Jay was the one to crap himself repeatedly. 5 times, to be exact. Zero touchdowns, five interceptions. The game left him with 17 interceptions through 9 games.
Finding good pictures of Cutler is really easy, especially when he throws 5 interceptions.
It’s funny that this game was on the NFL Network, because there will inevitably be a few remaining Cutler apologists out there who weren’t able to see the game or DVR it, and they will take a look at the box score tomorrow and build their case for Cutler’s defense:
He completed 29 passes for over 300 yards. They made him throw 52 times because the run game is terrible. His protection was likely suspect, so he was probably on the run and his receivers effed up.
In a different game, these arguments may be valid. But those who watched the game would know that 4 of Cutler’s picks were no else’s but his own, and that he should have thrown another one. Cutler’s 2nd pick was the result of Devin Hester losing his footing and missing an otherwise well-thrown pass. But in Cutler’s other 4 interceptions, and particularly the two inside the red zone, he had clear throwing lanes in front of him and/or good protection. On one INT he was kind of caught up in traffic and he flipped a clumsy shovel pass to Forte, who couldn’t reach it, but Cutler wasn’t hit on the play and would have been much better off either running or taking a sack if he had to.
Each of his two interceptions from inside the 49er 10-yard line were after long drives by the offense, and they were both remarkably bad throws. Cutler tried to argue that his 4th interception should have been interference because his huge 3rd-string tight end Kellen Davis was somehow knocked on his ass by a safety half his size before the ball was caught, which is true. But the safety was playing the ball all the way, and he had just as much right to it as Davis did.
Of course, the ultimate Cutler apologist’s talking point has no place here either, which is that in every multiple-pick game this year (except for Week 1, which was an abberration. Cough), Cutler has had to throw wildly because they were down so many points. Nope. Chicago never trailed by more than 4 after the first quarter in this one.
It was a spectacular meltdown, and after all that, he has to fly back to Chicago and talk to all those mean newspaper reporters who ask him stupid questions.
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