A WR Dynasty?

The ball is superimposed in this image. They had 15 takes where they lobbed it at him for him to catch it when the picture was taken.

So, while the Bears were busy showing those Brits what American football is all about (read: huge financial injustice as Barber's high paycheck mooches carries from the infinitely more productive Forte), I was thinking about Bears WRs.

More accurately, I was watching ESPN 12's in-depth story about Peyton Manning as told by his receivers, and there's a very clear progression: first it was Marvin Harrison who was "the man", then it was Reggie Wayne, and now it's becoming Pierre Garcon. You can clearly see when the WRs are getting phased out of the offense, when guys are up-and-coming, and who excels where.

The same example exists for the Rams (Isaac Bruce -> Torry Holt -> Donnie Avery), the Packers (Antonio Freeman -> Javon Walker -> Driver -> Jennings), the Vikings (Carter->Moss->Rice->Harvin), and the Bengals (Ochocinco -> Houshmandzadeh -> Chris Henry [oops] -> AJ Green) . Sometimes it's not as clear as the examples I have listed above, but there's usually "a guy", and the next in line to take his place.

Sometimes there's a jump in the line (e.g., Berrian's joke of a stint for the Vikings), but generally, there's a visible progression and you can either tell if/when the torch will be passed.

Want to know the last time that the Bears had "a guy?" The last time you could tell who the next Bears WR would be?

Curtis Conway -> Marty Booker -> Bernard Berrian

And that was back in 2004, when Berrian was good. He's been gone since 2007, with nobody to hand the reins to. Want to know what clusterfuck we've been calling WR1 since then?

2007: Mushin Muhammed

2008: Brandon Lloyd

2009: Rashied Davis

2010: Devin Hester

2011: Roy Williams

God help us.

And as for the talent...oh the talent! Whatever happened to Aromashodu (Vikings), Sanzenbacher (WR5 behind Knox, Bennett, Williams, and Hester), and Juaquin Iglesias (Texans)? Weren't these supposed to be our guys of the future, the guys our QBs loved to throw to and wished could see the field more?

As it stands, Cutler is only as good as the talent around him, which other than Forte, is a total joke. Get the man a big WR to hit and some time in the pocket, and watch him turn into a top-5 QB all over again.

Bears / Vikings

Only 2 false starts so far (6:41 left in 2nd quarter)

Spontaneous urge to blog!

The Bears offense looks good!

Martz is calling a perfect game, Hester hasn't dropped any balls, the O-line has been surprisingly solid against one of the toughest pass rushes in the league and most exciting of all, Jay Cutler looks AWESOME for the second game in a row.

I was really impressed with Cutler last week - he literally had no protection at all and still made plays all game long. He extended plays, kept his eyes downfield and didn't really make any mistakes. All this while literally having 1 second to get set.

Tonight, it appears that we're leaving 7 guys in to protect the pocket and it's working quite nicely. Martz can call his 7 step drop / hour-long routes and Cutler is playing well enough to find the open man and make the right throws. We're also using Forte to keep the defense honest (otherwise they would just drop all the linebackers into coverage). I even think I saw Roy Williams make a catch...

Now, it's not even halftime yet and there's plenty of time left to implode, but I'm so impressed with Cutler that I had to blog. Sorry if I end up jinxing us. Jay looks calm, cool, collected and is making awesome throws. I'm amped! Look at this sexy beast:

-KEG

Robin Ventura to Coach Sox

Forward-Forward-High Kick lets him do the flying kick...

Robin Ventura is going to coach the Sox?

I mean, I always liked the guy, and he was a good 3B, but I don't think he's exactly a managerial wonder. It's like saying that Joe Crede should be the conditioning coach simply because he was a beloved member of the White Sox.

Not sure how this is going to pan out, but for all things Ventura, I will always remember this: