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.
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