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Monday meanderings: The only way Chicago Bears coach Marc Trestman’s decision to keep quarterback Jay Cutler in Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field makes perfect sense — but only if Trestman wants someone other than Cutler as his quarterback in 2014. Cutler took a pounding from the Detroit defense that would have had a healthy QB wonder what the heck was going on. And also: Is this really where I want to be next season?
If the Detroit Lions can have unofficial cheerleaders, why can’t the Bears?
* Some coaches leave themselves open to second-guessing. With his effort Sunday, Trestman left himself open to a fair share of first-guessing. And, OK, second-guessing, too.
* If the Bears are looking for a tune to capture the first half of the season, it should be “Try to Remember” from the play “The Fantasticks.” As you may remember, the Bears started the season by winning their first three games in September (music to follow, if you scroll down).
* If it’s any consolation to Bears fans (and the guess here is that it actually might be), one of the team’s goals heading into the season likely was to have a record as good as or better than the Green Bay Packers’. And it is. Both teams are 5-4, one game behind Detroit in the NFC North.
* If it’s any consolation to Bears fans (and agains the guess here is that is actually might be), the Packers are down to Scott Tolzien at quarterback. The former Fremd high school standout replaced Seneca Wallace, who was injured in Sunday’s home loss to Philadelphia. Aaron Rodgers, the Packers’ starter was injured last Monday against the Bears. Meaning there are a few more Chicagoland Packers fans than there were a week or two ago.
Playboy’s November Cybergirl is Erika Knight (scroll down for her video).
* There comes a point when a coach has to make a tough call in the best interests of a team. Trestman can defend keeping Cutler in the game all he wants. It still made little sense to wait to replace Cutler until the team’s final possession that began with 2:22 remaining. Cutler appeared hurt physically in his return from a reported groin injury and incurred a sprained left ankle in the game. If a casual fan could see that, why did Trestman ignore the obvious? Does an injured Cutler really give the Bears a better chance to score than a healthy McCown? Trestman can’t leave those decisions to Cutler. Coaches get paid the big bucks to make those calls. Trestman should know better.
* Of course, the Bears were a mere two-point conversion from sending the game to overtime. And, of course, the Bears would have won. Reality check: There’s no guarantee the Lions don’t move far enough downfield in the final 40 seconds to kick a game-winning field goal or prevail in overtime. Minor details.
* Speaking of the failed two-point conversion (that followed a failed two-point conversion pass, but the Lions were called for a penalty), Matt Forte was about as effective on that play (no gain) as he was during the game. He averaged 1.9 yards per game (17 carries for 33 yards). Lions running back Reggie Bush averaged 7.5 (14 carries for 105 yards). If it’s any consolation to Bears fans and/or fantasy football players (and the guess here is that it is not to Bears fans), Brandon Marshall had better numbers than Lions receiver Calvin Johnson. Marshall had seven catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns to Johnson’s six for 83 yards and two touchdowns (the second being the game-winner).
* So Trestman opted not to attempt a second-quarter field goal when faced with a fourth-and-one from the Detroit 27. Michael Bush was stopped for no gain, and the Lions took over with 10:59 left in the half. For those people saying Trestman should have had Robbie Gould kick a field goal (thereby giving the Bears three points, which would make the final score 22-21 Bears by the calculation), please do everyone a favor and keep those thoughts to yourself. It is faulty thinking )and we’re giving you the benefit of the doubt by referring to it as thinking). Unless you simply can insert one play into a game without changing anything else. Reality — which is not where some of these fans resides — says once you go for a field goal, everything subsequent changes. Unless it’s the last play of a half, and this wasn’t. Gould could have made the field goal, missed it or had it blocked. A missed field goal is the closest to what occurred in terms of field position. Anything else changes the action to follow.
* The folks at the Chicago version of ESPN.com might had gone a bit overboard in their headline regarding the Bears game: “Fatal decision.” Because football games are life-and-death propositions, right? Really?
* Speaking of death, there’s nothing quite like turning to social media first thing in the day and discovering someone indeed has died. Carla Leonardo was a tremendous disc jockey in Boston and Chicago and had a wonderful sense of humor. She died Saturday. She will be missed. And her loss is far greater in the grand scheme of things than a mere football game.
Welcome to another week — of shameless self-promotion for “Sports & Torts.” It could be worse. It could be shameful self-promotion. Anyway, the good news: There is time remaining to vote for “Sports & Torts” in the Podcastawards.com contest. “Sports & Torts” is among 10 finalists for best sports podcast. The weekly interview show – co-hosted by David Spada and Elliott Harris — airs on Thursdays at noon Central time on Talkzone.com. The bad news: Voting ends Nov. 15. On the bright side, voting is reasonably quick and painless
All you have to do is go to podcastawards.com and vote. After you vote, you will receive an email to verify your vote. Your vote will not count unless you respond to the email. If you don’t see the voting verification email, check out your spam or junk email folder (that’s where mine continue to go — but at least I’m doing better at remember to look there).
Thank you in advance for your vote or votes. As with any election involving anything Chicago-related, you are encouraged to vote early and often. The main difference between this and an actual Chicago election is multiple votes from a person (presumably still living) is permitted for the Podcast Awards. You are allowed to vote once a day. To vote, click here. Among our competition are sites from ESPN and CBS, so we need to battle the behemoths. We feel good about doing so — especially with your assistance. Stay tuned. And thank you once again.
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