When the Chicago Bears traded for Jay Cutler this off-season, they were supposed to have the final piece of the puzzle in place. Instead, the Bears’ offense has been woeful this season, and there’s growing talk in Chicago that offensive coordinator Ron Turner is to blame.
Even though the Bears are coming off a 30-6 blowout win over the Browns, Turner has been the object of scorn in the Chicago media this week for the team’s lackluster performance on offense. And Neil Hayes of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that Turner’s is the head most likely to roll after the season if the Bears miss the playoffs.
The Bears likely wouldn’t want to buy out the contract of head coach Lovie Smith, and Smith seems to have the complete support of the locker room, so his job appears to be safe. General Manager Jerry Angelo likely wouldn’t be the one to go if the Bears make changes after the season, either: Angelo has a contract that runs through 2013. But getting rid of Turner after the season wouldn’t be so difficult.
And so Turner may be coaching for his job over the rest of the year.
As for Cutler, the Bears have gone all in on their quarterback, so it’s up to Turner to find the right way to use Cutler’s skills. Cutler said he talked to Turner after the win over the Browns and found him to be frustrated. And Cutler said frustration is exactly what Turner should be feeling right now.
”I talked with him Monday for a long time,” Cutler said. ”He’s just as frustrated as a lot of us are. He’s the one calling the shots. Whenever we struggle he’s going to be frustrated, and rightly so.”
I have to admit that living in the northeast, on a daily basis I am not overly exposed to what goes on in regions beyond .
That said, Cutler is a DB! Seems to me that he is all about him. Too bad that a team can’t have the individual that ought to be the team leader, be the team leader.
Ron Turner is still lurking around Halas Hall??? With his abysmal record of failure at both U of Illinois and the Bears, I think it’s obvious that he is a McCaskey favorite. He has gotten alot of mileage out of his brother Norv’s reputation,that’s for sure…
Everything Cutler touches turns to crap. Certainly the Bears media don’t blame Turner for Cutler’s 11 INT’s (2nd in NFL) and his 80 Passer Rating (2oth in NFL).
Cutler is just not a winner.
A whiner? Yes.
A winner? No!
Just warm? It better be surface of the sun hot. He’s dead weight. Ron Turdner is going to get Lovie fired. But, I guess that’s the way it is in Chicago. Turner-> Crowton-> Shoop -> Shea -> Turner: We’ve come full circle in the crap sandwich.
If Lovie wants to remain in the job, he needs to fire Turner. Playoffs or not. The Bears may succeed in spite of Turner just as they did when Grossman “quarterbacked” them to the superbowl. But, either way, if Turdner isn’t gone at the end of the season, I may have to cancel my Sunday ticket.
Turner ran the Illinois program into dust and got immediately hired by the Bears. Now, it looks like a total moron is calling plays, especially those in the end zone. Go figure.
It’s like expecting a guy to squeeze blood out of a turnip.
No line…and the personnel doesn’t match the ‘franchise’.
I don’t see how this is so elusive to everybody.
Hey Sourdough – Cutler may have 11 picks, but if Orton were still in Chicago he would be on IR by now. The offensive couldn’t block for a high school. Cutler has been mobile enough to avoid that ankle injury that Orton got last year with a line that was as bad as this one. If Cutler would have a pocket to throw out of you probably could cut the picks in half! Also, 3 wide receivers that have no knack for knowing what to do to adjust their routes during a play probably account for half of the other picks that are left to Cutler. So maybe Cutler is guilty of 3-4 picks on his own. Everything starts with the guys up front and the Bears probably have arguably the worst O-line in the NFC.
turner is the main reason for the bears problems.how many times do you see a team beside the bears run a play gain 15-20 yards and then go with a play that never works like say a run up the middle on the very next play?you would think when teams have a 9 man front that you could come up with a better play than run up the middle or throw a wide reciever screen.it’s like they don’t want to accept that offense is part of the game to.as soon as they get a lead they abandon any type of offense that involves throwing the ball down field.then when they get behind they expect cutler to bail them out.it’s about time the media started to call out turner and smith as they blamed grossman for everything wrong with the bears and global warming.now they get a top young qb. who was great in denver and bring him here and ruin him.
I hear his brother’s seat in San Diego isn’t very comforable either.
@tpm58: You sure have a lot of excuses for Cutler’s shortcomings. Honestly, he’s just not all that. His career NFL QB rating is 86, not much higher than it is right now (80). And that career 86 was accumulated when he was able to throw to Marshall, Scheffler & Royal. Not exactly an overwhelming rating is it?
Regardless, it does sound like all those draft picks that were given to the Broncos in the Cutler trade would’ve come in handy during next year’s draft. It is going to be tough rebuilding what you call arguably the worst O-line in the NFC w.o draft picks. Oh well, at least Cutler will be given a pass for his poor play & Turner will be blamed for the offensive ineptitude, right Bears fan?
The only way Cutler will amount to anything is if the Bears bring in Mike Shanahan in some kind of capacity. Without him Cutler is clueless.
Tpm: Cutler had 18 picks behind Denver’s Oline. He had touch football time– one-1000, tw0-1000, three-1000, four-1000, five-1000, etc, and still routinely made the bad decision. Orton is on pace for 2 behind the same line.
I understand wanting to believe– I did it for three years. I don’t understand the Orton hate. The dude was just minding his business when Cutler had his tantrum and then just went about bringing the same work ethic, leadership and class to Denver.
Sorry, but you guys got hosed.
It seems that the biggest problem with the offense is the line. We are getting blown off the ball on every play. Forte can’t get a step to run without having a defensive lineman all over him. Cutler is on the ground almost as much as he is standing. What happened to all the great moves made in the off season with offensive lineman? Orlando Pace looks way past his prime. Until this gets fixed nothing else will work.
The Bears offensive problems aren’t due to playcalling or scheme, they’re due to a LACK OF BLOCKING!
There’s no running holes. There’s no time for Jay in the pocket.
There’s no offensive coordinator that can overcome a bad offensive line. The Bears can’t even block roll-outs right now.
There’s already rumblings of benching Orlando Pace, inserting Shaffer at RT, and moving Williams to his drafted position of LT in effort to keep Jay upright.