Sunday night was not Jay Cutler’s game. The Bears quarterback was sacked nine times in the first half by the Giants. Niiiiiine times. Ed Rooney thinks that’s a lot. To put things into perspective, the Bears ran 27 offensive plays in the first half. Seven were runs and the remaining 20 were passes. Cutler was sacked nine out of the 20 times he went back to pass. That’s 45% of the time.
Some of the sacks were due to poor blocking, some to not having enough protection to counter a blitz, and some were due to Jay Cutler holding onto the ball too long. The last sack of the half — the one that knocked Cutler out — can probably be placed in the third category. Defensive back Aaron Ross got a hold of Cutler and brought him to the ground, with Cutler’s head getting jammed straight to the turf. Just imagine the picture below about two nanoseconds later.
After halftime, Todd Collins came out for Chicago because Cutler had suffered a concussion. Collins may have led the Redskins to a miracle playoff run in 2007 but I wouldn’t count on a repeat if I were a Bears fan. Cutler probably will miss week five’s game against Carolina and could wind up returning for a week six contest with the Seahawks and his team holding a 3-2 record.
The one consistency with Mike Martz teams is for all the stats they rack up, his quarterbacks generally throw the most interceptions in the league and take the most sacks. Sunday night’s debacle was costly for Chicago. I don’t believe I’ve seen a more one-sided performance by a pass rush since the Giants abused the Eagles’ line to the tune of 12 sacks back in 2007.
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