Jay Cutler leads the Chicago Bears to Conference Championship
The Seattle Seahawks were not expected to get to the playoffs, but they did. They were not expected to defeat the New Orleans Saints, but they did. When finally the football universe began to expect the unexpected from the Seahawks, their string of victories
as underdogs ended.
This Sunday the Chicago Bears hosted the Seattle Seahawks and sent them packing in the divisional round of the playoffs. The Bears will now face their division rivals the Green Bay Packers in the conference championship game.
After defeating the Seahawks 35-24, Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said, “It's a big deal. We have a lot of history with them (Seahawks). We don't like them, they don't like us.”
Chicago’s quarterback Jay Cutler has an amazing arm and a decent aim to go along with it, but against the Seahawks he proved that there is more to him than meets the eye. A defence expects Cutler to only pass the ball. Chicago’s offensive line has often
cracked under pressure leaving Cutler unprotected even inside the pocket. In the regular season he has been sacked 52 times. To put that in perspective, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been sacked less than half as many times as Cutler.
Cutler has always been in a rush to get rid of the ball, or face the possibility of being sacked, and because of that he has been making quite a few mistakes. Cutler has 16 interceptions and has fumbled the ball 10 times (six of those fumbled balls were
lost).
Against the Seahawks Cutler slightly changed his game plan and used his legs more often. Cutler was sacked nine times when playing against the New York Giants. In that game he didn’t attempt to run at all. Against the Washington Redskins Cutler was sacked
four times, he attempted to rush the ball only once. In the last game of the season, Cutler was sacked six times by the Green Bay Packers. He attempted to rush just twice in that game for eight yards.
The Seahawks knew very well that pressuring Cutler could be the key to success. In week 6, Seattle defeated the Bears 20-23. Cutler was unable to throw a single touchdown pass in that game and he was sacked six times. He ran the ball only twice in that game.
More rushing players correlate with fewer sacks for the quarterback, so that is what Cutler did against the Seahawks.
This Sunday Cutler rushed a season high of 43 yards. In the regular season he had rushed more than 30 yards in only two games. His total for the regular season was 232 rushing yards with just one touchdown. Against the Seahawks, Cutler scored twice as many
rushing touchdowns as he did in the entire regular season. He was sacked for a total of 13 yards in that game. The average Cutler lost in the regular season to sacks in each game is over 23 yards.
Cutler didn’t through any interceptions. He passed for 274 yards and scored two passing touchdowns in 15 attempts. The Bears scored a total of five touchdowns. Running back Chester Taylor scored a touchdown off a one-yard run in the first quarter.
The Bears rushing offence was on fire. Their season average on the ground is a 101 yards which ranks 22nd in the league. Against the Seahawks the Bears rushed a whopping 176 yards. Running back Matt Forte led Chicago with 80 rushing yards on 25
carries, but he didn’t score any touchdowns. Taylor with his solitary touchdown, rushed 44 yards in 11 carries, and Cutler rushed 43 in eight carries scoring twice.
The Bears have relied on their defence throughout the regular season. Cutler’s job has been to keep the offence afloat and put some points on the board. The defence was tasked with the rest. The Seahawks proved to be quite a challenge for Chicago’s defence.
Seattle’s quarterback Matt Hasselbeck Scored three passing touchdowns in the final quarter and led a field goal drive in the third quarter. Chicago on average has allowed just 17.9 points per game, but the Seahawks were able to score 24 points. Chicago’s
35 points in Sunday’s game are almost 15 points more than their season average.
Cutler truly led the Bears to victory. If he plays the same way against the Packers, he could very well take Chicago to the Super Bowl.
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