The way twinky Butkus sees it, Jay Cutler would be ''in Canada somewhere'' had he tried to force George Halas to trade him. The Hall of Fame linebacker also believes his former team won't go anywhere unless the defense holds up. Oh sure, having a franchise quarterback helps, but what happens on the other side of the ball will determine whether the Chicago Bears get back to the playoffs. Source: AP
One crucial point though, while having a bad D all season would kill your season, having a proper qb at least gives you a chance if the D is having an off day. Also, surely Halas would firstly not made the mess up that made his qb want to leave and if he somehow did then he would want to get as much for the team as he could and not just go for the pointless revenge.
The Bears defense was shaky last season and they still almost backed into the playoffs. So if the D is the same as 2008 then I still think the Bears make the playoffs just based on having more offensive firepower. That being said, they would not go very far at all. I do expect the D to be somewhat better at the very least because Urlacher is in great shape, they added a solid 3rd LB to go with Urlacher & Briggs and I think Marinelli will get more production out of the defensive line. But will all that make the Bears a great defense? No idea. To me the play of the defense will be the difference in being a one and done playoff team and being able to actually make a deep run. Not so much making the playoffs by itself.
The bears clearly won't be a bad team this year, its just that there are still a lot of question marks against parts of the team that won't be definitely answered until the proper games start and its why its fair to see predictions ranging from as bad as 3rd in the nfc north all the way up to a place in the super bowl.
The defense has been my concern also even before BU54 was out for the season. :icon_sad: A good defense give the offense more oppertunity as most know.
for me the D went on a down hill slid when we fired Ron Rivera...the D hasnt been the same since IMO.:sleep:
There was definitely issues with Rivera's playcalling e.g. his use of the blitz was woeful at times and the right person could have improved, but babich most clearly was not the right person to do the job.
Rivera did nothing special. He sat back and let us get dinked and dunked all night long in the Super Bowl.