The NFL analysts took target practice on the Bears and Jay Cutler Sunday. And that was before their blowout loss to New England.
The pregame shows weighed in on the Bears’ problems. Terry Bradshaw on “Fox NFL Sunday” went after Cutler, who never has been his favorite quarterback.
“Jay, honest to God. Life is good, brother,” Bradshaw said. “You’re making a great living, having fun and playing the game you’ve looked forward to playing since you were a little kid. Act like you enjoy it, man! Put a smile on your face for once in your life.”
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Bradshaw wasn’t alone in knocking Cutler. Kurt Warner weighed in on NFL Network’s “GameDay Morning.”
“Jay Cutler is being paid like one of our elite players in our game,” Warner said. “Jay Cutler is supposed to be an elite player. The Chicago Bears have made that commitment. It’s time for Jay Cutler to play like an elite player.”
Keyshawn Johnson came down hard on ESPN’s “NFL Countdown.”
“Lovie Smith in my opinion is not the Chicago Bears head coach today because of that quarterback,” Johnson said.
Former Bears coach Mike Ditka stuck with his philosophy of the Bears needing to run the ball while taking his shots at Cutler.
“First of all, they gotta run the ball effectively,” Ditka said. “They’ve got to make a commitment to running the ball 25, 30 times a game and get away from tryin’ to please everybody out there catching the passes. There’s plenty of balls to go around if they can establish the running game. Defense, you gotta line up, and you gotta stop people. You gotta tackle somebody. You gotta get in somebody’s way. You gotta play with enthusiasm. The quarterback: get in the game. You’re the leader of the football team. Act like it. Lead.”
Cris Carter believes the problem goes beyond Cutler.
“Now Marc Trestman – he’s at the crossroads as far as leadership,” Carter said. “Now is he going to turn this team around because they don’t have great personnel, they don’t have great defense and they don’t have great special teams, which they always had before. So for me, I like to spread the blame around to the rest of the team. This is not a talented roster. The front office hasn’t done a great job of putting a whole bunch of players out there and this is the result of it.”
As expected, the reviews weren’t much better after the game. Rodney Harrison on NBC’s “Football Night in America” was harsh prior to the New Orleans-Green Bay game.
“Bears fans keep asking me what’s wrong with their team. I tell them, everything is wrong with the team, Harrison said. “I’m just looking at the Bears and how bad they played. No sense of urgency. It was very disappointing to me.”