LaTunaNostra
He Made the Difference
- Messages
- 14,985
- Reaction score
- 4
At this point, give Hutchinson a try
November 26, 2004
BY MIKE MULLIGAN STAFF REPORTER
IRVING, Texas -- Even the most ardent of insomniacs must have been snoozing by the time the Dallas Cowboys dispatched the Bears with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns Thursday. If the tryptophan in the turkey didn't get them, the Bears' offense surely did the trick. The Bears reached a new low by pumping life into a Cowboys team that even coach Bill Parcells thought was finished for the season.
''I didn't think we'd get another one,'' said Parcells, who started rookie Drew Henson but benched him in favor of Vinny Testaverde, a 41-year-old, 18-year veteran, in the second half.
The Bears would love to have an old, slow, soon-to-retire option like that in their dysfunctional quarterback collection. But with rookie Craig Krenzel leaving Texas Stadium on crutches with a walking cast on his right foot, their options are limited.
''You know who we have on our roster right now, so those are the options we will have -- Jonathan Quinn and Chad Hutchinson,'' Bears coach Lovie Smith said. ''Those are the two. Hopefully, Craig Krenzel will come back and get into the mix. It's a good thing about having a little bit of time. We have a little bit of time to analyze that quarterback position and see who we need to go with.''
Smith can analyze the options until Dec. 5, when the Bear host the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field; he'll be hard-pressed to find a guy worth playing. Krenzel has overseen the offense as it steadily has dropped from bad to worst in the league. He has played poorly enough that you began to wonder if he really was that much better than Quinn, whose disastrous showing after Rex Grossman went down has earned him a place among the worst quarterbacks in Bears history.
Quinn re-established himself as the gold standard of quarterback incompetence with a 10-for-21 performance for 86 yards with two interceptions, four sacks and a rating of 19.2, a season-low.
The one thing Quinn didn't do in that first starting stint earlier in the season was turn the ball over, despite showing all the necessary elements of a giveaway artist. Those ''skills'' were suddenly on display as he threw interceptions and fumbled the ball twice, with the Bears retrieving it both times. Coupled with terrible play-calling from offensive coordinator Terry Shea, Quinn tried desperately to give the ball to the Cowboys, who refused to catch the offered interceptions.
Dallas' stubbornness and pride about accepting charity ended suddenly in the fourth quarter when it put together a scoring drive against an exhausted Bears defense and then intercepted a Quinn pass at the Bears' 42 on the first play of the ensuing possession. Seven plays later, rookie Julius Jones scored his second touchdown of the game, and the Bears were a beaten team.
Quinn engaged in a battle of semantics when asked later if the offense was embarrassed.
''I would say frustrated,'' Quinn said. ''I would not say embarrassed because everybody has worked too hard for too long, and everybody goes out there and does their best. 'Frustrated' would be a proper word. 'Embarrassed,' I would not use.''
What an embarrassment.
Quinn said he wants to start against Minnesota, but mercifully, the decision is not his. If Krenzel can't play, it finally might be time to evaluate former Cowboys quarterback Hutchinson, like Henson a former baseball player who switched sports when he couldn't make the big leagues. Hutchinson actually laughed when asked what he learned from watching Krenzel and Quinn on Thursday.
''Tough game,'' he said. ''The NFL is a tough game. It's a team game, too. It's not just the quarterback, it's everybody. [The quarterbacks] are preparing as well as they can. I don't think you guys see exactly how late they stay and how hard they are working on this. The chips aren't falling in place right now, but they are doing everything they can.''
The quarterback position might not be solely responsible for all the Bears' problems these days, but the sad truth in a weak NFC is that the Bears' defense is good enough that the team could be a playoff contender with just mediocrity at the position. The offense ranked 12th in the league when Grossman went down with a season-ending knee injury and now is dead last.
The time seems to have come for Hutchinson by default. Change for change's sake is better than another dose of Quinn. Clearly, Hutchinson would have loved to get a chance against his old team and the coach who cut him Thursday, but the Bears say he only has been in the offensive huddle with the first team on two occasions this season, and they couldn't find a way to get him ready. Now they have 11 days to do so, which the player said is enough time.
''It would have been nice to play, but this was what it was,'' Hutchinson said. ''I am eager to play whenever I step on the field. I will be ready if they need me, and I will continue to get better. My job is to play the hand they have dealt me. If they want to give me a look, great. If not, I will continue to get better and work on my fundamentals.''
http://www.suntimes.com/output/bears/cst-spt-mully26.html
November 26, 2004
BY MIKE MULLIGAN STAFF REPORTER
IRVING, Texas -- Even the most ardent of insomniacs must have been snoozing by the time the Dallas Cowboys dispatched the Bears with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns Thursday. If the tryptophan in the turkey didn't get them, the Bears' offense surely did the trick. The Bears reached a new low by pumping life into a Cowboys team that even coach Bill Parcells thought was finished for the season.
''I didn't think we'd get another one,'' said Parcells, who started rookie Drew Henson but benched him in favor of Vinny Testaverde, a 41-year-old, 18-year veteran, in the second half.
The Bears would love to have an old, slow, soon-to-retire option like that in their dysfunctional quarterback collection. But with rookie Craig Krenzel leaving Texas Stadium on crutches with a walking cast on his right foot, their options are limited.
''You know who we have on our roster right now, so those are the options we will have -- Jonathan Quinn and Chad Hutchinson,'' Bears coach Lovie Smith said. ''Those are the two. Hopefully, Craig Krenzel will come back and get into the mix. It's a good thing about having a little bit of time. We have a little bit of time to analyze that quarterback position and see who we need to go with.''
Smith can analyze the options until Dec. 5, when the Bear host the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field; he'll be hard-pressed to find a guy worth playing. Krenzel has overseen the offense as it steadily has dropped from bad to worst in the league. He has played poorly enough that you began to wonder if he really was that much better than Quinn, whose disastrous showing after Rex Grossman went down has earned him a place among the worst quarterbacks in Bears history.
Quinn re-established himself as the gold standard of quarterback incompetence with a 10-for-21 performance for 86 yards with two interceptions, four sacks and a rating of 19.2, a season-low.
The one thing Quinn didn't do in that first starting stint earlier in the season was turn the ball over, despite showing all the necessary elements of a giveaway artist. Those ''skills'' were suddenly on display as he threw interceptions and fumbled the ball twice, with the Bears retrieving it both times. Coupled with terrible play-calling from offensive coordinator Terry Shea, Quinn tried desperately to give the ball to the Cowboys, who refused to catch the offered interceptions.
Dallas' stubbornness and pride about accepting charity ended suddenly in the fourth quarter when it put together a scoring drive against an exhausted Bears defense and then intercepted a Quinn pass at the Bears' 42 on the first play of the ensuing possession. Seven plays later, rookie Julius Jones scored his second touchdown of the game, and the Bears were a beaten team.
Quinn engaged in a battle of semantics when asked later if the offense was embarrassed.
''I would say frustrated,'' Quinn said. ''I would not say embarrassed because everybody has worked too hard for too long, and everybody goes out there and does their best. 'Frustrated' would be a proper word. 'Embarrassed,' I would not use.''
What an embarrassment.
Quinn said he wants to start against Minnesota, but mercifully, the decision is not his. If Krenzel can't play, it finally might be time to evaluate former Cowboys quarterback Hutchinson, like Henson a former baseball player who switched sports when he couldn't make the big leagues. Hutchinson actually laughed when asked what he learned from watching Krenzel and Quinn on Thursday.
''Tough game,'' he said. ''The NFL is a tough game. It's a team game, too. It's not just the quarterback, it's everybody. [The quarterbacks] are preparing as well as they can. I don't think you guys see exactly how late they stay and how hard they are working on this. The chips aren't falling in place right now, but they are doing everything they can.''
The quarterback position might not be solely responsible for all the Bears' problems these days, but the sad truth in a weak NFC is that the Bears' defense is good enough that the team could be a playoff contender with just mediocrity at the position. The offense ranked 12th in the league when Grossman went down with a season-ending knee injury and now is dead last.
The time seems to have come for Hutchinson by default. Change for change's sake is better than another dose of Quinn. Clearly, Hutchinson would have loved to get a chance against his old team and the coach who cut him Thursday, but the Bears say he only has been in the offensive huddle with the first team on two occasions this season, and they couldn't find a way to get him ready. Now they have 11 days to do so, which the player said is enough time.
''It would have been nice to play, but this was what it was,'' Hutchinson said. ''I am eager to play whenever I step on the field. I will be ready if they need me, and I will continue to get better. My job is to play the hand they have dealt me. If they want to give me a look, great. If not, I will continue to get better and work on my fundamentals.''
http://www.suntimes.com/output/bears/cst-spt-mully26.html