Expect Chicago Bears To Go Defense In 2015 NFL Draft

Here’s the thing.  In a perfect world the Chicago Bears would wipe the slate clean.  They would seek out a promising young rookie or solid free agent at quarterback, dump Jay Cutler and use the extra money to fix problems elsewhere.  The thing is they aren’t in position to do something like that.

The Bears handed Cutler a seven-year, $126 million deal to be their quarterback.  Don’t forget $54 million is guaranteed over the first three seasons.  In other words Chicago would still owe a ton of cash even if they cut him.  As to the trade idea, it’s enticing and exciting but also unlikely and short-sighted.  Does Cutler lead the league in turnovers?  Yep.  Is he a leader of men?  Not really.  Still, he can put up numbers and win some games.

On top of that, who exactly will the Bears get to replace him.  Neither free agency nor the NFL draft offer prime pickings to get off the Cutler train.  Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett are hardly adequate replacements.  Marcus Mariota is out of reach and Jameis Winston has too many red flags.  Scouts agree the 2015 quarterback class is thin and loaded with a lot of bust potential.

Those drawbacks make it plain.  Chicago is stuck with Cutler for 2015.  So that leaves one alternative:  load up the defense.

Countering The Turnovers

What is the primary problem with Jay Cutler?  The turnovers, obviously.  How does a team counteract a quarterback who is going to throw interceptions or fumble the ball at least once or twice per game?  To answer that, the Bears need only look north of the border at their rival Green Bay Packers for the answer.

They too had a strong-armed gunslinger at quarterback by the name of Brett Favre who threw a lot of careless passes in his career.  In fact there were seven times in which he threw at least 17 interceptions for the season.  Yet the Packers made the playoffs four of those times.  How did they do it?

So it’s not hard to see.  The Packers realized the best way to counter Favre’s issue was by playing great defense, either by stopping the opponent or scoring themselves.  That is why the Bears will once again place their entire focus of 2015 on improving theirs.

Why wouldn’t they?  The reasoning is too easy to see.

• 32nd in points allowed (29.1 per game)
• 30th in passing defense (265.5 yards per game)
• 77 missed tackles (Pro Football Focus)
• Cutler is 27-13 when his defense ranks at least 17th

The skinny of that?  The Chicago Bears can win with Jay Cutler if they can play defense at a customary level.  It’s why fans must be prepared for another run by the brass to give it some life in the 2015 NFL draft.