Jay Cutler looks on from the sidelines as Jimmy Clausen runs the Bears’ offense. (Brian Cassella, Chicago Tribune)
CHICAGO — Football was the sidebar at Halas Hall this week.
With the futures of Marc Trestman, Jay Cutler and Phil Emery in doubt, the focus was rightly on how the stunning decision to bench Cutler will impact the shape of the Bears’ franchise going forward.
But there was also a game to be played Sunday at Soldier Field, and from a football standpoint, the decision to bench Cutler made zero sense.
What unfolded Sunday at Soldier Field was really the best case scenario. And even in that scenario, the Bears lost 20-14.
Essentially, Trestman started the quarterback the Bears couldn’t win with.
Think about it. Clausen exceeded expectations. The Lions played awful. The Lions still won.
By halftime, the nonsense was already flooding Twitter: Clausen was better off for the Bears’ offense. Trestman’s odd decision was validated. Trestman’s system was not the problem.
Those people must have been watching a different game.
The score was 7-7. And the only reason the Bears had seven points was because Lions punt returner Jeremy Ross inexplicably let a punt drop right in front of him. As footballs tend to do, it bounced right into him and then into the arms of Bears cornerback Sherrick McManis, giving the Bears the ball at the Lions’ 11-yard-line. Then, in another odd strategy, the Lions chose not to cover Matt Forte out of the backfield on the next play and he had an easy touchdown.
But for some reason the overwhelming reaction was to praise Clausen for hitting a wide open running back on a play that was designed to go to the wide open running back.
“We knew they were in man coverage and we had the right play on,” Clausen said. “As soon as we got man, me and Matt were talking in the backfield.”
This is where I run the risk of sounding like I’m bashing Jimmy Clausen. I’m not. I’m bashing the people making wrong conclusions about what Clausen’s performance means. The touchdown throw to Forte was a good one. The other touchdown throw to Alshon Jeffery was even better. To be honest, after a rocky start, Clausen looked poised. He managed the game. He made some throws. He missed some throws. He didn’t turn the ball over until the very end. Late in the game, he took a helmet straight to the head and immediately got in the face of Ziggy Ansah, who delivered the hit. His teammates noticed.
But let’s be clear about something: Jimmy Clausen did not have a great game. He didn’t have a game that would make you think he should be starting Week 1 of next season over Jay Cutler. He finished 23-of-39 for just 181 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. His 77.0 quarterback rating wasn’t very good.
And Clausen also had two chances to put together a game-winning drive. The first one resulted in a three-and-out. The second one resulted in a game-sealing interception.
It’s very possible the game would have ended with an interception had Cutler been in the game at the end too. But it’s also possible Cutler would have made an incredible throw to win the game. Could Clausen have done that? Maybe, but probably not. Game managers rarely lead game-winning drives.
Which takes us back to Trestman’s decision. If he’s really focused on giving the Bears the best chance to win every Sunday, then why did he start the team’s second-best quarterback? And why did he still have Clausen on the field for two possible game-winning drives when Cutler undoubtedly would have given the Bears a better chance to win?
Was Clausen part of the reason why the Bears were still in the game at that point? Sure. And have Cutler’s turnovers aided some of the blowouts the Bears have endured this season? Absolutely. But playing the game-manager over the gun-slinger just so you lose by six points instead of 30 isn’t a valid strategy. Either way you lose.
And let’s also be clear about something else: The Lions were way more responsible for the six-point margin than Clausen. They played horribly. When’s the last time the better quarterback and the better special teams unit was on the Bears’ side of the field? Matthew Stafford was terrible. And the Lions’ special teams unit was directly responsible for the Bears’ 14 points.
And that’s another reason why you should think twice before claiming Trestman made the right call. If not for Ross’ muffed punt and Julian Stanford’s roughing the punter penalty, would the Bears have scored a single point Sunday?
Look, Clausen deserves credit for how he played given the situation. But the situation is exactly why he shouldn’t have been playing in the first place. It didn’t make sense before the game and it didn’t make sense after. The timing of the decision left Clausen with just two practices before facing the No. 1 scoring defense in the NFL.
Actually, check that. It was “a day and a half of practice,” according to Trestman.
You’re not helping yourself, Coach.
Meanwhile, one of the more noticeable traits of Trestman’s practices the last two years is that they consist of a lot of Ones-Vs-Ones. In other words, the backups don’t get many reps. Especially the backup quarterbacks.
So here’s Clausen, with very little practice time to begin with, getting literally thrown to the Lions with just one and a half practices.
It’s a miracle Clausen played as well as he did. It’s a miracle he didn’t get hurt.
Again, this would all be very different if the decision to bench Cutler was made to protect him from injury. That would actually make sense. But it wasn’t. Trestman made it very clear that this was his move. A football move. And he backed that up by keeping Cutler active Sunday as Clausen’s backup.
Asked after the game if Clausen would start next week’s season finale in Minnesota, Trestman didn’t have an answer.
“I think we’ll just work through this,” he said. “We have a day off tomorrow and we’ll make that decision as we move into the week.”
That right there is evidence that Clausen didn’t validate Trestman’s decision to start him. Otherwise, why wouldn’t Trestman, the man supposedly responsible for the move, not immediately say Clausen earned the right to start next week too?
Because he didn’t.
Adam Hoge covers the Bears for 87.7 The Game and TheGameChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AdamHoge.
