The Chicago Bears are heading into Sunday's matchup with the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens without starting quarterback Jay Cutler and the game will be at Soldier Field and starting up live on CBS at 1:00 PM ET and is a crucial game for both teams. The Bears lost last week to the Detroit Lions and lost Cutler in the process, meaning that backup Josh McCown will be starting and that gives the Ravens a leg up, but he has played well in Cutler's absence this season and he could have a nice matchup with Baltimore's D.
Cutler will be out once again for the Bears and that means backup Josh McCown will be starting again and that is not the worst thing for Chicago, as he already won a game on the road against the Green Bay Packers and has played well without Cutler in the lineup, as he has not thrown a pick yet. The Bears are still right there in contention for the NFC north division and despite losing to the Detroit Lions last week, they still have enough divisional games on the schedule to get back into things. The Bears started off the season 3-0 before hitting a slump and dropping three of four and the win over the Packers came at the perfect time and now down the stretch players like Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery will have to step up along with Matt Forte to keep things going the right way. Marc Trestman has done a very solid job in his first season as head coach for the Bears, as the team is playing with more consistency on both sides of the ball.
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This year Cutler has passed for nearly 2,000 yards with more than 10 passing touchdowns and while those aren't Peyton Manning numbers, it has been good enough for the Bears, but one must wonder if Cutler played too long last week against the Lions last week before coming out and now Chicago must hope that he doesn't miss too much more time going forward. McCown has been solid while playing for Cutler and he had yet to throw an interception and his play along with the injuries to Cutler should make things interesting come the time when Cutler has to start negotiating his contract as a free agent this offseason.
The Bears took the Joe Flacco approach to Cutler by allowing him to start the season without signing an extension and while it doesn't look like the team will be winning the Super Bowl like the Ravens did, crazier things have happened and now Chicago will get a chance to see Baltimore up close as they also try to turn thing around in the AFC north division with the Bengals and Browns hanging tight. The offensive line was totally retooled from last season and now has been one of the best at protecting quarterbacks after being one of the worst in the league last season and that has helped Cutler have one of his better starts to the season.
Forte has been one of the most productive players in football this season among running backs and it appears Trestman has found the perfect way to use him, balancing both the rushing game and his involvement in the passing game out of the backfield and that has put him on pace to have one of the best seasons of his career. Forte now has over 690 yards rushing with seven touchdowns scored and he has been huge for the offense out of the backfield, racking up a bunch of yards and receptions and he likely will be one of the league leaders in total yards once the season is done. Marshall and Jeffrey have been putting up some great numbers this season and the Bears finally have found a big receiver with skill and size to play alongside Marshall in the offense.
