Three notable fines came out of the NFL’s offices today, and if you had to guess who was fined the most between Bears quarterback Jay Cutler [berating an official], Bears lineman Tommie Harris [punching an opponent in the face] or Bengals wideout Chad Ochocinco [waving a one-dollar bill in front of an official], which way would you go?
Harris got the lightest punishment [a $7500 fine]; apparently punching non-quarterbacks in the face isn’t as bad as saying mean things about an official. Cutler’s next game check will be $20,000 lighter this week, as will Ochocinco’s. Who would have expected the NFL to be upset about a player claiming he was trying to bribe an official?
The question that everyone asks about this bit of “fun” seems to be, “Did anyone think he was serious?” If you saw the game live, you saw a tight shot of Ocho’s hand, and then a quick cutaway–nobody knew that he wasn’t serious. And with all the scuttlebutt about games being decided by officials, the message needed to be sent–influencing our officials is not a laughing matter. The cameras eventually caught handing the dollar back to a member of the field crew. Maybe he should have hung onto it. More.
Jay Cutler threw five interceptions in the NFL’s first Thursday night game of the year, leading his Chicago Bears to a rousing defeat in San Francisco while hammering yet another nail in Bears coach Lovie Smith’s coffin. Two of Cutler’s interceptions came in the San Francisco red zone in a 10-6 snoozefest that was so bad, it should have been broadcast on Versus.
“I wouldn’t say he was trying to force the issue,” 49ers safety Mark Roman(notes) said of Cutler. “He was trying to make plays at a time when they needed a play to be made. We knew the ball was going to be in the air and we knew if we would be sound in our coverages we’d have opportunities.” –Y! Sports.
Niners running back Frank Gore had the game’s only TD–a 14-yard rush that helped give San Fran their first win in five games. Meanwhile, The Matt Forte Suckfest took an odd turn as the second-year running back ran for an uninspiring 41 yards on 20 carries, but then he had 120 yards receiving on the night. And then he probably went home and drank some juice or something, because those games can get pretty tiring.
Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, fresh off his loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night, was given a 2-year, $30 million extension by the Bears, keeping the Vanderbilt product with the team through 2013.
A person familiar with the negotiations said the deal includes approximately $20 million guaranteed and roughly $30 million in new money. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the terms were not released.
“Thanks to the Bears, the McCaskey family and all the Bears fans for the support,” Cutler wrote Tuesday night on his Twitter page. –Y! Sports.
And he’s obviously very excited about that. Jay, you just got $20 million guaranteed. You could buy half of sub-Saharan Africa if you wanted. How about a little smile? Aren’t you gonna smile for us, Jay? We just gave you a lot of money for a smile. Can you smile? Can you gimme widdle bitty smile? Where’s that smile? THERE IT IS! Good boy! Here, have some candy. NOOOOOO!!!
I’m kinda surprised that Jay Cutler making his first trip to Denver as a member of the Chicago Bears is getting the attention it is from the sports blogosphere. For a few reasons:
- Sunday’s tilt was, after all, a preseason game.
- Denver is hardly the cultural apex of anything, so who really cares how they feel about Cutler, or for that matter, how they feel about pleated pants or the fiat standard. Oh, you can ski in Denver? Great. The snow’s better in Utah, anyway. The only downside is that I’m pretty sure Utah is still a slave state.
- It was a preseason game. Wait, I already said that.
- I probably didn’t need bullet points for this. Or blockquote.
Long story short: Cutler played well, Orton got a bloody finger, and one team had more points than the other. I guess that America’s hardon for football is insatiable. And sure, these teams won’t play each other all year. And yes, Broncos coach Josh McDaniels has already decimated that team with nothing to show for it. But are we that worked up over a preseason game? We are? Oh.
Here’s Chicago Bears backup quarterback Caleb Hanie, probably appeasing some overzealous fanboy with a Flip camera. The kid asks Hanie if he wants to start over Jay Cutler, and he says what any other player in training camp would be expected to say:
KID: Do you have a stronger arm than Cutler?
HANIE: Yeah.
KID: More mobile?
HANIE: Definitely.
KID: Smarter?
HANIE: Yep, stronger, smarter…
KID: Awesome. via.
Keep in mind that these are people WAITING FOR AN AUTOGRAPH FROM A BACKUP QUARTERBACK. Hanie signed as a free agent last year, presumably for the minimum, which would have been the last time his autograph was worth anything. What makes autographs such a big deal, anyway? Unless you’re going to rehearse it for fake checks or paternity papers, they’re just a waste of everyone’s time.
Insulin just got a whole lot sexier in the Windy City as the Chicago Bears managed to put together the winning bid for Denver’s Jay Cutler.
The Bears acquired:
The Broncos get:
Orton finally seemed to get his act together to some degree last year, so it’s a bit surprising that the Bears would emerge as the team willing to pay the two first-round picks that the Broncos were seeking. That’s what Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher thought, but then all you’d need to surprise that guy is something shiny. Read the rest of this entry »
