It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like 6-10

I was willing to forgive the Bears for the Bengals debacle this season, because sometimes a team runs into another team that's just firing on all cylinders that week. After the Arizona debacle, however, I know this season is lost, and it's because of the lines. The offensive line can't push, the defensive line can't stop being pushed, and those two failures are like support beams collapsing, pulling down the whole team with them. Because of Cutler and games against Detroit and St. Louis, I think the Bears might still win two or three more games. When the smoke of the season clears, though, the irony is going to be that the Bears have question marks at every position except quarterback.

-- BRANDON TRISSLER

Make It Or Break It

Everyone's beginning to talk about Mount Cutler beginning to blow as if it's a bad thing. He's a cry baby. He can't handle it when the chips are down. He's a pouty-faced whiner. The guy's getting the hell beat out of him by a porous offensive line (unless they're trying to run the ball, when they become a solid impediment to their own backfield), and nobody seems to be playing with any sense of urgency - especially the defense.

No doubt Cutler is angry, and he ought to be. If he were some complacent, take-it-in-stride QB that let all of this go on around and him did nothing, then Bears Nation would have a serious issue. When the Cutler took to the air to make the end zone earlier in the season - getting whirly-birded as he crossed the plane - the Bears fans took notice. When he got socked and bit his tongue and played the rest of the game with the taste of blood in his mouth, the Bears fans took notice. When he begins calling out teammates, they had better take notice, because the Bears fans are watching that too.

Most Bears fans share a common strain of rudimentary DNA. When there are two guys in a bare-knuckle brawl, one gets up, the other doesn't. It's pretty easy to sort out the vanquished and the victor. Most Bears fans would prefer that the scoreboard read in their favor. But, deep down, Bears fans are equally as pleased to see raw displays of toughness and bad-ass swagger and attitude, and that's been too few and far between this season - except from Cutler.

Cutler grew up watching the Bears and hoping to play for them, so he probably has some sense of Bears tradition and what makes his hometown fans proud. So don't be so sure that Slingin' Jay just ain't calling out his teammates to meet his own level of commitment, honor, urgency and - can you say it? - Leadership.

-- THOMAS TYRER