before their final 6 games, i was projecting for them to win 3, maybe 4, games, and didn't even consider that very optimistic. :P clearly, i didn't put enough emphasis on the quarterback position, and/or extrapolated too much from Hanie's solid performance in last year's NFC Championship game. also, i obviously didn't anticipate the Forte injury.
Well, this is obviously after the fact, but something I had major concerns about in the first place. The backup QB looked better
relative to what was produced on that day. The big complaint on that game was that Cutler looked hopelessly craptacular, whether it was injury related or not. Sometimes the benefit of the opponent not having practiced against him (very little film on the guy after all) only works for the game in question. It was very similar to a game a while back... Pats @ Falcons. It was up in the air for Vick (while he was still a Falcon) to start that game and that didn't happen... his backup, Matt Schaub played a great game vs the Pats. Despite the loss, his value magically increased from that game alone, to the point of being traded to the Texans the following year. Now obviously Schaub is very much responsible for the Texans being in the playoffs this year, but he was simply "just a guy" there for many years w/o having made the playoffs.
There was lots of talk about Matt Cassel the year Brady went down... and his value was pretty high (although that only managed a 2nd round pick) to be traded to the Chiefs. Some people thought to keep Cassel and trade Brady... which was the most stupid thing I've ever heard of. If anyone has actually kept track of Cassel.. he's still not good enough to beat a really good team. The losses that the Pats had were to good teams that year, including the Steelers, Colts, and Chargers (all division winners the prior year). That problem still lingers on with him AFAIK.
When you have a franchise QB, you have to realistically value what he is and it makes no sense to project what he is UNTIL he accomplishes things. It doesn't necessarily mean he has to win a SB (but obviously, that is the big measuring stick), but there has to be a common consistency when it comes to beating a good opponent. I don't think Cutler is a great QB, but as what he is, he is far more valuable than was originally imagined. Suddenly, it looks like a godsend when the rightful QB gets back to playing... you would pine for competent QB play.
This is also why Leno was already down on his team. Trading for a below average QB in McNabb... starting Christian Ponder (throwing him into the fire) and didn't even try to continue the Joe Webb experiment (at least buy some time for Ponder to learn the playbook). When Favre was still "good", he was great for that solo year... I'm sure it's hard to watch what is produced now.. assuming Ponder gets better and is that franchise QB... which is still an unknown.
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