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McNeil: Don't Rush To Judgment With Bears

By Dan McNeil-

It would be snobbish — not to mention cowardly — if I suggested we all park our opinions of the Bears and the NFL until there's more evidence to evaluate in a few weeks.

But pessimism over the 1-1 Bears is not a rush to judgment, a knee-jerk reaction to another bad loss in Green Bay. The Bears have confirmed they are too flawed to be a great football team.

Do you need to see DeMarcus Ware sitting on Jay Cutler's chest in Week 4 to connect the dots? Would Cutler authoring another five-interception night in San Francisco in November bring things into better focus?

Here's what I know to be indisputable:

•The savior so many thought was arriving in the spring of 2009 didn't. It's unnecessary to pore over Cutler's numbers any more since his last bed wetting. He collapses when it matters most. He magnifies deficiencies around him by playing horribly when harassed.

Cutler isn't going to be among the league's elite. To get on that board, one must be unflappable. He isn't. This will not change.

When the final chapter of the Jay Cutler Story is written, there will be no tales of the snotty-nosed kid from Santa Claus, Ind., standing under a confetti shower on a Sunday in February.

For the rest of this column, please click here.

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