A: The Bears!!!

Swiped that joke from a friend on Facebook.

My hometown Chicago Bears lost on Sunday to those pesky Packers, and the talk show lines lit up with callers suggesting that Cutler quit on the team, that he was a wuss, that he wasn't tough enough to play with a little booboo.

The "booboo" turned out to be a Class 2 tear of the medial collateral ligament in his knee, and it was stated by coaches and medical staff that he may have been risking his career to continue playing, and that he couldn't throw effectively with the knee giving out. I don't know what that means - the Bears also called the injury a "sprain" but I know from my education when Mark Prior was injured for the Cubs that a "sprain" is effectively a "tear". Anything that's "torn" doesn't sound like a minor injury to me, but perhaps it isn't as serious as it sounds either.

Anyway, it wasn't like Cutler was playing effectively. The only guy who was effective at the QB position was the third string emergency QB who was pressed into action after Todd Collins, their #2, was pulled for injury (or was it really just because he was stinking up the place?). Caleb Hanie moved the chains and the team scored two TDs with him at QB - a passing TD caught by Earl Bennett, and a rushing TD by Chester Taylor. At the very least it looks like Hanie installs himself into the team picture as a probably number 2 guy next year.

This experience should really help the Bears next year. But there is plenty of work to be done - the offensive line needs a major upgrade. Just getting to average would be a big upgrade by itself. There is no one on that line, pro-bowler Olin Kreutz included (only because of his age), that would be a "building block" at this point. There are guys who are servicable, who might be able to fill in next year, but generally wherever help is available they should get it.

The Bears' draft position later this year will not be in the first part of the first round. So they're not going to get one of those elite guys. But they should at least get some talent at the end of the round, something they haven't done in two years due to the trade for Cutler.

And Cutler will and should be back at QB - he's the best quarterback they've had in my existence as a fan, and that includes Jim McMahon, who was more about attitude than physical tools. McMahon was a winner, though, and that's something the Bears could use in some of their players.

Should be an interesting offseason. Often that, for me, is the most interesting part of any team's year - I like observing the process of building a team as much as I sometimes like the actual games. I look forward to next year as a Bears fan...