Jay Cutler was Mr. Clutch yesterday as the Bears defeated the KC Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, 18-17. Jay hit Marquess Wilson on a beautiful 22-yard TD pass that capped an 88 yard drive with 3:11 left in the game to cut the lead to 17-12. The Bears missed the point after. They were trailing 17-6 before that seven. After the defense, which played an awesome game led by outside linebacker Pernell McPhee, who blocked a 25 yard field goal that could have iced the game for the Chiefs and had at least one sack and was disruptive to Chiefs qb Alex Smith throughout the game, Jay and the offense got the ball back, and took the team 70 yards connecting with Matt Forte for the 18 yard game winning score. The Chiefs attempted a 66 yard field goal as time expired but it was no good. Jay was playing without starting receivers Alshon Jeffery and Eddie Royal and the offense was missing three starting linemen, so it was a heroic effort by Jay and the team in a must win game. The Bears moved to 2-3 on the season and play at Detroit this Sunday at Noon CT/1 PM ET. Really proud for Jay and the team. Jay is really clicking with offensive coordinator Adam Gase who coached Peyton Manning the last three years in Denver. Gase is excellent. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who was stellar as a DC at the 49ers with Jim Harbaugh, is making his mark and has the Bears playing defense like they did under Lovie Smith. This team is coming on. Not sure about Jeffery’s or Royal’s availability for Detroit. Will know something later in the week and pass it on. Our starting center, Will Montgomery is out for the year, so rookie Hroniss Grasu took over and did well. There were a few low snaps. On the game winning TD pass to Forte, the snap was low and Jay bobbled it for a second but gathered it together and hit the awesome Forte for the game winner. The pass to Wilson was textbook perfect in the left corner of the end zone just over two defensive backs’ hands and right into Wilson’s. Awesome victory for Jay and the team. Packers are 5-0 in NFC North, so there is work to do, but I like the direction this team is headed. Huge one in Detroit on Sunday.
Jordan Matthews and the Eagles finally started playing like they are capable defeating the Saints, 39-17. JMatt caught 5 passes for 44 yards. I didn’t watch the game as it was on at the same time as the Bears, but will watch the tape. Sounds like it was a great effort. Eagles moved to 2-3 on the season and are one game back of the New York Giants in the NFC East, and they play the Giants at home a week from today on Monday Night football at 8:30 PM ET/7:30 PM CT on ESPN. Huge one for the Eagles as well.
The Blue Jays kept their postseason hopes alive with a 5-1 victory at Texas last night. Troy “Tulo” Tulowitzki hit a three run shot and Marco Estrada and the bullpen did the rest. The Jays now trail the Rangers, 2-1, and are in another must win game today in the best three out of five series in the American League Division series. Pirates are out. Too much Jake Arrieta last Wednesday night. If the Jays win today, they go back to Toronto for game 5 and Dave will take the hill in the electric Rogers Centre with their postseason hopes to advance in David and the hitters’s hands. But they have to get it done today. R.A. Dickey, the 40 year old native of Nashville and a knuckleballer, is on the hill for the Jays. Dickey is 11-11 with a 3.91 ERA with 61 walks and 126 K’s. He has given up 25 homers in 214 innings pitched, so he needs to be careful with some of the power hitters the Rangers have. Dickey’s WHIP is 1.19, pretty decent. He’s a vet in a big game, so you like your vets in the clutch. Josh Donaldson, Joey Bats, Edwin Encarnacion and Tulo will have to be good at the plate. The Rangers will start Derek Holland, who is 4-3 with a 4.91 ERA in 10 starts this season. He was hurt for a pretty good while during the season. He has 17 walks and 41 K’s, and has given up 11 homers in 58 innings, so the long ball is definitely in play for the Jays. His WHIP is 1.30.
Would love to see it go back to Toronto with the series riding with Dave. He wants to redeem himself after last Thursday’s 5-3 loss. Believe the Jays will give him that chance. Jays win today 5-4 and send it back to Toronto.
Luke List made the final 50 players and will play on the PGA tour next season. Really proud for Luke. That means Luke, Brandt and Jon Curran will be competing on tour. Jon and Brandt are actually playing in the Frys.com Open in Napa, Cali. as the PGA season has officially started back. They don’t take much time off any more. Luke is the third alternate for the tournament, so he could very well get in there. Luke finished 64th on the money list on the Web.com tour which allowed him to be one of the 75 Web.com players to compete along with players 126-200 on the PGA tour money list for the web.com playoffs, with the top 50 players in the playoffs qualifying for the Tour. He finished 22nd in the playoffs and qualified. Really proud for him.
We’re in action at South Carolina on Saturday. 3 PM CT/4 PM ET at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, SC. The game will be televised by the SEC Network. Will have more on this huge game later in the week. We are a 5 1/2 point underdog, but I really like our chances to move to 3-3 on the season and 1-2 in the conference. We really have a shot here. Would be tremendous.