It was another brutal and disappointing season for the Chicago Bears. For the second year in a row the team has choked when given the opportunity to make the playoffs by winning one of its last two games.
Like one of the “Superfans,” the Bears choked against the Packers in week 17.
Yet, only a day after the loss, the fact the Bears will not be in the playoffs is old news. What everyone wants to know now is whether or not free agent quarterback Jay Cutler will be a Bear next season.
The question of whether or not to re-sign Cutler became more interesting after backup quarterback Josh McCown put up extraordinary numbers while Cutler was injured. All of a sudden, some loud fans were calling for McCown to start in front of Cutler. Some even supported the ridiculous proposal of releasing Cutler and making McCown the starter next season.
To any rational fan, though, the answer is simple: Cutler will be back, and it would be beyond idiotic to not re-sign him.
The McCown-Cutler debate had always been without merit because it laid blame for the team’s disappointing season on its eighth-ranked offense, not its NFL-worst defense.
What McCown supporters either won’t tell you or don’t know, is that McCown only had a 3-2 record when he was the starting signal-caller. Even with McCown’s great numbers (12 touchdowns, 1 interception, 1,829 yards, and a 109.0 quarterback raing), the Bears still only managed to be one game over .500 with him at quarterback, with key losses to the St. Louis Rams and the Minnesota Vikings.
Why was that the case? It’s not because McCown didn’t play well enough. He most certainly did, but the Bears’ defense was so awful and gave up an average of 29.9 points per game, it didn’t matter how well McCown played.
The Bears had to score 30-plus points to win almost every game. That’s unrealistic for any NFL offense to do week after week even one with the weapons Chicago has.
Besides, it’s not like Cutler didn’t show up or performed poorly against the Packers last Sunday or even had a terrible season. Sure, his interceptions are still be a bit too high and his quarterback rating is mediocre, but he performed well enough to make the playoffs, and the Bears definitely would’ve made the playoffs if their defense wasn’t the NFL’s worst.
Fans and analysts blame Cutler for the Bears’ woes because he’s an easy target, but it shows they don’t actually watch the games. Re-signing Cutler should be a no-brainer.
About Tyler Juranovich
I would bring Jay back too just not for Romo or Stafford money. Look at how inconsistent those two have been this season and you are stuck paying them $100 mil. Cutler doesnt deserve $20 million a year. If he is willing to sign a cap friendly deal around 12 million with incentives if he stays healthy and team wins playoff games then thats fine with me. But knowing Jay and his people he is going to ask for kitchen sink and the Bears are not willing to give it to him. You are better off paying Josh McCown 3 million and draft a qb in early rounds and save the money to rebuild on D. McCown proved that Trestman’s offensive system works and you dont need to over pay for QB to lead it. There are so many QBS in this draft class and Trestman has proven track record of developing QBs. Sorry Jay Cutler fans but he is no better than Rex Grossman and Cade McNown and I would not give him big contract
Cutler is no fool. He know’s, and has said as much himself before, that he needs/would sign “on the cheap” so that other areas can be addressed.
Contrary to what David F said, McCown did not prove that the system works. He proved that it didn’t matter who played QB to beat up on s#!tty teams. The Bears still lost to the Rams and Vikings under McCown.
I would not be surprised at all to see Cutler get signed for around 16-18M per year for 5yrs (with the Bears, other teams WILL drop in the 20M range to get him), with major player incentives (that he will get, i.e. playoffs, TD:INT ratio, etc…). EVERYONE knows that Cutler will not step into another organization with better offensive weapons than what he has in Chicago. Cutler, and the organization, knows that the problem this year was the defense, and that the contract will need to be Cap-Friendly in order to really fix it and make the Bears serious playoff/SuperBowl contenders for the next 5 years, coincidentally for the same length as Cutlers contract.
Bring McCown back on a 3 year deal, he has proven to be a capable backup, and once that contract is up, draft a QB to mentor and bring up to speed for the final 2 years of Cutlers contract. This should setup a smooth transition should the Bears then decide to part ways with Cutler when he hits 35 and is as the end of his contract. Or if Cutler is playing Manning/Brady-esque by then, thanks to being in the same system for an extended period of time, you re-sign Cutler again on a 3 year deal, and you have another 3 years to bring along the Rookie QB.
If this is about money, and not about Cutler’s ability, then you have to keep Cutler at the lowest price and shortest length possible. Most QBs, by Cutler’s age, have already shown what they can do. They aren’t really going to change overnight. I really think Cutler has maxed out, so if you do resign him its pretty much downhill from here out. If that’s what Trestman and the Bears want then so be it. Sunday the Bears had a very simple game plan, very conservative, which didn’t really challenge Cutler at all. It only required him to make a few long, downfield passes, and nearly all his passes were crossing patterns and short. They never really did open it up. Most teams with good defenses would have shut down Forte and forced Cutler to pass more and take more chances. The Packers D is almost as bad as the Bears, so Trestmans plan to use Forte and not lose with Cutler’s arm worked out, for awhile at least. In 2014 the Bears will be playing some good teams, some with good defenses. And, you can bet they’ll be forcing Cutler to win the game. That’s when Cutler is supposed to earn his money. And, so far in his career, regardless of what he had around him, hasn’t be able to do. He can handle the easy teams, but, as we saw Sunday, can’t be trusted to take over a key game and win it. McCown could have run Trestman’s game plan Sunday. Saying Cutler did, and as we keep hearing ‘didn’t lose the game, don’t blame it on him’, succeed is a bit of a stretch. And, finally, on that last hail Mary to Marshall (the other receiver was wide open), Cutler had gone over the line of scrimmage. Just check the tape. And, had that TD pass to Cobb not worked out, #21 had committed pass interference by decking #87. You can see the ref going for his flag on the tape, then letting it do with the TD.
Cutler didn’t lose that game. He threw 2 red zone TD’s (one of which was on a brilliant improvised play where he saw a mismatch and threw a perfect fade pass) and should’ve been credited for a 3rd TD (67 yarder to Jeffery should’ve been a TD, Bears didn’t challenge since they didn’t want to risk a time out, considering how the refs were favoring Green Bay, Forte runs it in next play.)
Miscues and other responses to your claims:
Jeffery dropped a 3rd and long pass on the 2nd to last drive (after a bad penalty by Marshall and Forte getting tackled for a loss to bring up 3rd and 17) that was thrown right to him, ending a potential scoring drive, in addition to fumbling on a perfectly thrown pass in the 2nd quarter, giving up 3 extra points before halftime (after Green Bay was already handed 3 points through a BS roughing the passer call) – At least 6 points given up on those two plays.
Marshall dropped a pass on 2nd down that forced them to have to throw the hail mary in the first place, and every part of the body has to be past the line of scrimmage for that rule to be utilized anyway. The other receiver was technically more open, but he didn’t have enough separation to avoid being tackled by the time he would’ve slowed down to make the catch, so naturally he was going to take a shot at the end zone.
In addition, Conte turned what should’ve been Rodgers’ 3rd pick into a long completion (pass to Quarless literally slipped through his hands into the hands of the receiver, hands must’ve been freaking greased up with butter or something) which gave Lacy great field position to run it in next play and blew his assignment (Cobb) on the 4th and 8 play, giving up 13 points with two plays regardless of how the rest of the defense or offense played.
Cutler was competitive throughout, he played at an elevated level and put them up before Green Bay’s GW drive, where Green Bay had to subsequently convert 3 fourth downs to score. Conte doesn’t blow that coverage in the clutch or Jeffery doesn’t drop that 3rd and long pass, and Cutler’s taking a knee on the last possession. Cutler and Forte elevated their play, it was unfortunate that a good percentage of the team didn’t.