The key to Cutler’s improvement is in the coaching in my opinion. He will continue have problems until he gets the proper coahing he needs.

I am quite sure that over time cutler will be a dominant quarterback in this league. Having said that, it is entirely up to the Chicago bears to see if they can build a team around him. I think he is already attempting to get the receivers he does have on the same sheet of music with him. The coaching staff is dragging their feet. How long has he been asking to get DA on the field everyone has been mentioning him but he didn’t get any play. Even in this weekends game when Knox went the wrong way you saw Cutler with his arm around him explaining what he expected him to do. I think he will grow into the job as long as the coaches and the franchise give him something to work with.

He has mobility, arm strength and accuracy. The problem with Jay is:

1) He has a $.10 head with a Million dollar arm. He must make better decisions. In the military we spend hours training on “Shoot/No Shoot” scenarios. This simuators teach us when to pull the trigger and after it happens we must justify why we did it to people with make alot more money than me. Jay needs similar training for foootball. He must learn when to pass, when to run, when throw it away, and when to take the sack.

2) Get him an offensive line will ya? This returns back to his $.10 head. He needs time to make the decision and when you drop back and have a 275lbs 6’4" DE coming at him, he rushs his thought process (me I’d just pee my pants and lie down on the ground sucking my thumb) and he makes poor decisions. They need to give 4-5 seconds to pick apart the defense.

3) Poor coaching. Play to Jay’s strength. Stop trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. Jay is at his best on role-outs, play-action, and Deep out routes.

4) Get a running game. The Bears have become to one dimensional. They need to be able to run the ball so they can allow Jay to find the mismatchs and the single coverages.

Leadership was another element of our original argument that I left off this post. I would argue 3 points.
1. You do actually see Cutler take Knox or another WR off to the side when they miss a completion.
2. The team has established leaders already. You don’t see that fiery leadership of a Manning I think, because this is his first year on the team, and he hasn’t earned the right in the eyes of the players to yell at a guy like Pace for a false start, or a guy like Kreutz. Leadership is earned from those who would be led, not be the figure of your paycheck.
3. He is young. Its almost hard to believe he is only 26. Brady and Manning, the players you mentioned, have learned over time how to lead. Its kind of funny how people forget how they were at the beginning of their careers.

Lets face it, we gave up two 1st, a 3rd, and the overlooked (and overly maligned) Kyle Orton to acquire Jay. I’m still up in the air and willing to listen to any and all arguments concerning Cutler’s future with the beloved. But try to be objective Bears fans. With a huge sacrifice came huge expectations and Jay has not lived up to them. Also, since we invested so much hope in the Cutler trade many fans continue to look for reasons why it can’t possibly be Jay’s fault. As one fan post put it: A) It isn’t Jays fault and we still have hope or B) It is Jay’s fault and I might as well open up a vein. Not pleasant options to consider but many of us do.
The one thing I am tiring of is Jay Cutler apologists. He leads the league in interceptions yet many want to blame this on the entire organization and deflect most, if not all of the blame from Jay. Let me repeat, HE LEADS THE LEAGUE IN INTERCEPTIONS. He being Jay Cutler. Not the offensive line (which does suck) or the receivers (who are green) but Jay Cutler himself. As SackMan has consistently (and correctly) pointed out Jay Cutler is the common denominator in EVERY interception.
I think the Jury’s still out on Jay, but for the love of Ditka, quit making excuses for Jay and treat him like you would treat every other Bears QB with the same track record. Jay has sucked this year. For whatever reasons HE (Jay himself) has sucked. Maybe he turns it around. Maybe not. But please open your eyes (and your minds) and recognize that Jay isn’t getting it done. Not this year. Not even close.
Thanks,

Just Dave

You ugly and yo momma dresses you funny! I still want to know the extent of the immaturity that you had to achieve to keep getting blocked on the “other” thread. That being said, Jay’s being a cotton headed ninny muggins this year and deserves the verbal swirly by every Bears fan. Welcome to the second city where we reserve the right to criticize everything Bears related without thought or insight. This is Chicago where you need a Dick Butkus fan talk.

I haven’t been blocked on another thread. And I have no idea what you are talking about.

And start focusing on WINNING.

Because Jay Cutler and winning do not belong in the same sentence. In fact… he has never had a winning season to date in College (Career record in Vanderbilt was 2-10, 2-10, 2-9, 5-6), or in the NFL (2-3. 7-9. 8-8, 5-8)

and then we can see if he is what we hoped he would be when the Bears traded for him. This OL is just awful and puts Cutler in too many 3rd and longs. Also, the WRs are just not very good. It is a collection of guys where one or two might become a decent #2, but most are no better than #3s or worse.

I promise I’m not here to pile on, and I haven’t read all of the comments, so if someone already caught this, then disregard my comment.

Your average int per year stat is skewed because Cutler only played in 5 games his first season. You need to either drop the year from the average, or account for the 1 pick per game average he had his rookie season. Either way his average per season rises to 17-18.

Best of luck after we make our 1st round decision.

Love the analysis. Jay certainly needs to be surrounded by a supporting cast that puts him in position to win. It’s not like he is going anywhere soon and I don’t want to watch him fail for the next four years. Irregardless of how it is portrayed in the media or anywhere else for that matter. Cutler needs to get what he wants within reason. If he can’t work with Pep Hamilton, or he is more comfortable throwing to a different receiver that is on our roster. Then I think that we need to let him have it his way. We didn’t bring Jay here to play like Kyle Orton or Rex Grossman, we brought him here to play like he did when he went to the pro-bowl. That means we need to surround him with the supporting cast to make it happen.

Resident Bronco fan dropping by – but not to troll. I just wanted to discuss a few things.

First and foremost a couple of Bronco facts you may not know.
1. The pick we received from you really ended up being Knowshon Moreno. We didn’t use your pick, but it was close enough that we could pick up some offensive talent and still have a pick for Ayers.
2. Orton fits our system. I don’t think he fit yours. He’s not having a Pro Bowl season by any means, but with the two injuries (finger and ankle) I think he’s doing pretty well. I expect him to be back on a 1-2 year deal. But call him what you will, the dude is a warrior and plays hard. He may lack all the physical tools, but he’s a bright guy with a decent arm. That can get you pretty far as a QB these days.

Now let me address your Cutler scenario.

Cutler needs a coaches coach and a solid mental game coach. Even when he was with Denver I had this almost primadonna vibe from him and if you pander to it he gets pouty. I watched it a million times. I’m not saying he’s a whiny brat – quite the contrary – I think he puts the whole team on his shoulders because he is a competitor to THAT level. He desperately wants to win and when the team isn’t winning he blames himself and gets down on himself.

He’s also kind of a ‘call it like I see it’ kind of guy. He’ll call people out and sometimes its good and sometimes its not. I can see from his recent interviews he’s getting better at it. Believe me – his stats would be better with a prime receiver, but he is the focal point and any solid veteran takes all the blame himself. Cutler will mature so this is probably a moot point. But as he gains those intangibles he’ll take on a new persona. Orton came into it a bit earlier and probably had to because, while he’s underrated by most, he can’t put everything into his arm like Peyton, Favre, Brees, or Brady do. He had to develop that part of his game to win. I think Mr. Smith has put so much into this trade with Cutler that he’s handling him with kid gloves when he shouldn’t be. I don’t know for a fact, but it seems that way.

On the other side Cutler needs a developed offense. The vertical game you guys play works if you have significant deep threats and YAC monsters (Andre Johnson, Reggie Wayne, Brandon Marshall, Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald). Hester could be a top deep threat, but his route running is unpolished and his hands aren’t ideal. Knox can also be a deep threat, but he doesn’t have the large build to really posture himself like my previous examples. And I don’t think your current OC is cutting it. Cutler has proven that he’s very selective of his OCs (he was pretty pissed when Bates left) and it seems you have a run first OC thats now running a pass first offense.

Keep in mind – Forte was either your leading receiver or led your team in receptions for much of the year. This was more of “The Orton Effect” as he’s not a guy who forces it up the field. Guess what? Orton doesn’t throw a significant amount of balls to our RBs. Its all WRs & TEs. Kinda makes you think doesn’t it? So I think a majority of Cutlers struggles are a result of a) an offense with an identity crisis and b) a bunch of #2 receivers with no real #1.

I think the comments thus far have been fair so I’ll get into the slightly more incendiary comments I have.

Cutler’s football IQ is not good in relation to the QB’s you’ve compared him to. I don’t know if this can be coached or not, but Peyton Manning is his own OC. Brady is damn near a football genius. Brees is also a fanatic. I don’t put Cutler in that click. I think this is his biggest draw back. He’s always going to force one to many balls and he’s always going to make the wrong read. All QBs do this. The problem is I think he believes his arm will get him out of nearly any jam and its nearly false bravado. I don’t think he threw the ball away more than 10 times last season.

I also think if things don’t change in the next season I think he might try and force his way out. Shanahan is headed to Washington more than likely and will probably reclaim Bates. I think that combo might push him. He’s already proven he doesn’t mess around when it comes to his future. I watched the whole thing happen and he DID try and force his way out before the whole Cassel fiasco (on a side note if we really pursued Cassle we would have gotten him as the proposed trade was Cutler to Tampa, Cassel to us, and a 1st and 3rd rounder to Tampa – Cassel was traded for a 2nd round pick WITH Vrabel, do you really think the Pats would take a 2nd and not take a 1st and 3rd. Please.) But whether you agree with me or not its going to be in the back of your head. He may end his career a Bear, but as of right now I don’t see it. Who knows? Maybe you’ll trade him this year and get Klaussen, a CB, a WR, and OL. Reallistically you’d just have to trade Cutler for a 1st and 2nd/3rd to open that up for you (deep draft).

I hope Cutler does turn it around for you guys (after this season, I want a good pick) but don’t make excuses for him. Stop trying to see the diamond in the coal. There adversities on your team, yes, but look at Brees – the Saints SUCKED before he got there and nobody knew the receivers either PLUS they had a new coach. And he gave them a winning record. Good QBs do this and some take more time than others.

Verdicts still out on Cutler.

Brett Favre threw about 26 TDs last year ? He was 39. Experienced. How many INTS ? Exactly the same as the amount of TDs he threw, right ? Not good. The more I hear about Manning, the more I notice every second game where he looks not so good statistically. To date, Cutler has not thrown 6 picks in one game like Peyton has. Neither Favre nor Manning were the finished article in their fourth seasons were they ? Cutler has never had good guidance. Every QB needs guidance.

And to Christian the Broncos fan. Welcome. Manning has had the same OC his entire NFL career. And if Orton has a decent arm then he found it on his way to Denver ….

I concur with John P. I think this deal looks bad for the Bears short term and perhaps mid term. But I think Cutler will someday win and win big if surrounded by good receivers and a decent line. With limited drafts and some thin FA market the question becomes how long will that take.

To see how much impact Cutler had one needs to look at Denver this year. Our passing yardage is way down. Our yds per attempt way down. Eddie Royal a deep threat and pleasant surprise last year has been almost invisible this year.

The two players Denver got in this deal so far. Orton and the DB Alonso (Mr. Inactive) have not been star quality. This deal may hinge on the early first rounder Denver gets this year. I do not see Orton as any long term solution here. He does not have the ability to throw down field and quite frankly Brandon Marshall seems to bail him out frequently with his ability to make yardage after the catch. He does not have the arm or mobility of Jay.

Jay has his issues. He is cocky and he is a risk taker and may love his arm more than he should. But he has the raw talent to be great if surrounded by a good line that can pass protect and improves his decision making.

I think that getting high quality QB play is such a rare commodity in the NFL that this deal needs to be judged 5-6 years from now. Cutler does things that will give him staying power. He is mobile and can make throws. He needs to become a stand up guy and I see that happening this year. The guy is a competitor. He needs a solid OC and some weapons. How long it takes for the Bears to get those will decide how this trade goes down.

Denver from a WL perspective is no better than last year. The fact that is the case can basically be bestowed on an improved defense only. Many of the early 6-0 start wins very basically because the D won the game, Dallas, San Diego, Cincinnati, Oakland, etc.

For Bronco fans to gloat on Jay is misguided. Maybe they get a quality QB with the top ten pick they will receive this year and then the deal may look more one-sided. I suspect McDaniels may well be gone from here by the time this deal can be judged properly. I just do not see him being here long term. I do not see him being here past three years because the team simply does not have players to be better than 8-8 or 9-7.