Bears vs Bengals will be the CBS national game, Cowher and Esiason weigh in on Cutler

Good news for those of you that live outside the Chicago market, CBS is sending its number one announce team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms to the Windy City to call the Bears home opener against the Cincinnati Bengals. The debut of the Marc Trestman era in Chicago will televised to a national audience.

In advance of this weekend's games, the CBS announcers and analysts weighed in on a number of week one topics, one of which was Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.

Former head coach Bill Cowher and former QB Boomer Esiason, in-studio analysts of the NFL Today, took to the Cutler Topic. Here's what Cowher had to say.

One of the elements of this that cannot be overlooked is the fact that you have a quarterback in Jay Cutler that is going into the final year of his contract...when a head coach or a quarterback goes into the final year of their contract it's a storyline.

It was last year with Joe Flacco and we know how that unfolded. We've all seen Jay Cutler at times, and his mannerisms, and you just wonder if they (Chicago) don't get off to a good start, how much of that will play into it. How they deal with it as the season unfolds? And what kind of pressure goes with that element of where he is? This is very much a career defining year for him. How he handles the questions and his performance week-in and week-out will be something to watch.

His mannerisms...

It is fair to question how Jay will handle the expectations of the new offense, the added pressure to succeed with a revamped O-Line, and a new tight end, and with him being in a contract year. We've talked about there being no excuses for Cutler this season, and I'm sure he realizes that as well.

And here's Esiason's take on Jay.

Jay Cutler has been one of the more frustrating players over the last four years. Yet again, another offensive coordinator, a coach who has been fired, another coach hired and of course the GM change over there. There has not been a lot of consistency in his career path there in Chicago.

I kind of get some of the struggles he has had. But unfortunately, this is a quarterback-driven league right now, so I guess maybe he's in the top 15. But Chicago is a mid- tier team in the NFC. The NFC is loaded. If things go right for them it means they have to stay healthy and somehow they have to beat Green Bay and that's not something they have been able to do with consistency since Jay's got there. So I still think this is a second-rung team in the NFC. And this is a career defining year for Jay Cutler, as coach said.

Bottom line, this is a put up or shut up year for Jay Cutler.

I know I'm opening up a can of worms with this topic, so please remember to follow the community guidelines. It's ok to participate in a lively debate, just don't make it personal, or take things personally. Attack the topic, not the WCG member.

With that being said; What do you think about their comments about Jay, how do you see Cutler faring this Sunday, and how do you see his season shaping up?

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• Julius Peppers restructures contract, $2 million in cap space created
• Chicago Bears cut Offensive Tackle Jonathan Scott; re-sign Tight End Kyle Adams
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• Pleased to Meet You: Week 1, Cincinnati Bengals