Jay Cutler thanks Chicago, a couple of teammates thank him

The Jay Cutler era sure was something for the city of Chicago. From the second the Bears sent Kyle Orton, their 1st and 3rd round draft picks in 2009, and a 1st in 2010 to the Denver Broncos for Cutler and a 2009 5th round pick, he immediately became the most polarizing figure in Chicago sports.

Some fans expected Jay to become the next Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, some fans hated the idea of trading away so many draft picks, some fans resented the way Cutler “forced” the trade out of Denver and some fans were just happy to have a legitimate starting quarterback on their favorite team.

There were some good times along the way, you don’t acquire just about every franchise passing record without doing some good. But ultimately the Cutler era will be judged by a lack of playoff success. There were too many turnovers, he was sacked too many times, but from 2010 to 2012, the Bears were 27-13 in games Cutler started.

I’ve always been a Jay Cutler fan, and I’ll continue to root for him wherever he ends up, unless he’s playing the Bears.

On Thursday, Jay Cutler sent the following message to the Chicago Sun Times.

“I would like to first thank the city of Chicago and its passionate fans for a memorable eight years. I grew up in Indiana rooting for the Bears as kid, so it was an honor to wear the Bears uniform and play quarterback at Soldier Field for my favorite childhood team.”

“I would like to thank Virginia, George and the rest of the McCaskey family for their support over my tenure in Chicago as well as Jerry Angelo, Phil Emery and Ryan Pace. It was a great experience to have played with such a great list of teammates during my time as a Bear. Also, I would like to thank all of the great employees of the Bears from the locker room to the front office.”

“Chicago is the city where I met my wonderful wife Kristin. I have been fortunate to have three beautiful children here. Our family will leave Chicago with great memories and relationships on and off the field. We look forward to the next chapter in our lives and wish the best to Bear fans everywhere.”

The Bears thanked Jay for his time in Chicago.

Here’s what Kyle Long had to say via his Instagram and his Twitter.

Tight end Zach Miller, Cutler’s teammate from 2014 to 2016, had this to say.

Make sure you check out Ken’s open letter to Jay Cutler right here.