In Defense of Jay Cutler

[Panerista]

The thing is, if you're rebuilding the Bears, Cutler makes the quarterback position a lower priority than the rest of the team.

[iamshack]

2009 Bears: Cutler was 7-9. He had some bad games but his best receiver was Devin Hester. Forte rushed for

 

2010 Bears: Cutler was 10-5 and won a post-season game to give him 11 wins. Bears made it to NFC championship where they lost to Packers (with Jay out). Knox was the #1 (

 

2011 Bears: Cutler was 7-3, but got injured in a route of the Chargers (5th straight win and during that stretch they averaged 32.2 ppg). Bears looked like an elite team until they were Caleb Hanied out of the playoffs.

 

2012 Bears: Cutler was 10-5 as the starter. Marshall had a beast of a season, although he really had on other receiving weapons. No other receivers with even 500 yards.

 

2013 Bears: Cutler had statistically his best season (Marshall was a beast again and Alshon emerged with Forte playing well). Defense was horrendous and Jay is 5-6. McCown goes 3-2.

 

2014 Bears: Bears are just an outright disaster. Cutler goes 5-10 and defense was beyond pathetic.

 

The only time we had remotely decent defenses, the Bears were playoff teams (which is what you'd expect with a solid QB). The years where we had awful defenses, the types of D's that only a top 3 QB would get us their, well, we didn't make the playoffs and were bad, but not 2 win bad, why, because Jay is good enough to win a few games on his own, but he isn't good enough to go Aaron Rodgers and just win the whole thing. Bottom line, lets fix this football team. I agree if we can get a top flight Andrew Luck type prospect, you get him, but in the meantime, lets find lots of good football players, cause Jay with good players around him (a good defense and special teams, solid offensive weapons), is a QB that can win.

I agree with all of this. Jay isn't Aaron Rodgers, but when you stop and look around, you pretty much had to sign him.

[illinilaw08]

I agree with all of this. Jay isn't Aaron Rodgers, but when you stop and look around, you pretty much had to sign him.

 

Here's the thing I don't get about the Cutler hate. Bears fans, as much as any NFL franchise, know how difficult it is to find even a decent NFL QB. Cutler, for all his flaws, is the best QB the Bears have had in my lifetime (one Erik Kramer season in '94 notwithstanding).

 

The Bears had their chances with Cutler. The NFC Championship game being the obvious example. But when the defense was good enough to win titles, the weapons weren't there and the o-line wasn't there.

 

Flacco, to me anyway, is the best case scenario for Cutler. Flacco caught absolute fire for one postseason and got his Super Bowl. Cutler has the tools to put a stretch like that together, but those opportunities are gone with the current state of the defense.

 

As to the contract stuff, average and better NFL QBs make bank. Period. End of story. Yeah, Cutler's contract is for a lot of money, but so is just about every other QB not on a rookie contract, so it's hard to hold the money against either Cutler or the Bears.

[Panerista]

Here's the thing I don't get about the Cutler hate. Bears fans, as much as any NFL franchise, know how difficult it is to find even a decent NFL QB. Cutler, for all his flaws, is the best QB the Bears have had in my lifetime (one Erik Kramer season in '94 notwithstanding).

 

The Bears had their chances with Cutler. The NFC Championship game being the obvious example. But when the defense was good enough to win titles, the weapons weren't there and the o-line wasn't there.

 

Flacco, to me anyway, is the best case scenario for Cutler. Flacco caught absolute fire for one postseason and got his Super Bowl. Cutler has the tools to put a stretch like that together, but those opportunities are gone with the current state of the defense.

 

As to the contract stuff, average and better NFL QBs make bank. Period. End of story. Yeah, Cutler's contract is for a lot of money, but so is just about every other QB not on a rookie contract, so it's hard to hold the money against either Cutler or the Bears.

Great post. And honestly, with the huge holes Pace has to fill, I don't think quarterback is that high on the list. We have a luxury the normal rebuilding team doesn't have.

Edited September 29, 2015 by AustinIllini

[knightni]

Here's the thing I don't get about the Cutler hate. Bears fans, as much as any NFL franchise, know how difficult it is to find even a decent NFL QB. Cutler, for all his flaws, is the best QB the Bears have had in my lifetime (one Erik Kramer season in '94 notwithstanding).

 

The Bears had their chances with Cutler. The NFC Championship game being the obvious example. But when the defense was good enough to win titles, the weapons weren't there and the o-line wasn't there.

 

Flacco, to me anyway, is the best case scenario for Cutler. Flacco caught absolute fire for one postseason and got his Super Bowl. Cutler has the tools to put a stretch like that together, but those opportunities are gone with the current state of the defense.

 

As to the contract stuff, average and better NFL QBs make bank. Period. End of story. Yeah, Cutler's contract is for a lot of money, but so is just about every other QB not on a rookie contract, so it's hard to hold the money against either Cutler or the Bears.

 

This was my post last season.

 

http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?s=...t&p=3070545

[maggsmaggs]

The thing is, if you're rebuilding the Bears, Cutler makes the quarterback position a lower priority than the rest of the team.

Cutler is a decent NFL QB, but he will be 33 years old entering 2016. The Bears are bereft of talent at almost every level of this team notwithstanding WR, RB and TE. Our RB probably won't be re-signed, so that goes from a strength to an unknown, but it is not a high priority NFL position. I think the Bears rebuilding process is at least three years after this year, simply because the roster is so thin. It will take a while for the team to bring in good players. I just don't think we can afford to not make QB a priority unless we want to put our eggs in a mid-30s Jay Cutler.

[cabiness42]

This is the fatal flaw with the NFL right now, and it's why it's much less fun for me to watch.

 

1) The game has evolved to where you need an elite QB, or at least a near-elite QB along with an elite defense, in order to win a championship

2) There is a large talent gap between the #1 and #32 QB in the NFL

 

The net result of those two facts is that about half the teams start each season with absolutely no chance to win the Super Bowl, and of those half, at most three will get the chance to draft a QB in the next draft that will get them out of that bottom half.

 

The Trent Dilfer 2000 Ravens don't compete in this era. The 2010 season showed that the Bears can win with Cutler IF everything else falls into place perfectly, but things aren't going to fall into place perfectly anytime before Jay's age gets to him. The Bears also picked a really bad season to be this bad because I don't see a franchise QB out there.

[knightni]

This is the fatal flaw with the NFL right now, and it's why it's much less fun for me to watch.

 

1) The game has evolved to where you need an elite QB, or at least a near-elite QB along with an elite defense, in order to win a championship

2) There is a large talent gap between the #1 and #32 QB in the NFL

 

The net result of those two facts is that about half the teams start each season with absolutely no chance to win the Super Bowl, and of those half, at most three will get the chance to draft a QB in the next draft that will get them out of that bottom half.

 

The Trent Dilfer 2000 Ravens don't compete in this era. The 2010 season showed that the Bears can win with Cutler IF everything else falls into place perfectly, but things aren't going to fall into place perfectly anytime before Jay's age gets to him. The Bears also picked a really bad season to be this bad because I don't see a franchise QB out there.

In the link that I posted, you wanted Clausen to be QB. Still feel that way?

[Panerista]

This is the fatal flaw with the NFL right now, and it's why it's much less fun for me to watch.

 

1) The game has evolved to where you need an elite QB, or at least a near-elite QB along with an elite defense, in order to win a championship

2) There is a large talent gap between the #1 and #32 QB in the NFL

 

The net result of those two facts is that about half the teams start each season with absolutely no chance to win the Super Bowl, and of those half, at most three will get the chance to draft a QB in the next draft that will get them out of that bottom half.

 

The Trent Dilfer 2000 Ravens don't compete in this era. The 2010 season showed that the Bears can win with Cutler IF everything else falls into place perfectly, but things aren't going to fall into place perfectly anytime before Jay's age gets to him. The Bears also picked a really bad season to be this bad because I don't see a franchise QB out there.

Number two is definitely true. There is a huge talent gap between Cutler and quarterback #20-#32 in the NFL. There is a huge dropoff where players picked are no longer starters but veteran journeymen or career backups.

 

As far as half the team having no chance to win the Super Bowl, that's probably not true. There's a middle of the pack blob that can make the playoffs in a Wild Card or a weak division.

[cabiness42]

In the link that I posted, you wanted Clausen to be QB. Still feel that way?

 

I wasn't being serious. I was just throwing out names of ND quarterbacks.

 

If the team is going to tank though, then why not bring in Tebow? It will make losing more entertaining.