Chicago Bears fans who expect Quarterback Jay Cutler to finally reach his potential this season are insane. After all the different coaches he’s had, all the offensive coordinators he’s gone through, he’s remained exactly who he is. There won’t be any changes in 2015. All the “THIS is the Year for Jay Cutler” pieces were written in 2013 and 2014.
All the “This is a defining/make or break season for Jay Cutler” pieces were written in 2013 and 2014. (I’ve written about this several times) Anybody who still espouses that narrative now is somebody who hasn’t been paying attention.
We’ve read enough about Cutler’s attitude and body language and personality and lack of leadership etc. etc. etc. We’ve heard the “it’s a quarterback driven league” and “that team will go as the quarterback goes” enough already.
We hear this over and over every August and every September. Everyone does this, so I don’t mean to single out Troy Aikman, part of FOX’s lead announce team, but this is the perfect paradigm right here:
Aikman on his expectations for Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler this season as he prepares to call the team’s season opener on Sunday afternoon (transcript of a FOX season preview press call today):
“How many offensive coordinators now does this make for Jay Cutler? It’s hard to develop continuity offensively when you are going through as many OCs as they have. I’m a little bit surprised that with the change in the regime and with Ryan Pace coming in as the general manager, I did not anticipate that Jay Cutler would return as their quarterback.”
“I’m anxious to see how he does. They’re catching Green Bay at a good time, if there is such a thing. It’s an important year for Jay Cutler; with all of the different coordinators over the years at some point you have to produce, hopefully for the Bears this will be the year that he does.”
Just for effect though, maybe out of habit and reflex, I asked “The NFL Today’s” Tony Gonzalez what it would take to get #6 to finally show the body language people want to see and be that leader Bears fans hope he could be.
“Are you insane?” Gonzalez responded.
“The definition of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. I said it last year on the show, this is Jay Cutler, this is what he does, why would you expect that to change at this point in his career.”
Gonzalez did also that Cutler is an “upper echelon quarterback” and a has a few good years left in him. The podcast of our conversation is below. This specific exchange is around the 4:00 mark
If anything could actually force such a drastic personality change in the Bears signal caller, perhaps it would be a demotion from QB1 to QB2.
He was benched last season, but then Jimmy Clausen got hurt, so he wasn’t benched long enough for that action to really take much of an effect.
CBS Sports Network Analyst London Fletcher thinks that’s what it would take. Fletcher believes it might potentially make a difference.
“It’s going to take him getting benched, for him to really be humbled and care,” Fletcher said.
“The coach will need to say you’re not going to be out here careless with the football, nonchalant, indifferent about your play at the quarterback position.”
The podcast with Fletcher is below. The Jay Cutler talk is at the beginning
In the end though, didn’t all of us- fans, writers, bloggers, TV talking heads, talk radio et al, didn’t we have this discussion last summer? Didn’t we all say this in the 2013 preseason as well? It is odd that Jay Cutler has shown that Rex Grossman like insouciance when it comes to taking care of the football, but haven’t we all beaten a dead horse on this topic?
Maybe you, the reader, don’t care anymore. And if so, that’s understandable.
NFL Media Day Preview Series
–Tony Gonzalez very optimistic on Raiders prospects, loves uniform and colors
–John Fox is the best thing the Chicago Bears have going for them
-Does Chicago Deserve a three-peat as NFL Draft host?
-Erin Coscarelli Oakland Raiders Season Preview
-Erin Coscarelli Chicago Bears Season Preview
-Tony Gonzalez sees Khalil Mack becoming the NFL’s best Linebacker
–Bart Scott sizes up the NFC North race
-Can Vic Fangio be the Chicago Bears savior?
-Curtis Conway analyzes Bears off-season
–Jim Nantz sees Raiders returning to relevance soon
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 the Zone.
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