“Bear market” and “bull market” are two of your more well known Finance 101 terms. As a teenager learning the topic in the 1990s, I found a very easy way to remember which phrase indicates which direction the market is headed in. Back then the Chicago Bulls were up and the Chicago Bears were down.
Plus you have the horns pointing up in the Bulls’ logo, with the fight song for the football team here being “bear down, Chicago Bears.”
Finance text books tell you the etymology of these terminologies references how each animal instinctively attacks their prey- Bulls drive their head and horns upward. Bears clench down on their victims.
Today, the Bear market still exists for the hometown NFL franchise, as they now reside in a deep, deep recession that could also certainly be described as a depression. There is no bull market on the court at the United Center either, as the local NBA franchise is now trending more towards a “sell” rating than a “hold” or a “buy.”
As for former Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, most analysts have a “strong sell” rating for him, as next to no one is interested in buying. If Jay Cutler were a stock option, you would be exercising only “puts” on him right now, not “calls.”
Again, the easy way to remember those terms is to think of “call-up” and “put down,” as you call an option that you think is heading upwards in price; and put an option that you project downward. Now that Jay Cutler has thrown his final pass as a member of the Chicago Bears, it might also be the final pass that he ever throws as a true QB1 style opening day starter in this league.
Four destinations jump at you as potential landing spots for Cutler- Miami, Houston,New York Jets and Cleveland. However, as of right now, none of those destinations look likely for him. It doesn’t seem that he’ll land in any of those spots, and apparently his days as a starter may in fact be over.
the Jets were viewed as Cutler’s most likely destination due to his relationship with new position coach Jeremy Bates, Gang Green opted instead for Josh McCown as a bridge to the unknown quarterback of the future.
New York’s coaching staff preferred McCown, according to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, because he’s viewed as a better fit in the quarterback room, mentoring young signal-callers Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty.
So where does that leave Cutler?
With promising Patriots backup Jimmy Garoppolooff the table and Cowboys veteran Tony Romo in limbo, the Texans have an obvious need for an experienced quarterback to lead their playoff-caliber roster.
Might Houston coach Bill O’Brien be tempted to follow Adam Gase’s footsteps as the latest quarterback guru to steer Cutler’s career back on track?
When Rapoport asked team sources for an interest level in Cutler, the answer was essentially “zero.”
This week brought reports that Jay Cutler and Kristin Cavallari are moving to Nashville, a town which is among their overall favorite places and also the city were they got hitched. However, don’t think for a second that this means a gig with the Tennessee Titans is happening, unless Cutler accepts a lower position on their depth chart.
The Bears tried to move Cutler to Tennessee a couple years ago on NFL Draft night, but the Titans just weren’t interested. The Cutler family has plenty of other, non-football reasons to locate to the Music City, given all the connections they have there.
As the NFL Network pointed out, don’t be shocked if Cutler favors retirement over holding somebody’s clipboard on the sidelines in 2017.
If that is the case, then the polarizing signal caller should already be on top of his post retirement planning right now.
Another high profile Chicago Bear, Brian Urlacher, has seen some ups and downs in the first few years of his post football life.
Urlacher’s post playing career future seems to be twisting in the wind a bit. If Cutler is prepared to take all the money he’s made and move on to the next phase that’s totally fine, but he should game plan now for what he’s going to do with himself.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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