Chicago Bears head coach Marc Trestman has declared he’s riding with Jay Cutler Sunday versus the Cleveland Browns. In doing so, he’s sending Josh McCown and his hot hand to the bench. When you bench the reigning NFC player of the week for a guy who has performed rather mediocre this season, you’re definitely saying something about who the franchise is. Or who you think the franchise could be.
The Bears are 7-6 and tied for the NFC North lead with the Detroit Lions. Of course, these are the Lions, and they are led by Jim Schwartz, so they could easily Detroit Lions away this division. Even if this decision to start Jay Cutler costs the Bears the division and the playoffs. Maybe it already has? The Lions hold the tie-breaker over the Bears because they swept the season series. And you recall the Bears loss to Detroit at Soldier Field may have been easily prevented had Trestman put McCown in instead of Jay Cutler at a much earlier juncture.
Both Cutler and McCown are free agents after the NFL season, so the Bears are probably starting Cutty in order to evaluate him as their long-term answer signal caller. That’s the only way this decision makes any sense. That, and the “no one loses their starting position due to injury” mantra. If you believe that should be case, and there’s a strong rationale behind that idea, then of course start #CuttyDoesIt. Trestman shows loyalty and that’s important.
And it’s more important to answer the long term question at the quarterback position than it is to make the playoffs this year. Is Jay Cutler the guy? Is Jay Cutler not the guy in the long run? Just Wednesday it was reported that the Bears are fine with letting Jay Cutler go, should he not be willing to sign a club friendly deal.
Because Jay Cutler is the inferior option, if the primary goal is to win Sunday.
McCown went 3-2, completing 69 percent of his passes for 1,809 yards, with 13 touchdowns and one interception. His quarterback rating of 109.8 ranks third in the NFL behind only Nick Foles and Peyton Manning. Jay Cutler went 4-4 with a 63 percent completion percentage for 1,908 yards, 13 TDs and 8 INTs, qb rating of 88.4.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS Catch him Tuesdays talking Illini and Northwestern for KOZN 1620 The Zone, Fridays talking Chicago Bears for WAOR 95.7 The Fan