It’s a snowy Tuesday night here in St. Paul, Minnesota, and I need a challenge as a writer. So here it is. I will attempt to put together a sound defense of a QB I’ve hated since his college days, opposed my team trading for him, and have cursed with more colorful language this season than I care to elaborate on. His name is Jay Cutler, and he deserves a touch of positivity.
EXHIBIT A: I present this link, a highlight of Cutler’s best game as a Denver Bronco. It took place Week 10 of last year, when Cutler heroically led his team back from a hefty deficit to the lowly Cleveland Browns. His stats were as follows: 24 completions on 42 attempts, 447 yards and 3 TD’s with 1 interception. His passer rating was 107.9.
If you can overlook the vaguely disturbing TD celebration that WR Brandon Marshall had planned at about minute 3:57 of the video, you’ll have to agree that Cutler was on a tear. His throws were deadly accurate and effortless. Simple flicks of his wrist led to big yards and big points. He was calm, he was cool. He was what made the Chicago Bears salivate. He was the QB that broke John Elway’s team passing records for yards, attempts, completions, and TD’s.
He also had great protection and pass-catchers who cooperated with him, attacked the ball, and out-dueled their defenders to get open and put themselves in a position to make good catches. He didn’t take all day to throw the ball, but many times he had all day if he wanted.
Brandon Marshall is a beast. But just as he is a remarkable physical specimen, Cutler uses every inch of his vertical, and every attribute Marshall provides to his advantage. He knows that Marshall is going to fight for a catch. He knows that Eddie Royal is going to find a soft spot in the defense and get open. He knows that his tight ends are going to use their size, and not just their speed, to find a mismatch in the middle of the field that they can exploit.
Ripping Chicago’s receivers is a grotesquely-beaten dead horse at this point in the season. It’s an easy rip for someone who has had better things to do with their time than study the ineptitude of the Bear offense. I don’t blame anyone for taking that route. But there is talent in the Bears receiving corps, although they lack the dominant force that would allow the others to thrive. If the Bears cut all three starting wideouts tomorrow, they would all have jobs with other teams by the end of the day. Chicago’s WR’s have speed, hands, and run-after-catch ability.
That being said, if you lined up Brandon Marshall (or any of the say, Green Bay wideouts) with Johnny Knox or Devin Hester, you wouldn’t think that they played the same position. Marshall is huge – tall, ripped, fierce. Imposing. Intimidating. And he loved having a QB in Cutler that could wing it all over the field and let Marshall make plays. Cutler knew how to feed that beast, and there is no WR that compares on the Bears’ squad.
Any of Chicago’s three starting wideouts would be a nightmare in the slot for other legit offenses. Johnny Knox and Devin Hester produce big matchup problems for any defense’s third-best cornerback. But neither matchup well with most defense’s first two CB’s, and that’s the problem. It isn’t that they aren’t legit receivers, it’s that they aren’t legit No. 1 receivers.
EXHIBIT B: I present this link to the highlights of Cutler’s best game this season, which would be a Week 9 loss to Arizona at home, a game in which the Bears got soundly stomped 41-21. Cutler’s 29 of 47, 369 yard, 3 TD performance was overshadowed by a horrendous display of pussiness by the Chicago defense, which gave Cutler absolutely no chance at all. It can be easily argued that Cutler’s performance came mostly in garbage time, and I won’t argue with that at all – but the throws and mechanics that Cutler possesses in these clips show what he is capable of when he’s at the top of his game.
The first two clips show fantastic throws by Cutler – one bomb to Hester, who makes a great catch while being interfered with, but Cutler hit him perfectly in stride with virtually no adjustment by Hester at all. The defender was up Hester’s ass the whole way and never had a shot at making a play on the ball. It was simply a perfect throw by Cutler.
The second clip shows exactly why he was traded for – he throws a 30+-yard rope for a TD to Greg Olsen and hits him square in the chest. It was a throw that could have gone through a tire swing or a brick wall. It was delivered with confidence and poise, and took advantage of a mismatch of Olsen lined up with a linebacker who had his back to the play. Cutler made the correct read, and even if his footwork and mechanics weren’t textbook, the throw was as good as you can make in the NFL.
At the start of the 3rd clip, you should notice the score at the top of the screen – there are over 9 minutes to play in the 2nd quarter and the Bears are down 21-7. Cutler gets sacked on the play, and he never had a chance to even look down the field before the defense is pummeling him into the ground. By the 4th clip, which starts with just less than three minutes left in the first half, the Bears are down by three TD’s and the game is already effectively over. The reason for the highlight is all Cutler, as he places a rocket right between the 8 and the 0 on Earl Bennett’s chest, squeezed into the tiniest of windows. I don’t know if there are any more than 2 or 3 other QB’s in the league that can put the ball right where Cutler did.
I will concede, after all the Cutler Hater-Ade that I’ve guzzled this season, that his physical tools are far superior to that of Kyle Orton. His mobility, his arm strength, and his cockiness can take the Bears where Orton couldn’t. I do believe Orton reads defenses better and makes better decisions with the football, but Cutler is obviously far more dynamic and ultimately worth more money than Orton ever will be. But unless he is given WR’s whose tools he can properly utilize, the Bears will never see their trade for Cutler come to fruition.
I don’t think I succeeded in justifying his contract extension – in that respect my argument has failed. But that’s okay, I’m willing to admit my shortcomings. It’s tough to defend a guy who threw 5 picks against San Francisco, a game far worse than Rex Grossman ever had. But maybe I made you think, or made you mad. As long as you had a reaction, I guess I did my job. A good evening to you until my Week 14 Picks post tomorrow.
Email: nick.thomas@flyingpigskin.com
