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Bears quarterback Jay Cutler went from joking about winning the lottery to saying the Bears didn’t have to play him Powerball money.

Cutler said during his weekly radio show on ESPN 1000 that he’d consider taking a “hometown discount” to remain with the Bears.

Cutler has a year left (at $8.47 million) on his current deal.

“I’m not gonna try to break the bank,” Cutler said, via Michael Wright of ESPNChicago.com.

Co-host Tom Waddle suggested the veteran minimum, when Cutler said “What kind of discount we talkin’?”

Waddle said: “50 percent off.”

“Ah, c’mon,” Cutler said with a laugh. “We can talk like 5 or 10 [percent off], but 50? This isn’t a going-out-of-business sale.”

When things turned more serious, Cutler said it was important to him to leave the Bears with flexibility to bring in more players.

“I want to be on a successful team, and I know that paying one or two or three players premium [salaries] hurts your chances of being able to bring in extra talent,” Cutler said. “So when we get there, we’ll figure it out. . . .

“You get to a point in your career I think it’s not even about money. You’re secure. You want to win Super Bowls.”

The two sides haven’t started talking about a new deal, but Cutler knows he made things more difficult for his agent.

“I don’t think I should even be saying stuff like this. I’m killing myself right now,” Cutler said. “I’m breaking the bank. Let’s go back; rewind. Bus [Cook] is gonna text me [saying], ‘What are you doing right now?'”

For all the attention paid to his previous pouting and trantrums, Cutler has flourished this year with wide receiver Brandon Marshall. While he may not be everyone’s cup of tea, in Chicago, it seems to be working, and he seems to realize he can extend that if he chooses.