Jeff Hughes | January 23rd, 2015

(1) Jay Cutler throws interceptions. He has started 119 games. He has thrown 130 interceptions. If you think having Cutler throw fewer passes is going to result in fewer interceptions, you’re just not paying attention. Cutler, if he plays all 16 games in an NFL season, should be expected to throw between 14-18 interceptions.

(2) Throwing interceptions does not automatically equate to losing. Eli Manning has thrown 185 interceptions in 167 starts. He’s also won two Super Bowls. Joe Flacco has thrown 90 picks in 112 games but raises his game in the postseason. These two quarterbacks are big game hunters. They raise themselves up at the big moment. They are only allowed to play in the big moments because they have complete teams.

(3) When has Jay Cutler ever had a complete team? Honestly ask yourself that question without any bias. When has he had a better than average defense, offensive line and skill guys? Not great. Just better than average. The teams Jay Cutler has played on have required him to carry them and he’s not that guy. I wonder if Pace and Fox will recognize that and do in 2015 what the Cowboys did in 2014: take the pressure off their mistake-prone quarterback.

(4) What turning the ball over DOES mean is sustained postseason success is unlikely. Eli has had a couple brilliant postseason runs. He’s barely gotten to the postseason otherwise.

(5) People say Jay Cutler is not a winning player. Well, factually, he is. 61-58 as a starter (44-38 as Bear). He has also only had one season where he’s been more than a single game below .500. (The Bears just completed that season.) You know who isn’t a winning player? Matthew Stafford. Is he being run out of Detroit for being 7 games below .500?

(6) Over his last three seasons with Lovie Smith as head coach and the combination of Martz/Tice at offensive coordinator, Jay Cutler was 27-13 as a starter. Interesting that when the team played solid defense he was not drawing “not a winning player” label.

(7) Jay Cutler is never going to be a rah rah leadership type. Remember when he used to shout at offensive coordinators (like Tom Brady) and shove offensive linemen (like Phil Rivers) and get angry when receivers ran the wrong routes (like Peyton Manning) and get lambasted by the national media for it? Well, he stopped. Now you get Jay Cutler, the father. Watch a Ravens or Giants game and find me the moments Eli and Flacco display these emotions Bears fans want from Cutler. You can watch every snap of their careers. You won’t find any. Their emotions never change. This is not to say a quarterback shouldn’t be be a rah rah type. This is to say you don’t necessarily need this attribute to win.

(8) Jay Cutler is never going to be Aaron Rodgers. You know why? Aaron Rodgers is better than him. Aaron Rodgers is better than all the other quarterbacks. Most of them are not penalized by being in his division or being the quarterback of his longest rival. Go read the Detroit Free-Press and find all those articles about Stafford failing to beat Rodgers. He never does and you won’t find one.

(9) Jay Cutler should no longer be a Bears priority. The Bears should operate like they have a veteran quarterback capable of winning games while scouring coming drafts and NFL rosters for a young quarterback to take the reigns. John Fox turned the Panthers around with Rodney Peete at quarterback and went to a Super Bowl with Jake Delhomme. Even the most ardent Cutler hater wouldn’t argue he is not better than both of those players.

(10) If the Bears receive a decent trade offer for Cutler, they should take it. Odds of them being contenders in the next two seasons are not very good.

(11) Jay Cutler played his best two seasons as a Bear under Mike Martz and was not able to finish the 2011 campaign because Martz refused to protect him. If he was responsible for Martz’ firing than Lovie Smith was the most weak-minded head coach in the history of the league. (If Cutler doesn’t get hurt, Martz never gets fired. Mid-season he was being talked about as getting back into the head coaching pool.)

(12) Mike Tice was fired WITH Lovie Smith off a ten-win season. So, again, what is this coach killer reputation? It doesn’t make any sense. First coach I believe Cutler had an active role in killing is now the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. And that kill might be considered landmark in five years.

(13) Jay Cutler is never going to win over the Chicago Bears fans. If he led the 2015 Bears to an 11-5 record and threw two interceptions in a playoff loss, fans would be screaming for his head once again. I saw first hand in December just how irrationally angry Cutler makes the citizens of Chicago. A hurdle too high.

(14) I’m rooting for Jay Cutler. I’m hoping the Bears keep him and he thrives under Fox and Gase. I don’t expect it by any means but I like him as a person. Jay is who he is. And too often we applaud athletes for spewing that “one game at a time” shit that makes media members salivate over Russell Wilson. Cutler reminds me of McMahon. He doesn’t give a damn what you think of him. League needs more personalities like his.

(15) Jay Cutler is the best quarterback in Chicago Bears history. I know that’s like being the tallest of the Danny DeVito lookalikes but it is a fact. And Bears fans seem to share a delusional belief that if a player doesn’t execute at a championship level every week he doesn’t belong on the hallowed Bears – an organization with two Super Bowl appearances total. Just look around the league at the number of organizations struggling to compete due to a lack of production at the QB position. When Cutler leaves, so does more than 3,000 yards a season and more than 20 touchdowns a year. Not a single quarterback in the league who threw for more than 3,000 yards AND more than 20 touchdowns this year has shaky job security next season. Except one. Jay Cutler.

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Jay Cutler’s flaws are so visible on the field. It baffles me why individuals need to create reasons to dislike him. Cutler is not a great quarterback but he’s also received way too much blame for the struggles of the 2014 Chicago Bears – the worst coached NFL team since the 1991 and 1992 New York Giants. (If you don’t know about Ray Handley, use Google. And there’s some weird, juicy stuff in that search if you’re persistent.)

Cutler is what he is. But unfortunately that is now how many depict him.