by Wayne Reeves

Created on: April 20, 2010

Jay Cutler was seen as the second coming of John Elway - a gamer with a big-arm and lots of spirit.  It took just 11 games to unseat Jake Plummer in 2006 for the heir-apparent to seal his reign as the Broncos' future leader on offense.  The team would eventually finish at 9-7.

As the starter for ‘07 - Culter did well statistically (completing 297 of 467 passes for 3,497 yards with 20 TDs and 14 INTs) but overall the team wavered at 7-9.  2008 was another decent statistical year (completing 384 of 616 passes for 4,526 yards with 25 TDs and 18 INTS) with the team still stuck in neutral at 8-8.

Despite the growing stature of Cutler in the Broncos' offense, the coaching change (Josh McDaniels in for fired Mike Shanahan) appeared to unsettle the fragile psyche of the quarterback.  Any new coach has there own vision on what is needed to take a team to the next level; McDaniels dared to go and seek-out Cutler’s value on the trade-market in the ‘09 off-season.

When Cutler became aware of the fact he is was a tradeable commodity (like any other player could be) he reacted in an ironic manner by requesting a trade!  Suddenly after taking the reins of the up-and-coming Denver offense, his relationship with the Broncos had all but disintegrated.  

After three short years he was traded from the Denver Broncos to the Chicago Bears (in exchange for draft picks and Kyle Orton).  His first season with Chicago had unrealistic expectations, as though he would immediately step-in and get the Bears back to a Super Bowl.

Everything Cutler did right in ‘09, there were two, three, four or sometimes five things he did wrong - namely costly interceptions.  The trip from Denver to Chicago may be a long one but nothing in comparison to the ego trip Cutler seems to be on permanently.

Countless times when he was having a bad game, his face said it all - with little in the way of personal responsibility, you got the feeling he felt it was somebody else’s fault he made a bad pass.  Completing 336 of 555 passes for 3,666 yards with 27 TDs and 26 INTs - the stats are reasonable if you take the high-INT rate away and negate the fact he had his lowest per-pass average at 6.6 (his four-year average is 7.1).

The Bears may not have the best receiver-corps in the NFL but a good QB should be able to find targets downfield most of the time.  Many games had Cutler throwing air-balls to spaces receivers had no clue they were meant to be there - again the face of utter frustration (on Cutler) would be seen by all.  

He has not developed a chemistry with the offense so 2010 becomes a pivotal year for him - another turnover-prone season could signal time to go on another trip around the NFL - ego and all.  Dare Bears’ coach Lovie Smith to start making a few phone-calls to prospective teams in need of a potentially good QB - there has to be a team in the league where Cutler can settle down, show some humility and just play football. 

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