While Cutler and Orton had similar QB ratings last year, let's take a closer look at how those ratings were compiled.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/splits/_/ ... jay-cutlerSpecifically the ones cut-and-pasted below. Looks like a lot of garbage-time padding for Orton.
BY CLOSE CMP ATT YDS CMP% AVG LNG TD INT SACK RAT ATT YDS AVG LNG TD
Orton
4TH QTR, +/-7 PTS 33 67 366 49.3 5.46 31 1 2 5
58.4 7 39 5.6 13 0
LAST 2 MIN. HALF 46 83 540 55.4 6.51 44 5 2 4
85.4 7 4 0.6 8 0
Cutler
4TH QTR, +/-7 PTS 43 71 479 60.6 6.75 38 5 3 5
86.5 16 12 0.8 8 0
LAST 2 MIN. HALF 33 54 447 61.1 8.28 89 6 3 1
101.4 20 -14 -0.7 3 0
BY WINNING PT DIFF CMP ATT YDS CMP% AVG LNG TD INT SACK RAT ATT YDS AVG LNG TD
Orton
WINNING 15-21 11 13 165 84.6 12.69 45 1 0 0
144.4 0 0 0.0 0 0
WINNING 1-7 18 35 235 51.4 6.71 34 1 1 1
70.5 0 0 0.0 0 0
Cutler
WINNING 15-21 17 26 185 65.4 7.12 34 1 1 2
83.0 4 6 1.5 12 0
WINNING 1-7 67 115 838 58.3 7.29 48 6 7 8
73.0 22 37 1.7 16 0
BY LOSING PT DIFF CMP ATT YDS CMP% AVG LNG TD INT SACK RAT ATT YDS AVG LNG TD
Orton
LOSING 1-7 68 128 812 53.1 6.34 71 2 6 12
58.5 9 44 4.9 9 0
LOSING 15-21 53 80 707 66.3 8.84 61 4 0 3
110.8 3 7 2.3 5 0
Cutler
LOSING 1-7 106 169 1,396 62.7 8.26 67 11 6 25
95.7 15 115 7.7 16 0
LOSING 15-21 18 31 276 58.1 8.90 89 2 0 1
109.1 1 2 2.0 2 1