Calling him a franchise QB is officially over after last night. He isn't. He may be one day but he isn't now. A franchise QB doesn't totally destroy any chance your team has to beat a bad team with an inept QB. A franchise QB doesn't lead the league in interceptions by far. A franchise QB knows how to work with his offensive talent or lack therof instead of trying to throw it down the field into double coverage when your WR isn't the type of player that can take it out over multiple defenders.

We can argue individual plays and discount some of his interceptions. This happens to every QB. Sometimes interceptions just aren't your fault but over the course of a season a clear pattern has emerged. If our WR's suck, and we all know they suck, then I would guess that Jay Cutler knows they suck. If Jay knows they suck then stop expecting them to make great plays to break up your interceptions! Even some of those picks that were the "receivers fault" he was still covered. The WR didn't help Jay but when you throw it to a covered WR you need to have a reasonable expectation that your receiver can beat the defender. It's not like these are passes going through hands and tipped in the air. This is a WR covered who was unable to save Cutler by batting down a ball that was thrown to a covered player.

This inconsistency has been true his whole career. It drove people in Denver crazy. It leads to a lot of .500 seasons. I bet Cutler has a great game next week. Then everyone will proclaim that he is awesome and will be awesome in the future. We'll then see this again and again and again. To be honest, I don't think this is fixable just like it wasn't with Rex Grossman. Jay Cutler has no desire to only take what the defense gave him. If he did, Forte would have had 250 yards receiving last night and we win. Instead, he needs to throw it longer.

The other problem is that Jay Cutler is paid as a franchise QB. He was traded for a bunch of valuable picks. We need him to be great because our team is being built around him. There are at least 10 QB's in the league right now who I'd rather have and probably 20 QB's in the league right now playing better.

Jay Cutler is not a franchise QB. He may be one day but he isn't there right now.

At least he has a strong arm though!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm quoting something you said back in July just to back up your original point about Cutler; you have been one of the few Bears fans that didn't fall for the hype.

BD had said Romo doesn't belong in the conversation with Cutler at the time. I wonder if he'd change his tune now...



I think this is correct. Cutler has been as inconsistent as Romo, and Romo's even had better weapons. They both seem to get tunnel vision; however, with Cutler I think his lack of confidence comes from the fact that he has receivers that don't do their jobs.

Most Interceptions in 1st 9 Team Games
Last 20 Seasons
'94 Drew Bledsoe 18
'98 Peyton Manning 18
'09 Jay Cutler 17
'01 Trent Green 16
'98 Brett Favre 16

It's good to see we found a statistic that puts Cutler with other franchise QBs!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

yeah, theres some pretty good company there.

i dont think his problem is lack of confidence in his receivers - its from too much confidence.

I think most the interceptions the throws are somewhat acceptable (attributable to simply passing lots, and not having a very good receiver corps). It's the redzone picks that sink him. When he gets to the redzone, he doesn't simply become too confident in his abilities: he goes totally berserk. That first interception last night was unfathomable. It had a 0% chance of being a completion. It can't be explained without the assumption that Cutler suffers from temporary insanity inside the redzone. And it's not the first one of its type he's thrown this year.

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

Rick, the only thing I disagree with is that it is not fixable. I think it is fixable, although probably not by this staff.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Go watch the Jets or Giants, Rick.

Yeah, Cutler had a bad game last night, but how can the coaching staff justify him throwing the ball 52 times in a close game when he is obviously struggling? And in those 52 times, did we see any crossing patterns, rollouts, deep balls? No. I couldn't care less whether the allmighty Boilermulter Rick thinks he is a franchise QB or not. The fact is, he is here for the long haul. We can only hope and pay that most of the players and coaches around him on offense are not.

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matt forte - 20 rushes - 41 yards

"The other problem is that Jay Cutler is paid as a franchise QB. He was traded for a bunch of valuable picks. We need him to be great because our team is being built around him."
=-=-=-=-=-=


The problem is... this hasn't started happening yet. They haven't done anything to make the people around him better. Instead, he is stuck with a bunch of no talent ass clowns.

I agree.

He's not a finished product, but you trade for him because he can be. And he's a lot closer to becoming one than any quarterback in this town for the past 20 years.

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

I disagree. Let's go over an interception that many people are arguing isn't on Cutler.

On the Kellen Davis no call on the pass interference. The defender got a jump on the ball and beat Davis to the spot and made a great play. At worst, Culter threw it into coverage. How is he not to blame for that? It ended with a pretty easy interception and the defender didn't get a PI because he has a right to go for the ball too. I don't get how that one isn't on him unless you really believe that the defender deserved a penalty. To me, I think the defender just made a great play even if it hurt the Bears.


I hope you are right. I have a bad feeling that Cutler only knows one way to play and this is it.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Because he's a franchise QB right?


You do care. That is why you responded. He is here for the long haul. I agree. He needs to get much better or that long haul is going to be very difficult to watch.

If he is that dependent on other talent that he can't even be mediocre then he isn't a franchise QB.

My definition must be different. I was told all off-season that he will make the WR's, RB's, offensive line(more mobile), and defense better because he is a franchise QB. I have a hard time quantifying how much other players are hurting/helping his play. All I know is that he has major flaws in his game that may be accentuated by other players but they are still there. Maybe Brandon Marshall and a good offensive line were actually hiding these problems and this is actually who Cutler really is.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Boo.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Rick, do you think Cutler is the best player on offense?

Which QBs today are worthy of the tag "franchise"?

Yes.


If you take age out of the equation and talk about how they are playing this year.
Manning, Brady, Brees, Favre, Rodgers, Rivers, Romo, McNabb, Roethlisberger.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Why are you defining your picks of a franchise quarterback based on one year?

He still has a shot at being great. But we all see that he also has a shot of being average cuz he makes bad decisions. I'm still not giving up on him but I'm worried.

?? He threw it to Davis, the DB cheated and knocked him down, the refs inexplicably failed to throw a flag.


Last I checked, it's not legal to knock a receiver down to go for the ball; I don't believe the ball was tipped, so that should have been a flag. It was just a bad break for the Bears.

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

Rick, we all heard a lot of the same things, whether it was from Jerry, Lovie, or the media. The truth is we were told wrong. Cutler can't make Forte run faster. He can't make the tackles block better. He can't make the receivers create better separation. He also can't make the receivers finish their routes. He also can't make Ron Turner come up with a better gameplan within the red zone.

That being said, it seems like he's not always on the same page with his receivers, including Olsen. It's hard to fathom that they're are communication breakdowns 9 games into the season. I'm also not fond of Cutler's unwillingness to throw the ball away in the red zone. I know he desperately wants to throw TD passes, and we would love for him to do that, but throw the ball away if it's not there.

Cutler is to blame for last night's loss. It's absolutely on him. But even if he were better, there are still so many flaws with this team, the coaching staff, and the front office. In the big picture, this franchise sucks. And I really wish it didn't.

Outside of Favre my list would stay the same if over multiple years but it would also include players such as Kurt Warner and Eli Manning.

In comparison to Cutler I was using this year only because it's his first year with the Bears.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

The closer the Bears get to the goal line the worse their receivers get. Everyone knows Olsen is the only threat in the redzone so they triple cover him. Cutler had no other options and until that changes I can care less how many picks he throws trying to make something out of nothing.

Tis the meatball media shoving this crap down our throats! Rex, Brian Anderson, Derrick Rose,Tommy Harris on and on. Judge Cutler on this year and he would be one of the WORST
Bear Qb's in the beloved history!

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Right, beacuse Tom Brady or Peyton Manning never depend on the Oline, WRs, or RBs to help them out. Come to think of it, neither does Kyle Orton or Aaron Rodgers, and certainly not Brett Farve

You could put any one of those guys behind this silly putty Oline, throwing to these horseshit WRs, and the Bears would still be 3-5 at best. You of all people should know, Boilermulter, that football is a team sport and that if 8 or 9 of the guys on offense are poor, its going to reflect on the QB.

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brady or manning probably would have pulled that one out last night.

If Cutler realizes he doesn't have to make a play every time he touches the ball he will be great. He has the athletic ability. He has a good arm and can challenge defenses. It's his head that is not right. I believe he has the capacity to learn though. He might get it but I'm less confident than I was at the beginning.

Some of it may have to do with his maturity level and cooperativeness. Some is coaching and the talent he is surrounded by. He has not yet put this team on his shoulders but they are still always in the game with him.

2 of those were not his fault. 1 Questionable, and the 2 in the red zone were absolutely inexcusable unacceptable bad plays.

Is that axe of yours getting heavy? You've been carrying it around for a while.

Bears offense has problems. But you can't say Cutler isn't a part of it at times. Cutler had good WR in Denver and a decent O-line and he didn't make the playoffs last year. I know. People are gonna say it was because of Denver's defense. Cutler always gets excuses made for him.

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