Josh McDaniels and the Broncos Have a Serious Problem in QB Jay Cutler

Josh McDaniels knew he had a problem with his franchise quarterback when he took the job in Denver.

It wasn’t a talent issue. It wasn’t a performance issue.

It was an attitude issue.

The leader of your offense has to completely buy into your system. He has to be an extension of you in the locker room.

Bill Belichick doesn’t win championships without Tom Brady, but Brady doesn’t win championships without Belichick either.

The relationship between a quarterback and a head coach is important. More important than any other player-coach relationship on an NFL team.

If a wide receiver doesn’t buy into the system, other wide receivers on the team can take their place. The same thing goes for running backs, cornerbacks, safeties, etc.

But there’s only one starting quarterback. There’s only one guy who touches the ball on every offensive play. There’s only one guy who speaks in the offensive huddle.

Cutler, with all of his physical talents, isn’t ready to be that guy for McDaniels. Matt Cassel, even though he lacks some of the physical tools Cutler brings to the table, is.

Which is why McDaniels tried to deal away his starting quarterback and bring in his former starting quarterback.

The trade fell through. It never happened. McDaniels is prepared to go into the season with his current starting quarterback while the one he wanted starts for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Cutler, however, is too busy crying to anyone who will listen about how he was "wronged" by his new head coach. The relationship, according to Cutler, is irreparably damaged.

Give me a bloody break.

Cutler needs to get the hell over himself. He needs to grow up.

So your team tried to trade you? So freaking what?

Cutler has done absolutely nothing in the NFL. He’s proven absolutely nothing. The Broncos have gone 8-8, 7-9, and 9-7 over the last three seasons.

Don't you have to make the playoffs before you're allowed to become a diva? Maybe Cutler can explain to me how anyone on a team that's gone 24-24 over the last three seasons can have such a high opinion of himself.

He’s not Brady. He’s not Philip Rivers. He’s not even Cassel.

He’s a loser, a middling quarterback with a mouth that his play can’t back up.

He’s an immature punk who needed to be put in his place.

Cutler has a ton of talent, nobody questions that. But being a starting quarterback in the NFL takes more than just talent. If talent were all it took, Jeff George would be in the Hall of Fame.

McDaniels laid down the law with his new quarterback, and his new quarterback is currently throwing a temper-tantrum.

One of two things will come from this. Cutler will learn his lesson, come back, buy into McDaniels’ system, and be the Broncos starting quarterback.

Or he won’t.

Either way, McDaniels will be fine. McDaniels turned Cassel, a guy who had never started in college or the NFL, into a legitimate NFL starting quarterback.

You don’t think he can do the same with Chris Simms?

Or anyone else with a shred of talent and the right attitude for that matter?

If he doesn’t get his head out of his ass, Cutler can enjoy his time in Detroit—where he can be a coddled superstar quarterback on another non-playoff team.

The Broncos, meanwhile, will be just fine without him.

This article originally appeared on the New England Patriots Examiner page. To read more articles like this one, check them out here.

Sean Crowe covers the New England Patriots for Examiner.com and writes a bi-weekly column for Sports-Central.org.

He is a Senior Writer and an NFL Community Leader at Bleacher Report. You can email him at [e-mail].