On March 31st, 2009, Jay Cutler, the quarterback of the Denver Broncos asked the Broncos to please trade him following speculation of a three way trade between New England, Denver, and Detroit or Tampa Bay just a month ago. Just three days later, the Chicago Bears put all their eggs in one basket by trading quarterback Kyle Orton, 1st and 3rd round picks in the 2009 draft (Robert Ayers and Mike Wallace who was sent to the Steelers following a draft pick trade), and the Bears 1st round pick in the 2010 draft in exchange for Jay Cutler and a 5th Round Pick in the 2009 draft (Johnny Knox). Chicago fans waited in anticipation as they were to receive their first credible quarterback in years following stints involving Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton in the past half decade. All expectations were sky high in Chicago with his previous success with the Denver Broncos. His stats also showed a potential above average quarterback.

Year Passing

Team G GS W L Comp Att Comp % Yds AVG YPG TD Int Long Sacked Rate




2006 DEN 5 5 2 3 81 137 59.1 1,001 7.3 200.2 9 5 71 13 88.5




2007 DEN 16 16 7 9 297 467 63.6 3,497 7.5 218.6 20 14 68 27 88.1




2008 DEN 16 16 8 8 384 616 62.3 4,526 7.3 282.9 25 18 93 11 86.0




2009 CHI 16 16 7 9 336 555 60.5 3,666 6.6 229.1 27 26 71 35 76.8




Total
53 53 24 29 1,098 1,775 61.9 12,690 7.1 239.4 81 63 93 86 83.8




 

In the preseason we saw bits of Cutler, and so far things seemed all too well. When the season started things changed. Cutler's stock began to fall from Week 1 against the Packers in a four interception game with only one TD. Then it began to rise after they shocked the world as they defeated the reigning Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers, and this game also was the birth of Johnny Knox - The NFL Player. After these wins it led to two wins against low caliber teams such as the Seahawks and the Detroit Lions. It all went down hill from there, after a last second loss against the Atlanta Falcon the Bears were never able to recover, and they lost all confidence they ever gained from the Pittsburgh game. This is were I can defend Cutler all the games he lost from there on were against playoff contenders like Cincinnati, Baltimore, Arizona, Philadelphia, and the only loss I cannot defend with this argument is the devastating defeat against the 49ers. As you can see the Bears did not have an easy schedule, and they had a young quarterback on a new roster, and inexperienced WR corps, a Brian Urlacherless defense, and an incompetent coaching staff in Lovie Smith and Ron Turner.

While most of these plagues have been attended to in the firing of Turner and the hiring of Martz, the slow recovery of Brian Urlacher, and the wide receiver corps at least having notched one more year under their belt. The final piece of this puzzle is if Jay Cutler can meet up to his expectations by leading this team to at least to a .500 season. Even though his receiving corps is still young and inexperienced he has found a connection with tight end Greg Olsen (who may not catch passes as much under Martz) and Devin Aromashodu who has something to prove this season after a spectacular end of the season game play. They are also coming in with an exceptionally weak O-Line, and I think with this adaption I think Cutler will need to change his game learning to make plays around this weakness. The Bears defense should also be revamped with the return of Brian Urlacher, the signing of Julius Peppers to play opposite Tommie Harris (who fans are hoping will return to 2006 form), and the additions/experimentation of Chris Harris and Major Wright at their weak safety position. Here are the stats I am predicting for Jay Cutler for the 2010 Season:

Jay Cutler: 28 Touchdowns, 21 Interceptions, approx. 300 comp. in 500 att.

I think he should lead the Bears to a 8-8 record this season, but this is depending on whether Favre plays or stays as a "retired" man.

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