Chicago Bears: When Is It Time to Stop Believing in Jay Cutler?

Jay Cutler has started 105 regular-season games in his nine-year NFL career. In those nine seasons, Cutler has started just two postseason games.

One of the biggest questions that surrounds the start of every NFL season involves Cutler and his ability to lead a team to a Super Bowl. And every year, Bears fans are forced to believe this will be the year. This will be the year Cutler figures it all out and eliminates the mental mistakes.

That kind of sounds like the mantra of a Cubs fan, doesn't it? Waking up on opening day of each season thinking this will be the year. It’s false hope, or maybe it’s hopeless.

The fact that we don’t yet know after six seasons in a Bears uniform should be a sign that we actually do know, we just don’t want to believe it.

But letting go of hope is no way to be a football fan, or any fan, for that matter.

When the Chicago Bulls lost Derrick Rose for the season during the 2013 preseason, hope was lost. Chicago sports fans were debating whether or not the best option for the Bulls would be to tank the season. That talk lasted through the first two months of the season, until the Bulls got back to .500. Hope then was restored. Bulls fans loved seeing their team be competitive and, most importantly, win.

Tom Thibodeau’s Bulls don’t make careless mistakes. If mistakes are made, it’s done within the system. System mistakes don’t lose games for you. They are calculated. Risks are taken when risks can afford to be taken. And when mistakes are made, ownership of those mistakes is taken. Excuses aren't made. You never will hear Thibodeau say “It’s just one game.”

You know who utters those words more often than he should? Cutler.

Cutler’s response to Sunday’s ugly and unfortunate loss was: “It’s just one game,” he said Monday on ESPN Chicago’s “The Jay Cutler Show.”

That’s Cutler’s go-to response for when a game doesn't go well.

Well, that response no longer is going well.

That response is tired, and it’s not even true. There is no such thing as “it’s just a game” when it comes to the NFL. There only are 16 games in a season. Sixteen, not 82. One game, one poor performance, can completely set the tone of a season.

Now it’s most definitely too soon and far too reactionary to characterize the Bears’ loss to the Bills as “deflating,” but one thing it wasn't was “inflating.”

When Cutler completed the game-changing interception to Bills lineman Kyle Williams, the Bears defense had only given up 20 points, despite getting absolutely trucked by the Bills rushing attack.

That one decision literally changed the game. It was one of those mistakes that wasn't built into the system. No system can support that type of mistake. Cutler’s pass, in no way, shape or form, was a necessary risk. There was no calculation involved. There absolutely was nothing to gain by making that throw, only things to lose.

"Third down or fourth down, no matter what the situation is, I've got to do something better," Cutler said of the play. "Anything probably would have been better than what happened, obviously. It's a huge play there. We're trying to go down for the game-winning score, and you're just trying to make a play."

Taking responsibility is something Cutler has been willing to do during his time with the Bears. It’s not that he doesn't know how much a poorly timed interception can change a game. He does. He just doesn't seem capable of fixing it.

Cutler is a very, very smart guy. He talks a lot about how much he’s evolved since entering the league, both as a man and a football player.

Just last week, Cutler spoke of having a “greater perspective” at this stage. Usually when one talks about having a “greater perspective,” it’s referring to having a higher level of understanding, a level of understanding that produces more answers than questions.

Those who hold a “greater perspective” don’t take risks that don’t result in reward.

At what point do his teammates start wondering if their fearless leader is full of it? Being accountable for the result of an action is one thing, but changing that action is something entirely different. It's a matter of learning from your mistakes.

Cutler just gives off the impression that he doesn't care what people think of him, on or off the field. There are some very, very successful people out there who don’t care what others think of them. But the decisions that result from Cutler’s lack of caring actually makes his life more difficult. It changes the way people perceive him. It makes people come harder at him. Cutler can not care in a manner where no one really knows that he doesn't care.

One can indulge others without really caring. Imagine if Cutler were to be more self-deprecating about his boneheaded mistakes. He'd become a media darling.

So when does hope become hopeless?

When does a “greater perspective” make one game more valuable than just one game?

When asked Monday if everything was going to be OK, Cutler replied, “Absolutely.”

Here's to hoping that this is the year.