What Happened to Jay Cutler? Denver's Young QB Falls from Glory

I know that my headline makes it sound as if I am about to blast Jay Cutler for throwing interceptions, or for running his mouth, or for simply not winning games, but that is not what I have set out to do. I would like to offer my theory as to why the third-year quarterback has had such a dramatic drop-off since Week Three, and I have several theories.

The Denver Broncos entered the season ranked 22nd in ESPN's power rankings. They were supposed to be a team of question marks and few constants. In their first game, they came out swinging against the Raiders and dominated for a big 41-14 win on the road.

They moved up to 19th place, and there was some speculation that Cutler might be ready for a breakout.

Let's fast-forward to Week Three. After yet another nerve-wracking finish, the Broncos sat at 3-0. Cutler was efficiently running the offense, wracking up yards and touchdowns. His passes were lasers all over the field, especially to his star Brandon Marshall. He wasn't touched by the opponent's pass rush, and he only had thrown two interceptions.

For this, the team moved up to seventh in the power poll. Cutler was the top-scoring quarterback in most fantasy leagues. The team had a seemingly easy game coming up at Kansas City. From that point on, something changed.

You know the rest of the story: The team would lose, shockingly, to the lowly Chiefs, with Cutler throwing two interceptions.

Now, heading into their Thursday night game at Cleveland in Week 10, the Broncos stand at 4-4, still out in front of the non-competitive AFC West. They have suffered several key injuries, mostly on defense, but even still, the defense has been playing much better than they did through those first three weeks.

Cutler, however, is the real enigma that is bothering Denver fans. How could his TD-INT ratio go from 8-2 to 15-10 so suddenly? How could he go from looking confident and composed to reckless and flustered?

Confidence, and over-confidence is the answer. Jay is young, only 25 years old, and he is only in his third season. He was a high draft pick who was inserted into a starting role within his first season playing. Naturally, he has a lot of confidence in himself.

This season, however, he set the league on fire and it went to his head. He got arrogant. He began comparing himself to John Elway. He started trying to force passes in between three defenders. He would only look for the long, glorious throws rather than checking underneath first to see if a tight end was wide open. And the success began to stop.

Now, the Broncos' offense has been unable to score more than 20 points since that Week Three game. A lot of it has to do with Cutler's game management and play. Some of it does have to do with the total lack of running game, or the injuries to key offensive players.

Overall, Jay Cutler started having success. His success came very fast and very easily, and he let it get to his head. The result was turnovers and losses, and that began a sort of "fall from glory."

Cutler still has tremendous skills. His arm actually is one of the strongest arms in the league, and he very well may have greater raw arm strength than Elway, but the fact is: He's not Elway, yet.

In their game against Cleveland tonight, Jay needs to go out there with a different mindset. He needs to take what the defense gives him and he needs to be grateful for every pass he completes. He must be patient and composed.

Relax, he is the future of the franchise, and he has the starting job as long as he's physically able to keep it. Jay Cutler can be the leader of this team, and he can turn this around. This is his time to prove what he's really made of.