Thread: Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler: Is He Regressing as a Player?

What do you think? Is he pulling a Grossman and regressing?

LINK to the article

Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler: Is He Regressing as a Player?


WRITTEN BY BRETT SOLESKY | 26 SEPTEMBER 2012




In three of last four game, including the preseason, Jay Cutler has probably played his worst three and a half games of football during his Chicago Bears tenure. Most fans are eager to dismiss the Packers performance as a result of the seven sacks in the game.

The coaches tape however reveals much worse problems for Cutler and a lot of it has to do with basic quarterback fundamentals. Cutler received decent pass protection and was helped by a much better game plan against the Rams, but still struggled the entire game to stay above a 50 percent completion percentage.

Cutler's accuracy problems seem to be getting worse from game to game and this goes back to the third game of the preseason in which Cutler finished 9 out of 21 for 96 yards. In the last four games including the preseason game against the Giants, Cutler is a combined 58 out of 114 with a 50.8 percent completion percentage.

Even in the season-opener against the Colts Cutler struggled for the first two quarters of that game, starting out 1 for 10 before finishing strong.

Cutler has missed wide open receivers, has thrown behind receivers that are open or hasn't led receivers enough for them to catch and run with the football. Add to it Cutler's six interceptions and six other passes in the three regular seasons that were bad enough passes to be picked off and the transition from Mike Martz to the Jeremy Bates Mike Tice offense has been disastrous.

The question is why is Cutler playing so poorly with a solid supporting cast?

Fundamentally Cutler has regressed, his footwork has gotten worse and in turn it's effecting his accuracy. Too many times Cutler is not stepping up and delivering the football or setting his feet towards the target and delivering the football. Instead he's just choosing to wing it and hope that it's accurate enough to make a play.

The way it appears right now is Cutler is playing like he doesn't care. There are different ways of caring in football, caring about wins and losses is one thing, but not working to improve yourself is completely another thing.

Asked about his performance in the game against the Rams

"“It was hit and miss. At the end of the day, we won the game. Offensively, there were some things we could make better but the idea is to win. It’s not a one-on-one tennis match.” said Cutler.

Hit and miss is a understatement given just how many throws Cutler missed. After that quote he then goes on to try and downplay the expectations of the Bears offense for the season.

"Not every game is going to be 41-21. We’re not going to come out there every game and blow the doors off offensively, defensively and on special teams every week. This is a normal NFL football game. This is what it’s going to be like more likely week-in and week-out. That’s what we talked to the offense about all week long. It’s just going out there and establishing the run, taking the passes when we can and limiting our turnovers.” said Cutler.

The above quote doesn't sound like Cutler is going to play the role of play-maker but more like game manager. The game plan he mentions is essentiallhy the recipe the Bears followed in 2005 with rookie Kyle Orton at QB. The expectations for Cutler are much higher than the role of game manager.

Expectations are not for the offense to score 41 points a game on the season, but expectations were much higher than scoring two offensive touchdowns over the last two games.

The fact that Cutler is so willing to lower expectations while simultaneously missing how poorly the offense has played this season shows a lack of awareness to the situation at hand.

All offseason Cutler preached about how much more comfortable and happy he was to be back under Jeremy Bates. The transition into this offense was supposed to be an easy one because it was a far less complicated offense. Cutler also had more say in what was in the playbook and how those plays catered to his strengths.

Now that talk seems like a distant memory of off-season hope and promise. The realities of Cutler's struggles as a quarterback could very well cost Lovie Smith his job as a head coach. Further complicating matters is the Bears will be entering the final year of his contract during the 2013 season, meaning the best window to negotiate an extension will be the 2012-13 offseason. As things stand at the moment it will be very hard to justify signing Cutler to an exentsion, much less considering giving him a raise.

The season will be 1/4 of the way complete after the Monday night game against Dallas. From here the schedule only gets harder with a playoff capable team in Dallas on Monday on the road followed by Jacksonville, Detroit, Carolina,Tennessee and then the Houston Texans.

Five of the next six games are against teams that could make the playoffs meaning the margin for error is slim.

The season is about to shift into high gear and the Bears need the engine of their offense to start driving this team forward in a positive direction. The driver in charge of that offense needs to show that he is capable of being one of the best in the NFL.