Thread: Give Cuter his Extension

Originally Posted by GermansbombedPH

I'm calling it now. We will not find a better QB. We invested lots of money and time in him. He was a Pro Bowler and is as talented as a QB can be.

We are in win now mode and he is the best QB we can get the next 2-3 years. Extend him, free up Cap Space and use this Cap Space + a restructured Marshall contract to give Cutler an Oline. He needs the help and he needs to be healthy to help us.

Cutler is a 100 million dollar decision and it should have been made already. He should be our QB for the next 4-5 years.

I've come around to agree with you. Maybe if we were in a better cap/immediate-needs position I'd say "wait and see" on Cutler and make him prove himself like Flacco did. It's a risk but I think you're right and the team needs to commit to the Cutler-Marshall duopoly by extending them BOTH out several years. They would come relatively cheap now compared to next year at this time if Trestman is able to turn the O around. And we could use that cap space badly right now on a Levitre or Long for instance.

Its not like Cutler's heir apparent is already on the roster and climbing the ranks. Does anyone seriously believe we are going to be "upgrading" Cutler next year at this time?

You got to give Trestman a year to work with him and decide.

Trestman is a QB guru.

If he cannot fix some of Jays issues than no one will.

I agree with Windy if things dont work out between him and trestman we dont want a long term fight here. That relationship has to be established first before we commit a yacht to Cutler. Cant underscore the relationship factor of player and coach and with that kind of money tread very carefully

I was chewing on this a while back and posted this:

Personally, I think (dangerous thing around here) that Cutler is going to be the bears quarterback in both the short and mid term. Why?

Well, in the last 4 years the Bears have played 5 QBs, Collins (oof!), Haine, McCown, Campbell, and the starter Cutler. Whenever someone other than Cutler has been at QB the Bears have played worse than with him. While this can be dismissed as "those guys are all back-ups" it should also be considered that the Bears traded away Orton, who was having a problem with not being able to go through his reads, find the open man, and throw it before the defensive rush got to him. This was because Orton needed at least 2.5 seconds to do these things, and most pass rushes were getting to him in 2.0 to 2.2 seconds (in one case a team was able to get to Orton in 1.8 seconds). (NOTE: only Ortons' last season is valid for comparison due to different players during Ortons' earlier seasons versus Cutlers' first season.) The fact is Cutler has been able to win, where other QBs have lost. This is with the same OL, and the same WRs, and the same RB. Who was it that said that "Great players elevate the (game)play of the players around them"?

Next, there is the OL itself. As poorly ranked as this O-Line has been, how likely is any other QB going to do well? Yes, there are QBs coming out of college who are able to transform a team, however, it stands to reason that there are more of them that can do it from behind an O-Line that can protect well. Not improving the O-Line means that bad QB play must be solely on the QB, therefore, if the QB is unable to perform, an new QB is needed. This forces the team to find a great, mobile and/or hard to tackle QB, instead of only having to find a great QB. This reduces a teams chances of finding a great QB for this team considerably. I would think the reduction would be between 50 and 90% While the percentages are my opinion, the basic logic is difficult to dispute.
Now it is possible that the O-line will be dramatically improved by new coaching, scheme, the addition of new talent, and the physical recovery of some players, but I've heard that before. The reality is that a improved O-line is not guaranteed. Further, Emery/Trestman have to plan not just for next season, but seasons beyond as well. I will not assume that all of the problems on the O-Line will be "fixed" in a single off season. It is more likely that it will take AT LEAST 2 seasons, more if things go poorly. The Bears know that the team can be successful with Cutler behind a bad O-Line. The alternative is for the Bears roll the dice on a "new" QB while building the O-Line, and this just leads us back to where we are. Is it the QB? The O-Line? Both? Who knows? And the circle of blame and the lack of accountability continue... Nope, not where I want to be if I'm a team, coach, or GM. Bottom line here is that Cutler is (at a bare minimum) a known quantity, and it will be easier to gauge the O-Lines progress with the same QB.

Further, keeping Cutler establishes a bar for his replacement. If a player wants to be the starting QB, he has to be better than Cutler. The beautiful thing about this idea is that if you are a member of the "Jay Cutler Sucks!" crowd, then this would mean that the bar is set rather low, and soon, some UDFA, or, some late round draft pick that was cut by another team that the Bears signed, will be taking over the starting QB spot in just a year or two, and Jay will be Cut (ba-doom-tish) from the team. If you are in the "Jay is a Great QB!" crowd then Jay will be here for some time to come. This is a competitive concept, may the best man win.

As an added benefit, Cutler will have been signed when his value is low, rather than paying for his peak performance with the expectation that said peak performance will be maintained.

Personally, I've been chewing on this for some time. I would have to strongly consider signing Jay to a 3 or 4 year extension. I guess I'm willing to take the risk that Jay will improve as the team does. If he does not, then I'm perfectly willing to cut him, but only after I find someone better.

Yes, I quoted myself.... more than a bit of hubris probably...

For the right (and fair) price, or until the Bears develop someone better, Jay should be signed...

Hey gang what fucks me over is we dont know what we have yet.

I know about as much as Trestman as I did about Crowton.

I want to see this thing play out ... lets see what Emery gets done in F.A.

Then lets see what happens in the draft. I just cant feel a commitment to somthing Ive never seen yet. Ive been burned being a BEARS fan ... no more.

They need to get him signed now. Some of you say wait, but for what? For him to have more success which will bring more cash.

A good comparison is Flacco. I'm not saying they are the same Qb so don't flame! Just saying when Jay has quality players around him and coaches he has put up yard numbers in the 3-4K area, Comp% low 60's, and so on, just like Flacco. What will hurt the team more is if Jay pulls a Flacco(which no one here saw coming!!!) and lead a wildcard team through the playoffs with an outstanding td/int ratio of 11/0...

The Bears are a business and look at it that way. Why would you wait to see if you could lose millions more if your team does what it's suppose to do. Extend Jay and BM now and save some money hopefully.

If you play the let's wait and see how Jay does game then you are saying you don't think Jay can do it, so you might as well just get rid of him now and start finding the person who can......