[CBFF] Cutler available for Bears | DailyHerald.com Blogs - Sent Using Google Toolbar

[Tom Shannon]

Cutler available for Bears | DailyHerald.com
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Cutler available for Bears  Posted by Bob LeGere on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 23:28

Jay Cutler is there for the Bears’ taking.

The talented but temperamental 25-year-old quarterback has held his breath
and stomped his feet for so long that the Broncos have decided they have to
get rid of him – and they will have plenty of interested buyers.

Published reports have identified the Bears as one of the top six teams in
the running for the former first-round pick (11th overall) from Vanderbilt.
The other five are the Jets, Buccaneers, Lions, 49ers and Browns, all of
whom probably need an upgrade at quarterback more than the Bears.

Not that the Bears couldn’t use an improvement over Kyle Orton, as general
manager Jerry Angelo said two days after the 2008 season ended just short of
the playoffs. Angelo said the Bears were “fixated” on getting the
quarterback position right. And Cutler is a better quarterback than Orton.
Strictly on talent, Cutler is a top-10 quarterback in the NFL already, even
though he’s just 17-20 as a starter.

But that record is somewhat misleading since Cutler and the Broncos have
been hamstrung by a lousy defense. The bazooka-armed Cutler is 13-1 in games
in which the leaky Denver defense allowed 21 points or less.

But does the presence of a more talented player at the most important
position on the field automatically make the Bears a better team in 2009?
That’s the question Angelo and Lovie Smith will have to answer affirmatively
before they give the Broncos what they want, which reportedly is two
first-round draft picks and a player.

The Broncos would probably want Orton as part of a deal with the Bears,
considering they’d be left with Chris Simms and Darrell Hackney at
quarterback. Simms has thrown 2 passes in the past two seasons, which is 2
more than Hackney’s thrown.

The Bears’ brain trust also has to consider what affect an obviously
spoiled, easily- offended malcontent like Cutler will have on the Bears’
locker room. And how he would react to working with one of the worst groups
of wide receivers in the NFL. After Devin Hester, who is still a work in
progress, the Bears have next to nothing.

That’s not exactly Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal, who combined for 195
receptions and 2,245 receiving yards last season for the Broncos.

More importantly, how would Bears players accept the whiny, self-absorbed
Cutler as a replacement for a teammate who isn’t yet as talented but gutted
out a painful sprained ankle last season and hobbled back into the lineup
before he was completely healed?
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