NFL: Jay Cutler and Bears likely parting ways

[Die4Cy]

Who are these other above average QB available? Vick?

Even if Cutler won't go for the Bears deal, they'll tag him, mark it down.

The Bears don't want to tag Jay because of the cost to the cap, and Jay doesn't want to be tagged because he misses out on a lot of long term guaranteed money that he could lose with one injury in that situation. QB's just don't get tagged these days, there really isn't an incentive for it on either side.

The Bears will likely re-sign Cutler, unless their number is an insulting lowball offer that forces him out of town. I don't see them doing that as an organization. Cutler seems to like everything about his current situation, as well as other key guys--like Brandon Marshall, which is going to be a consideration. Will the Bears overpay? Likely. When guys like Matt Schaub and Matt Flynn get inflated deals it forces the market higher for proven vets like Jay. But Jay has an injury history that would deter most teams from throwing ridiculous money his way as well. I figure he'll get 4 years and around $70 million, which would be very manageable for the Bears given their cap position.

The Bears want to get his deal done and out of the way soon, since his is the biggest piece of their off season acquisition work. They need to know where his number is at long before the free agency period opens in March. That will probably cost them some money to get done, but it is in their best interest to do it.

Letting Cutler walk in March is just a huge risk to the team, and to Cutler, too. I don't think it ever gets that far.

 

[tm3308]

Depends on what your goal is. Do you want to win the super bowl or just be a decent team who can make the playoffs every couple years.

Nobody is winning the super bowl with a discount QB.

Chicago has made the playoffs exactly one time since Cutler arrived. He's the Kirk Ferentz of NFL quarterbacks.

 

[mcblogerson]

Schaub is older, less talented and is already on contract for almost Cutler money, so where is the value? Unless the Texans trade him and are willing to take a cap hit on his guaranteed money, which has to be close to $6-8 mil/yr.

If the Bears are looking to save money, they'll just pay Mccown who outperformed Schaub and Fitzpatrick this year. In the end it boils down to talent and Cutler is more talented than all of them. If you're going to overpay for something it should be the most important position on the field by a mile. Cutler does force the ball and throw picks, but he can also throw passes most nfl qbs can't, forcing defenses to respect his arm. In the end he was the starting qb of the 2nd best scoring offense in the league, why change what obviously worked? You can throw out the previous years stats, new coach, new offense, drastically different results. Spend the money on Cutler and Mccown if you can. Rebuild the old, overpriced D with draft picks and value priced FA.

 

[Rhoadhoused]

Chicago has made the playoffs exactly one time since Cutler arrived. He's the Kirk Ferentz of NFL quarterbacks.

Correlation without causation. Cutler isn't the reason they missed the playoffs.

That reason is mostly Aaron Rodgers.

 

[CyJack13]

Chicago has made the playoffs exactly one time since Cutler arrived. He's the Kirk Ferentz of NFL quarterbacks.

And the reason the Bears missed the playoffs in two of those seasons is because they were forced to play guys like Caleb Hanie or Jason Cambell after Cutler got hurt.

 

[tm3308]

Correlation without causation. Cutler isn't the reason they missed the playoffs.

That reason is mostly Aaron Rodgers.

1. I never said Cutler was the reason they missed the playoffs. But they haven't been making the playoffs much since he arrived, so making it out like he's the key to finally winning a Super Bowl seems pretty odd.

2. Rodgers doesn't prevent the Bears from winning 14 other games and earning a wild card berth.

 

[mcblogerson]

Tm sure is butthurt about Cutler. Jay must have banged his girlfriend or something, or maybe he's a vikings fan ashamed of his boner for a good qb?

 

[Rhoadhoused]

1. I never said Cutler was the reason they missed the playoffs. But they haven't been making the playoffs much since he arrived, so making it out like he's the key to finally winning a Super Bowl seems pretty odd.

2. Rodgers doesn't prevent the Bears from winning 14 other games and earning a wild card berth.

Ironically enough the past couple years Cutler has been injured a lot and they have missed the playoffs by a game or less. It isn't like the Bears were overall not even close.

 

[tm3308]

Ironically enough the past couple years Cutler has been injured a lot and they have missed the playoffs by a game or less. It isn't like the Bears were overall not even close.

Let's be real here, they missed the playoffs by a game this year, but 8-7-1 was good enough to win the division. The Bears were decent (at best) even if they made the playoffs. The North Division pretty much sucks, especially when even the Packers aren't real contenders because of their defense.

 

[tm3308]

Tm sure is butthurt about Cutler. Jay must have banged his girlfriend or something, or maybe he's a vikings fan ashamed of his boner for a good qb?

I don't have a favorite team at all. I've never been invested in an NFL team like I am with the Cubs, so I don't really care about any one NFL team in particular. I just follow the league in general.

 

[cycloneworld]

Correlation without causation. Cutler isn't the reason they missed the playoffs.

That reason is mostly Aaron Rodgers.

The reason is entirely the Bears defense.

 

[Rhoadhoused]

Let's be real here, they missed the playoffs by a game this year, but 8-7-1 was good enough to win the division. The Bears were decent (at best) even if they made the playoffs. The North Division pretty much sucks, especially when even the Packers aren't real contenders because of their defense.

If Cutler plays the whole season healthy I think the Bears win the division. They went 10-6 last year and didn't make it, and fell apart when Cutler went out.

I'm a god damn vikings fan I shouldn't even be arguing this.

 

[Wesley]

Worst rushing defense since the 1961 expansion Vikings according to the broadcast last night.

Looks like when they lost their decent linebackers like Urlacher they went to pot in a hurry.

 

[CyJack13]

Let's be real here, they missed the playoffs by a game this year, but 8-7-1 was good enough to win the division. The Bears were decent (at best) even if they made the playoffs. The North Division pretty much sucks, especially when even the Packers aren't real contenders because of their defense.

They scored the second most points of any team in the league this year. The reason they lost 8 games this year was due almost entirely to their defense. In 2012, the Bears went 10-6, they were 10-4 in games in which Cutler started and finished, they were 0-2 in games he missed or was knocked out early. In 2011, they were 7-3 with Cutler, 1-5 without him. In 2010, they were 11-5 with Cutler starting all 16 games. So in the 3 years prior to this they were 28-12 in games he started and finished and 1-7 in games in which Cutler missed or was knocked out of early. So saying that Cutler is the reason they aren't making they playoffs is an extremely weak argument.

 

[Sigmapolis]

They scored the second most points of any team in the league this year. The reason they lost 8 games this year was due almost entirely to their defense. In 2012, the Bears went 10-6, they were 10-4 in games in which Cutler started and finished, they were 0-2 in games he missed or was knocked out early. In 2011, they were 7-3 with Cutler, 1-5 without him. In 2010, they were 11-5 with Cutler starting all 16 games. So in the 3 years prior to this they were 28-12 in games he started and finished and 1-7 in games in which Cutler missed or was knocked out of early. So saying that Cutler is the reason they aren't making they playoffs is an extremely weak argument.

Playing the what if game about went down the past few years isn't necessarily going to help you next year.

If it was the defense of Cutler's "fault" is irrelevant to how you want to allocate your scarce resources.

It not being Cutler's "fault" doesn't mean pour most of your scarce cap space into him, like Atlanta or Baltimore did on "mid-major" quarterbacks recently.

The question is what is the best idea for the team next year.

Drop a tier 2/2.5 quarterback in Cutler and move on with a league-average starter (Fitz, Schaub, McCown), save $12-$15 million in cap space, and use that on the defense

Decide Cutler is the answer, give him $15-$18 million/year, hope you can rebuild the defense through coaching and the draft, and the offense can carry you with Cutler at the helm bombing to Marshall, Jeffrey, and handing to Forte and the improved line play

Cutler "not being the problem" doesn't mean "blow all the team has on him."

Which is the preference?

 

[tm3308]

They scored the second most points of any team in the league this year. The reason they lost 8 games this year was due almost entirely to their defense. In 2012, the Bears went 10-6, they were 10-4 in games in which Cutler started and finished, they were 0-2 in games he missed or was knocked out early. In 2011, they were 7-3 with Cutler, 1-5 without him. In 2010, they were 11-5 with Cutler starting all 16 games. So in the 3 years prior to this they were 28-12 in games he started and finished and 1-7 in games in which Cutler missed or was knocked out of early. So saying that Cutler is the reason they aren't making they playoffs is an extremely weak argument.

I didn't lay the blame at Cutler's feet. But they had more success with lesser quarterbacks because they had great defenses. Cutler's play isn't why the Bears struggled, I've never said otherwise. But it's becoming unusual for a team to have a great QB, great supporting cast and great defense. Super Bowl winners over the last decade have usually had great defense and then either a great QB or a solid QB with a great supporting cast.

2013- Ravens (great defense, then Rice/Boldin/etc. for Flacco)
2012- Giants (exception to the rule: average defense, solid QB and great supporting cast)
2011- Packers (exception on the other end of the spectrum, with a great QB, supporting cast and defense)
2010- Saints (good defense, Brees, and okay supporting cast)
2009- Steelers (see Packers 2011)
2008- Giants (great defense, Eli when he was still good and an okay supporting cast)
2007- Colts (great offense, poor defense)
2006- Steelers (Big Ben before he was really good, great defense and good supporting cast)
2005- Patriots (Brady, average receivers, great defense)
2004- Patriots (Same)
2003- Bucs (absurdly great defense, little else)
2002- Patriots (honestly, I don't remember that much about this team)
2001- Ravens (see Bucs)

Teams that have a great QB and great offensive supporting cast, while fielding a bad defense, don't typically win the Super Bowl. But it's very difficult to get all three elements. That's why guys like Dilfer, Johnson, Roethlisberger (for his first SB) and Flacco can get rings, while Peyton has struggled to get them.

 

[tm3308]

Playing the what if game about went down the past few years isn't necessarily going to help you next year.

If it was the defense of Cutler's "fault" is irrelevant to how you want to allocate your scarce resources.

It not being Cutler's "fault" doesn't mean pour most of your scarce cap space into him, like Atlanta or Baltimore did on "mid-major" quarterbacks recently.

The question is what is the best idea for the team next year.

Drop a tier 2/2.5 quarterback in Cutler and move on with a league-average starter (Fitz, Schaub, McCown), save $12-$15 million in cap space, and use that on the defense

Decide Cutler is the answer, give him $15-$18 million/year, hope you can rebuild the defense through coaching and the draft, and the offense can carry you with Cutler at the helm bombing to Marshall, Jeffrey, and handing to Forte and the improved line play

Cutler "not being the problem" doesn't mean "blow all the team has on him."

Which is the preference?

This.

 

[Rabbuk]

Can someone tell me Mel Tuckers credentials? I'm mobile and can't easily look it up.

 

[CyJack13]

Playing the what if game about went down the past few years isn't necessarily going to help you next year.

If it was the defense of Cutler's "fault" is irrelevant to how you want to allocate your scarce resources.

It not being Cutler's "fault" doesn't mean pour most of your scarce cap space into him, like Atlanta or Baltimore did on "mid-major" quarterbacks recently.

The question is what is the best idea for the team next year.

Drop a tier 2/2.5 quarterback in Cutler and move on with a league-average starter (Fitz, Schaub, McCown), save $12-$15 million in cap space, and use that on the defense

Decide Cutler is the answer, give him $15-$18 million/year, hope you can rebuild the defense through coaching and the draft, and the offense can carry you with Cutler at the helm bombing to Marshall, Jeffrey, and handing to Forte and the improved line play

Cutler "not being the problem" doesn't mean "blow all the team has on him."

Which is the preference?

The Bears are probably going to have an average at best defense next season, they aren't one big FA signing away from being an elite defense again. Melton, Jennings and Tillman are all FA's this year too. To me, it makes sense to keep Cutler and have one of the top offenses in the league again next year while working on rebuilding the defense through the draft. Going the other route and signing a Fitzpatrick or other career backup type QB and focusing the money on the defense, doesn't really make sense to me.

 

[tm3308]

The Bears are probably going to have an average at best defense next season, they aren't one big FA signing away from being an elite defense again. Melton, Jennings and Tillman are all FA's this year too. To me, it makes sense to keep Cutler and have one of the top offenses in the league again next year while working on rebuilding the defense through the draft. Going the other route and signing a Fitzpatrick or other career backup type QB and focusing the money on the defense, doesn't really make sense to me.

The defense won't be fixed in a year's time, no. But locking up Cutler means looking past next season. To keep Cutler long term and make the defense good again, they're going to have to eventually cut loose at least some of the weapons that Cutler has right now.