He's back!
 

I imagine the headlines in Green Bay wouldn't look to pleasant this morning.
 

I guess we'll have to wait and see what Chuck writes, if anything, about Cutler and the Bears loss.

I would like to see Jay learn the proper fundamentals for throwing. As awesome as his arm is, maybe he'd be a bit more accurate if he used the correct motion more often. I understand that under duress that a QB will have to invent a throw. Cutler is good, but he can become great. He has to want it and he has to work at it.
 

No, his mechanics aren't fine. I allowed that when a quarterback is under pressure that he will have create his throwing motion for that situation. There were many times this year where he had time and room in the pocket and Cutler still didn't step into his throws properly. And many times these throws were either high and/or wide of the target.

Right now Cutler is a middle of the pack QB. He isn't going to be an elite quarterback without improving his mechanics. A better line and better wide receivers would help a lot too.

This could be a good place to discuss the wisdom of the Cutler trade. I still think it was senseless to trade so much for Cutler if you weren't going to also have the rest of the pieces for a good offense. The offensive line is still terrible and the wide receiving corps is lacking. And the Bears still don't have a good offensive coordinator. I doubt if any of these three problems get fixed this off season.

Depending on what happens with the next CBA, the Bears may have little money to get the players they need. Hopefully they can get Martz some therapy to stop trying to prove his genius by calling stupid plays at the most inopportune times in games.
 

Stew, do you have the ability to have a discussion without being insulting? So far, you haven't been able to do so.

Kyle Orton has been better statistically the last two years than Cutler. He could very well have led the Bears to the playoffs this year as well. He was well liked by his teammates and they didn't have to constantly defend him in public as the Bears have had to do with Cutler. That being said, I have never been a big fan of Orton.

And in discussing the Cutler trade, you have to consider what the Bears gave up to get him. Not only have they not gotten a better performance at the quarterback position, but they gave up valuable draft picks that might have been used to fix some of the holes the Bears have on the offensive line, the defensive line, the wide receivers and the cornerbacks. In short, the Bears had more pressing problems than quarterback at the time the trade was made.

As for how good Cutler is, he was middle of the pack. Do you trade multiple first round picks for a guy who is middle of the pack? And with no plan to put a decent offensive line and getting him at least one great receiver? Without getting an offensive coordinator with the common sense to design a game plan that takes advantages of Cutler's strengths as a quarterback, in particular rollouts? All these shortcomings in the Bears and Jerry Angelo have to be considered in a rational discussion.

You're behaving as if I believe Cutler should be run out of town. I'm suggesting that he work to improve his game. Let's compare him the QB's you cited. Joe Namath. Wow. He's in the Hall of Fame because he won one Super Bowl and he played in New York. Other than that, he was pretty damn bad. His career QB rating is 65.5 and he had 220 interceptions to 173 touchdowns. Bleh!

Dan Fouts is a better QB. If his mechanics weren't perfect, they were certainly more consistent than Namath. Dan actually threw for a few more TD's than interceptions. But not many.

Favre. That may be the guy that Jay has the most in common with as a player. Both have the gunslinger mentality, that they trust their arms to get the ball into the smallest of windows. The down side is that it leads to a lot of picks. The question is whether either of them would make as many great plays if they didn't have that mentality. Nobody knows the answer for sure, but maybe Jay would cut down his picks if he improved his accuracy by using more consistent mechanics. You know, those passes where he throws off the wrong foot and misses his receiver by five yards.

Finally, Marino. This guy has been cited for the last 25+ years as having one of the quickest and most accurate releases in the NFL. And at least one QB instructor thinks that Favre, Marino and Favre throw the football using the same mechanics. http://www.throwitdeep.com/philosophy/

And the funny thing is that Cutler actually has a better career QB rating than most of the guys you mentioned. But the game has changed so much and quarterbacks have gotten so much better that having a QB rating of 86 makes a guy pretty average.

Jay Cutler has some of the greatest natural talent in the NFL. But that natural talent has to be refined to make it the greatest talent on the field. And putting a better team around him and giving Mike Martz a lobotomy would help some too. To be honest, I don't see where we are in disagreement on this.
 

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