Should the Chicago Bears Regret Re-Signing Jay Cutler?

By Casey Drottar @cdrottar19 on October 20, 2014

For the Chicago Bears, the resounding ugliness from yesterday’s game apparently couldn’t be contained to just the football field.

Hosting an average Miami Dolphins team, the Bears looked like quite a mess. They spotted Miami the first 14 points of the game, with Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill having one of his most efficient games as a pro. And, as is always the case with Chicago’s losses this year, Jay Cutler contributed some back-breaking turnovers. The Bears quarterback threw an interception in the second quarter, and was credited with two fumbles on back-to-back drives, which pretty much iced the game.

As if this wasn’t enough, the scene in the locker room after the game was reportedly quite heated. Players could be heard shouting at each other behind closed doors, and one source says Cutler was called out by receiver Brandon Marshall. While the wideout didn’t admit to calling out his quarterback during the media scrum, he did say the offensive performance was “unacceptable.”

Regardless, the Bears are now 0-4 this season when Cutler commits a turnover, undefeated when he takes care of the ball. Not to salt the wound, but this seems like an appropriate time to remind everyone this is the same guy Chicago re-signed to a seven-year, $126 million contract this offseason.

Cutler is just seven games into his brand new deal which will see him in Chicago through the 2020 season, but early returns aren’t what you would call promising. It may be a little premature, but you have to wonder if a little doubt might be creeping in with the Bears front office. Quite frankly, should Chicago regret re-signing Cutler to the deal they gave him?

Again, it does come off a bit knee-jerk. It’s always easy to pick on someone when they have a rough game, especially quarterbacks. Seen as the most pivotal player on the team, a quarterback typically gets the most praise for a win, and the most blame for a loss. I’d argue nobody knows this better than Cutler himself.

However, it begs to be mentioned this isn’t exactly new territory for Cutler. Currently in his ninth season in the NFL, he’s always been known as a gunslinger with a propensity for ill-timed interceptions. Cutler always seems to bounce back and forth between very efficient games and ones riddled with turnovers. It’s been his M.O. for eight years now, and nothing lately seems to imply changes are coming.

And yet, Chicago decided to hitch their wagon to this horse for the next seven years.

It should be mentioned the decision to re-sign Cutler was already up for debate coming into the offseason. Having been injured midway through last season, Cutler watched as longtime backup Josh McCown stepped in and performed admirably. Though he didn’t lead the Bears on a winning streak, he did do the one thing Cutler seems to struggle with: he took care of the football. With 13 touchdowns and just one interception, McCown had fans wondering if he was the quarterback worth investing in instead of Cutler. As we know, though, the Bears felt otherwise, and McCown eventually signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Now, this is hardly to say Chicago made the wrong call, as McCown didn’t exactly do much in attempts to prove them wrong. He only made it three games with Tampa before leaving with an injury, and hardly looked like someone you’d want to invest in long term.

At the same time, this isn’t so much an argument debating whether the Bears should’ve re-signed Cutler or McCown. Instead, it’s wondering just what the front office has seen from Cutler to consider offering him such a long and expensive deal.

Yes, Cutler is a talented quarterback, and he’s still good to rack up a lot of yards through the air. He’s broken a few records for a franchise which has been starving for quality quarterback play for years now. However, he has yet to prove he can effectively take care of the football. He’s yet to prove you can trust him on a consistent, week-to-week basis. And, he’s yet to prove he’s the guy the Bears can hang their championship dreams on. Cutler’s been in the league for eight full seasons now, and he has just two postseason games on his resume.

It’s not as though he’s struggling due to a lack of surrounding talent, either. Marshall and Alshon Jeffery make up one of the most dangerous receiving tandems in the league, while running back Matt Forte is still a threat on the ground. Yet, despite such imposing weapons, the results don’t change up too much for Cutler.

More concerning, too, is the fact his trademark indifference still doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere soon. No, you don’t need to be a token, “rah-rah” kind of leader to win football games in the NFL. At the same time, Cutler is often criticized for looking like he just doesn’t care, regardless of how the team performs. Nothing appears to have changed on this front, despite a shiny new deal.

Again, it can’t be stated enough that Cutler really is a talented quarterback. He may very well bounce back from this past week’s blunder with a great performance against the New England Patriots next Sunday. If he does, though, will Chicago fans honestly feel comfortable about the idea of him sustaining it through the rest of the year?

As every season goes by, the song remains the same for the polarizing quarterback. Cutler will throw plenty of touchdowns, but he’ll pile up his fair share of interceptions as well, and they’ll always appear to come at the absolute worst possible times. It’s something which has frustrated the Bears fan base for years now, and according to reports from yesterday, said frustration is boiling over into the locker room.

Should the Bears have re-signed Cutler this past offseason? Sure, I can’t argue against that. But, was he worth investing the next seven years of the team’s future? It doesn’t exactly look like a good idea now, and even though it’s early, is there anything from the past eight years which can convince you things are going to change?

Casey Drottar is a Featured Columnist for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @CDrottar19 or “Like” him on Facebook