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Chicago Bears are Making Mistake by Continuing to Delay Commitment to Jay Cutler

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The day is quickly approaching. That day is March 12.

If Jay Cutler is still a member of the Chicago Bears that day, he will be guaranteed an additional $10 million. However, if they cut him loose before that date, they save that $10 million, but still owe him $15.5 million in 2015. The decision is not an easy one for GM Ryan Pace.

Neither Pace nor John Fox have come anywhere close to committing to Cutler for next season, continually saying they are evaluating the entire roster. Fox comically even referred to Cutler as “Jake” in his initial press conference when he was introduced.

Releasing Cutler would be a shocking move by the Bears’ franchise knowing that the Bears would still owe Cutler $15.5 million and an additional $6 million in 2016. The hit can be softened by Cutler signing with another team, the Bears would only owe him above what the new contract pays him by his new team, so for example, if Cutler signs a two-year, $10 million contract, the Bears would owe him $10.5 million this year, and only $1 million in 2016.

Even if that makes the move more palatable, it’s still a large financial risk for the Bears to take and one that may be made above Pace’s head. The Bears ownership has done something they’ve never done eating multiple years of contracts from Marc Trestman and Phil Emery. That will cost Bears ownership over $10 million in money for individuals that are no longer on the payroll. To be fair, ownership deserves a lot of credit for making this move, but the McCaskeys are still the McCaskeys and I think as a fan you can only realistically ask them to do so much.

That’s not to say that the Bears won’t release Cutler and change directions, it’s just that it’s highly unlikely. The outside voices are growing stronger that it makes sense to go in another direction. ESPN analyst Jon Gruden said recently that Cutler no longer makes sense to lead the Bears into 2015. Not that Pace and Fox are going to listen to outside analysts; they clearly are working together and doing what they feel is the best for the franchise, but the noise around the decision continues to grow louder.

Reading between the lines, it’s clear that Fox and Pace don’t feel Cutler is the future of the franchise. Whether that means Cutler is released in the next two weeks or next year or the year after is anybody’s guess. After 2016, the Bears will owe Cutler no guaranteed money and you can be certain that he won’t be on the roster any longer than that, but Pace and Fox continue to be difficult to read whether they feel Cutler will quarterback the team for one or two more seasons or never again.

Knowing that the Bears don’t save a large sum of cash at this point, and seeing how weak the free-agent quarterback class is, you can truly ask if it makes much sense to release Cutler anyway. Is there an upgrade at all if the Bears jettison Cutler in favor of someone like Josh McCown or Mark Sanchez? With a shallow quarterback draft class as well, none of the choices are exactly fantastic. It makes the most sense for Pace and Fox to work with Cutler for at least one more season and work on beefing up the defense.

We are entering a very important two-week stretch for the Bears. Pace has diligently been doing his homework the last two months, and now with free agency right around the corner and the huge March 12 date with Cutler approaching, we will see what Pace does in his first major test running the franchise.

Bill Zimmerman is a Chicago Bears writer for www.RantSports.Com. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.

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