Jim McMahon was the starting quarterback for The Chicago Bears when they won The Super Bowl during the 1985 season. McMahon last played for The Bears in 1988 and between that year and 2008 The Bears had 22 different starting quarterbacks. In 2009, The Bears acquired their current starting quarterback Jay Cutler from The Denver Broncos. Since Cutler has come to The Windy City he has been more of public enemy number one than a fan favorite. In 2009, Cutler led The National Football league with 26 interceptions which didn’t help him to win over the fans in Chicago. In 2010, Cutler led The Bears to The NFC Championship Game before they lost to their longtime rival in The Green Bay Packers. The Bears lost the game to The Packers 21-14. Cutler was suffered a sprained MCL early in the third quarter and was sidelined for the rest of the contest. The Bears did not make the injury public knowledge and therefore nobody knew of the severity. Many in the NFL circle including Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew bashed Cutler for not being in the game. In 2011, The Bears were 7-3 and they appeared destined to make the playoffs until Cutler broke his thumb on his throwing hand in a game against The San Diego Chargers. Through all of this some Bears fans have never warmed up to Cutler, but it isn’t his fault.
When former Bears general manager Jerry Angelo brought Cutler to Chicago, he failed to build around him offensively. When The Bears went to The Super Bowl following the 2006 season, they did it relying on defense and special teams with a very limited offense. If you’re going to bring in a Pro-Bowl caliber signal caller like Cutler, then you need to give him dependable offensive pieces. From 2009 to 2011, Cutler’s best wide receiver was Devin Hester who is a kick returner by trade. Not to take anything away from Hester’s ability, but when a kick returner is a team’s best option at the wide receiver position it spells disaster.
In 2010, Angelo and Bears head coach Lovie Smith brought Mike Martz on board as the team’s new offensive coordinator. Martz was the offensive coordinator of The St. Louis Rams when they won Super Bowl 34 during the 1999 season. The Rams offense was dubbed, “The Greatest Show on Turf” as they racked up 526 points. Martz’s offense produce points, but they also get quarterbacks battered as Ram quarterbacks Marc Bulger and Kurt Warner both found out. The Bears had a good tight end in Greg Olsen who Cutler seemed to build a repoire with, but Angelo allowed Martz to trade him to The Carolina Panthers prior to the 2011 season. In Martz’s offensive system, the tight end position is rendered useless as Martz primarily wants his quarterbacks to throw the ball deep down field which is why his quarterbacks are constantly injured.
In 2012, common sense finally entered Halas Hall and changes were on the horizon for The Bears. Angelo was fired as general manager in favor of Phil Emery while Martz was let go and replaced by former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Tice. Emery made a splash by acquiring Pro Bowl wide receiver Brandon Marshall from The Miami Dolphins. Cutler and Marshall were teammates with The Broncos for three seasons which was highlighted by Cutler throwing for 4,526 yards in 2008. The Bears also drafted wide receiver Alshon Jeffery in the second round of last April’s NFL Draft to finally make thE notion of Cutler not having dependable receivers to throw to a thing of the past. The only thing that is currently hurting Cutler is still a porous Bears offensive line. Cutler has been sacked 28 times on the season and he is on the verge of missing his second consecutive game after suffering a concussion during a Week 10 loss to The Houston Texans.
Cutler might come off as arrogant and cocky, but so did McMahon when he played. The people of Chicago were able to identify with McMahon because he played offense in the same fashion that The Bears record setting defense did that year as well; with reckless abandon. Cutler is confident in himself and you have to be in order to be a starting quarterback in The NFL. As a member of The Broncos, Cutler ruffled some feathers in The Rocky Mountains when he claimed to have a stronger throwing arm than Broncos Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway. Cutler will win that discussion in Chicago as he is clearly the best Bears quarterback since McMahon.
Cutler came under fire earlier this season for yelling at and bumping Bears offensive lineman J’Marcus Webb. Cutler was mad after being sacked 7 times, including 3.5 sacks by Packers Pro Bowl outside linebacker Clay Matthews. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady doesn’t have a problem yelling at his offensive line and the same can be said for Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, but with Cutler it is a problem because he comes off to some people as being arrogant. In Cutler’s absence on Monday night, Jason Campbell was sacked by The San Francisco 49ers 6 times including 5.5 sacks by 49ers outside linebacker Aldon Smith. Quarterbacks do not like to get hit and going forward The Bears must do a better job of protecting Cutler.
Chicago sports fans have always had a warm place in their hearts for tough, blue-collar players. The fans have always identified with the defensive players because The Bears franchise has always had a long lineage of tough players which includes Pro Football Hall of Famers such as Doug Atkins, Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary, Richard Dent, and Dan Hampton. That lineage has been passed down to current Bears defensive players such as cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tillman and linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs. Chicago embraced Bears Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton for his legendary work ethic and his never-say-die attitude. They also loved Mike Ditka because he was tough tight end for The Bears before becoming the team’s head coach in 1982. Bears fans haven’t had that quarterback that they could embrace in a generation. Some fans never warmed up to McMahon until he left and the current Bears fans need to warm up to Cutler because he will be the guiding force that will be the difference in The Bears potentially winning The Super Bowl.
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