Eight is enough: Why the Jay Cutler era finally came to an end in Chicago
This was the official moment of finality, a 494-word news release sent out by the Bears at 4:36 p.m. Thursday. The subject line was momentous even if it was far from surprising.
BEARS RELEASE QB JAY CUTLER.
That’s it. And that’s all. The end of an era.
And while the Bears’ written send-off was respectful — with general manager Ryan Pace praising his toughness and Chairman George McCaskey lauding his impact off the field and coach John Fox wishing him “nothing but success” — the significance was impossible to skirt around.
Jay Cutler is no longer a Bear, now on his own to figure out where his football journey takes him next.
Two thousand, eight hundred, ninety-nine days after then-GM Jerry Angelo traded for him, sending three draft picks plus Kyle Orton to the Broncos, Cutler’s time with the organization expired.
The move proved significant, if not surprising, signaling a new era ahead for the Bears.
After eight seasons, Cutler leaves as the franchise’s all-time leader in completions, completion percentage, passing yards, touchdown passes and passer rating. He also leaves with just one playoff victory.
Within all that, he leaves behind a passionate debate that never seemed to cease, in the conversation as the best quarterback the Bears have ever had yet widely hailed as their most disappointing.
Who knows where Cutler will head next or whether he’ll ever break through the electric fence that seemed to restrict a major breakthrough. What is now certain is that the Bears are moving in a new direction at their most important position while filing away a complicated epilogue on the quarterback who started more regular-season games (102) for them than any other.
Chicago hope
Rewind six years, to the first drive of Cutler’s first playoff game in Chicago. This was a moment of hope. On third-and-2 from the Bears’ 42, Cutler took a seven-step drop, calmly shuffled left in the pocket and bombed a beautiful spiral, up the seam and through the Soldier Field snow flurries, to tight end Greg Olsen.
In stride, 58 yards. Touchdown, Bears.
It was the start of a dominant afternoon, one in which Cutler threw for two touchdowns and ran in two others. The Bears built a 28-0 lead over the Seahawks early in the third quarter and coasted to a 35-24 victory. Cutler didn’t turn the ball over, posted a 111.3 rating and pushed the Bears into the NFC championship game.
“Same thing I’ve seen every game he’s been out there,” coach Lovie Smith said afterward. “No one prepares harder than Jay.”
This was exactly what Angelo had in mind 21 months earlier. He saw an ultra-talented young quarterback who could provide needed offensive firepower. Angelo believed Cutler would help support an established defense that already had proved its Super Bowl potential.
One could watch that tape from that winter afternoon six years ago and be certain the Bears’ window of opportunity was wide open, that they were on the verge of a prolonged run of success, equipped to be a perennial postseason threat.
Yet somehow, that would turn out to be Cutler’s one and only playoff victory with the Bears. That was more than six years ago.
The following week, Cutler left the conference championship game with a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee, sat glumly on the sideline in his massive Bears parka and witnessed a 21-14 upset by the Packers.
Season-ending. Soul-crushing. Reputation-damaging.
The only way Cutler was ever going to wipe that stain completely from his scouting report would have been to lead the Bears back to another NFC title game. He never did.
In fact, the Bears have not played a postseason game since.
Too often, those periodic episodes of hope Cutler provided were shoved aside by letdown moments.
By extension
Consider it a moment of weakness. Or at least one of superfluous optimism.
On the second day of January 2014, then-Bears general manager Phil Emery sat at a dais in the Halas Hall press room, appearing smitten. Emery had just finalized a seven-year contract extension for Cutler — $126.7 million overall, $54 million guaranteed….