When you’re the highest paid player of 2014, you’d expect not to get benched. And sometimes, those expectations come up just a bit short. This is the case with Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, who is currently guaranteed $38 million after signing a 7-year $127 million extension with the club following 2013 season. On Wednesday December 17th, Cutler was benched in favor of starting his backup Jimmy Clausen in this weekend’s game against the Detroit Lions.
Needless to say, expectations were very high for the Bears offense, especially after looking promising under new head coach Marc Trestman in 2013. Cutler’s was expected to thrive in an offense with an arsenal of weapons at his disposal. With the receiving duo of Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery, explosive runningback Matt Forte, and tight end Martellus Bennett, it was easy to see why many experts predicted a place in the 2014 playoffs for the Bears.
So when the exact opposite happens, blame can go anywhere. Sure, Trestman and the front office have gotten their fair share of it, but the majority has gone to Jay Cutler. Is some of it justified? Absolutely. Much of the quarterback’s decision making has been sub-par in recent games, and it’s glaring that a supposed franchise quarterback leads the league in interceptions without posting too many wins (5).
Looking at his raw stats, you’d think Cutler is a guy having a very good season. In 14 games, he has a 66.1 completion percentage (7th), 3,640 yards (9th), and 28 touchdowns (tied for 7th). His 89.5 passer rating suggests that this is the best season of his career as well.
But if you follow me on Twitter, you know that I’ve recently begun to trust passer rating much less than I used to. Cutler’s rate and his other stats somewhat lie about his true performance. Using ESPN’s advanced statistics, Cutler has 40.6 Expected Points Added (15th) and a 55.0 Total QBR (19th). Compare that to last season, where Cutler ranked 7th in Total QBR (66.4). Cutler also has 6.9 yards per attempt (29th), 10.5 yards per completion (31st), and 5.66 Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt (25th).
So while Cutler’s having a good fantasy season, the same cannot be said about his actual season.
So how much of Cutler’s actual production is on him? For starters, looking back at 2 of his first 3 starts of the season, he was actually very good. In week 2 against the 49ers, Cutler passed for 176 yards and 4 touchdowns, while earning a Total QBR of 80.8, as he guided Chicago to a 28-20 victory. The following week against the Jets, in a 27-19 victory, Cutler threw for 225 yards and 2 touchdowns, whilst earning a 72.4 Total QBR. Even against the Panthers where he threw 2 interceptions, Cutler still earned a 71.6 Total QBR, as he advanced the ball well on his completed passes.
On the flip side, in recent weeks, Cutler has become the king of garbage time. Now, to me, garbage time occurs when the QB is throwing touchdowns when down by more than 2 possessions in a game the team the quarterback is on ends up losing. With Cutler, I noticed this trend begin during the blowout loss at New England. The following are the examples of Cutler’s garbage time glory.
-October 26th, 2014: Against the Patriots, Cutler completed 20/30 of his passes for 227 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception, and a 108.6 passer rating. What the solid raw stats lie about is that Cutler had a 47.6 QBR, lost a fumble, and that the Bears were down 45-7 in the 3rd quarter when Cutler decided to throw 2 touchdown passes; an ugly one to Martellus Bennett for 20 yards, and a 10 yard pass to Alshon Jeffery. This could only cut the deficit to 48-23, and New England won the game 51-23.
November 9th, 2014: At Green Bay, Cutler went 22/37 for 272 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions, and a 68.8 passer rating. While the raw stats themselves look mediocre to begin with, it was actually a lot worse. Chicago was trailing 45-0 in the 3rd quarter when Cutler, who earned a 6.0 Total QBR, threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Marshall. The Bears ended up losing huge to the Packers 55-14.
December 4th, 2014: This is a game where garbage time turns into a valiant comeback effort. A struggling Cutler was very efficient in the 2nd half of a Thursday Night matchup against the Cowboys at home. Chicago trailed 35-7 before Cutler threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery, Later in the quarter, Cutler ran a touchdown of his own for 10 yards. The deficit was cut to 38-28 before Dallas eventually pulled away. Despite throwing a late pick, Cutler made a solid comeback attempt, and in total, went 32/46 for 341 yards, 2 touchdowns, an interception, and a 96.4 passer rating, while earning a 92.8 Total QBR. Dallas won 41-28.
December 15th, 2014: In Cutler’s last game (at the Saints) before he was ultimately benched, he went against a bad Saints defense, in which he went 17/31 for 194 yards, 2 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, and a 55.8 passer rating. As bad as the raw stats looked, could you believe Cutler played much worse? At one point he had 0 touchdowns and 3 interceptions in the 3rd quarter before going garbage time in the 4th, trailing 24-0 before throwing a 1-yard TD pass to Martellus Bennett, and later, a 7-yard TD pass to Alshon Jeffery to cut the deficit to 31-15, which ended up being the final score. To top it all off, Cutler earned a 6.8 Total QBR.
So now that we have some evidence, is this a team that’s being completely held back by Cutler? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. With or without Cutler, this Chicago Bears team, the entire team, is an absolute trainwreck to watch.
But unlike the 2012 New York Jets, this isn’t a team that’s fun to watch because they suck; watching this team will make you beg for the 2012 Jets to show up in their place. That’s how painful this club is. The offensive line is absolutely putrid, allowing pressure on Cutler almost every play, and some of Trestman’s playcalling and decision making has been atrocious. For example, against the Cowboys, instead of kicking the ball and forcing Dallas to drive, Trestman elected to do an onside kick (the 2nd consecutive no less at the time), which failed.
Don’t even get me started on the defense either. 3rd worst in yardage (5,354), 2nd worst in pass yardage (3,811), ranked 15th in rush (1,543), and dead last in points per game (29.2), this is a recipe for disaster with a secondary that continues to get worse every week. The defense sucked against New Orleans’ receivers, and Brees took advantage of it. Every. Single. Time. You name it. Sloppy tackles on screen passes, blown assignment on red-zone touchdown passes, 25 first downs given up, and a whopping 443 total yards of offense put upon, this was a farce from the very beginning.
Why does the defense get excused for the Bears’ 5-9 record yet ESPN’s Ray Lewis and Steve Young are willing to put all of the blame on Cutler? Cutler was doing some of the same things Young defended Tom Brady against in Brady’s disastrous week 4 game against the Chiefs (and yes, I am aware Brady has played to his usual elite level since that abysmal game, this isn’t by any means ripping him).
Finally, what exactly does benching Jay Cutler prove? You have your offensive co-ordinator crying because he threw your triple digit million earning quarterback under the bus to Ian Rapoport, and you’re throwing money you’ve given to a guy who was supposed to be the franchise guy down the toilet. It seems like Chicago is trying to keep Cutler healthy so they can cut him cold turkey or desperately trade him, because there’s no way in hell a guy like Jimmy Clausen can do that much better when his last touchdown pass came in 2010. Combine Clausen with a terribly coached roster, and this a bad idea all around.
You can blame Jay Cutler all you want for the Bears’ struggles, but you’d also have to blame Marc Trestman. This is a guy that’s gotten fired after 2 -3 years with nearly every offense he’s ever been a part of (except of course his time in the CFL):
- Two years as the Browns QB coach/OC from 1988-1989 before getting canned;
- Two years as the Vikings QB coach from 1990-91 before leaving;
- Two years as the 49ers offensive coordinator and QB coach from 1995-96 before leaving;
- One year as the Lions QB coach in 1997 before leaving;
- Three years as the Cardinals offensive coordinator and QB coach from 1998-00 before getting canned; and
- Three years as the Raiders QB coach and offensive coordinator from 2001-03 before getting canned.
And this is a guy that worked with household names like Bernie Kosar, Steve Young and Rich Gannon. He’s got recievers like Alshon Jeffery and Martellus Bennett performing well, WHEN THE GAME IS ALREADY OVER. Let’s face it, Trestman’s probably getting fired after the season, which is all sorts of bizarre after the amount of praise he received from the Bears’ promising 2013 season, a year in which they finished 8-8.
Bottom-line, the Bears are a disaster on the field, a disaster off the field, and a disaster in between. Cutler’s a problem, but he’s not THE problem. There’s a whole load of miscommunication between him and his receivers, the play calling is terrible, and for some reason, Jay is the only one getting blame. If Chicago’s going to burn down his legacy by trading him, then they might as well trade the players, the defense, and the front office away.
Monsters of the No Way.
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