Poor Jay Cutler can’t ever seem to catch a break in the press, even from former teammates. Brian Urlacher was doing an interview for 88.7 FM The Game when he decided to state that the only thing that’s elite about Jay Cutler is his paycheck:
“Financially, he is one of the elite guys in the NFL […] he just hasn’t produced like an elite quarterback. You look at the Bradys, the Mannings, the Rodgers, the Brees, those guys win every year, even with no one around them. Rodgers has no offensive line. He wins. Brady has no receivers. He wins.”
Urlacher would soften his stance a bit immediately afterwards, allowing for the possibility that there could be other things at work to explain Cutler’s perceived lack of “eliteness.”
“And you look at Jay. He’s got Brandon (Marshall), Alshon (Jeffery), Matt (Forte), this great offensive line, Martellus Bennett,and they can’t seem to put it together, for some reason. I’m not sure if that’s his fault, but for some reason they just can’t figure it out.”
The Bears are currently sitting at 3-4 this season. But how is Cutler doing in those games? His completion percentage of 67.3% is a career-high (6th highest in the NFL right now), he’s thrown for 1,866 yards (good for 6th best in the league), as well as 14 touchdowns against 7 picks in seven games. His passer rating sits at 94.4 (good for twelfth).
To compare Cutler to those other guys “who just win games”, Cutler has thrown for more yards than Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers this season. His completion percentage is better than Rodgers and Brady. The big problem with Cutler is the amount of interceptions he’s thrown but guess who else has thrown seven picks this year: Drew Brees. Not coincidentally, Cutler is also besting Brees in passer rating (also, Urlacher must not be following the Saints this season if he thinks Brees has been winning games lately).
To Urlacher’s credit, he did defend Cutler while he was on the Bears (especially after the NFC Championship Game in 2011 where Cutler was injured) but, according to Chris Chase of For the Win, there could be something a little more personal at work here.
This simply continues the interesting dynamic between the former linebacker and current quarterback.
When Cutler arrived in Chicago in 2009, former Bears wide receiver Bobby Wade told a story about Urlacher using an unflattering, profane noun to describe Cutler. That tale stayed in the news cycle for a week or two. Urlacher also publicly complained last year that Cutler was the only ex-teammate who didn’t reach out to him after his retirement.
Then again, maybe there’s just something about becoming an NFL analyst that makes one feel compelled to take shots at Jay Cutler.
