The 2 years is after the 2 years left on his current deal. And I'm not totally clear, but I read $20 million guaranteed. Basically, it makes him the 5th highest paid for now but with new deals coming soon that it will be lower than that.
Aside from the money stuff, of course the Bears needed to lock up Cutler.
Aside from the money stuff, of course the Bears needed to lock up Cutler.
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nfl/news/story?id=4652043
Friday, November 13, 2009
Tarkenton questions Cutler's ability
<HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1>ESPNChicago.com
<!-- template inline -->
Fran Tarkenton admits he hasn't seen much of Jay Cutler, but he saw enough Thursday night to render an opinion on the embattled Chicago Bears quarterback.
"I really question whether he can play," Tarkenton, the Hall of Fame quarterback and former Minnesota Viking, said Friday on "The Waddle and Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. "Quarterbacks need to make their team better. If it's a bad team, they can even make a bad team better. Somebody may say well, even Peyton Manning couldn't help the Bears. Yes, he could. Tom Brady could, too. They might not win the championship or get to the playoffs, but they would make that team better. Those wide receivers who are struggling would be better because they would make them better."
Cutler threw five interceptions, including one in the end zone in the final seconds of the Bears' 10-6 loss Thursday to the San Francisco 49ers.
Tarkenton, who led the Vikings to three Super Bowls in the 1970s, disputed the notion that Cutler's mechanics needed work. It's a lot simpler than that, he said.
"Great quarterbacks, good quarterbacks, make plays," Tarkenton said on "The Waddle and Silvy Show." "Mechanics is overwrought. Whether they're strong-armed, weak-armed, throw sidearm, throw overhead, they're fast, they're quick, I don't care. I just want someone to make plays. Peyton Manning doesn't look beautiful back there.
"Jay Cutler had every opportunity to make plays for his team last night and every opportunity he didn't. That's how I judge a quarterback: Either you make plays or you don't. I don't even want to talk about mechanics."
<!-- INLINE MODULE -->ESPNChicago.com Bears blog
The latest news from Bears beat reporter Jeff Dickerson. Blog
<!-- END INLINE MODULE -->
What advice would Tarkenton give Cutler?
"If Jay Cutler is not comfortable with the offense or the way they are calling the plays, he ought to go in there and tell that coach [expletive]," Tarkenton said during radio interview. "Dan Fouts came into the league and for the first couple of years he was struggling. He said, 'What do you do?' I said, 'Dan, if you're not willing to go tell your head coach or your coordinator to kiss off, then you can't play quarterback in this league.'
"I don't think that will solve the problems of the Chicago Bears. The Chicago Bears need to start over. But for Jay Cutler to be a quarterback and make plays, he's got to take charge."
Friday, November 13, 2009
Tarkenton questions Cutler's ability
<HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1>ESPNChicago.com
<!-- template inline -->
Fran Tarkenton admits he hasn't seen much of Jay Cutler, but he saw enough Thursday night to render an opinion on the embattled Chicago Bears quarterback.
"I really question whether he can play," Tarkenton, the Hall of Fame quarterback and former Minnesota Viking, said Friday on "The Waddle and Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. "Quarterbacks need to make their team better. If it's a bad team, they can even make a bad team better. Somebody may say well, even Peyton Manning couldn't help the Bears. Yes, he could. Tom Brady could, too. They might not win the championship or get to the playoffs, but they would make that team better. Those wide receivers who are struggling would be better because they would make them better."
Cutler threw five interceptions, including one in the end zone in the final seconds of the Bears' 10-6 loss Thursday to the San Francisco 49ers.
Tarkenton, who led the Vikings to three Super Bowls in the 1970s, disputed the notion that Cutler's mechanics needed work. It's a lot simpler than that, he said.
"Great quarterbacks, good quarterbacks, make plays," Tarkenton said on "The Waddle and Silvy Show." "Mechanics is overwrought. Whether they're strong-armed, weak-armed, throw sidearm, throw overhead, they're fast, they're quick, I don't care. I just want someone to make plays. Peyton Manning doesn't look beautiful back there.
"Jay Cutler had every opportunity to make plays for his team last night and every opportunity he didn't. That's how I judge a quarterback: Either you make plays or you don't. I don't even want to talk about mechanics."
<!-- INLINE MODULE -->ESPNChicago.com Bears blog
The latest news from Bears beat reporter Jeff Dickerson. Blog <!-- END INLINE MODULE -->
What advice would Tarkenton give Cutler?
"If Jay Cutler is not comfortable with the offense or the way they are calling the plays, he ought to go in there and tell that coach [expletive]," Tarkenton said during radio interview. "Dan Fouts came into the league and for the first couple of years he was struggling. He said, 'What do you do?' I said, 'Dan, if you're not willing to go tell your head coach or your coordinator to kiss off, then you can't play quarterback in this league.'
"I don't think that will solve the problems of the Chicago Bears. The Chicago Bears need to start over. But for Jay Cutler to be a quarterback and make plays, he's got to take charge."
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/columns/story?columnist=isaacson_melissa&id=4683880
Monday, November 23, 2009
The unvarnished truth about Cutler
<HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1>By Melissa Isaacson
ESPNChicago.com
CHICAGO -- Raise your hand if you'd like to be that proverbial fly on the wall when Jay Cutler gets his postseason player evaluation. Raise it higher if you'd like to contribute.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5 rowSpan=2><SPACER height="1" type="block" width="5"></TD><TD width=200>
</TD></TR><TR><TD width=200>[FONT=verdana, arial, geneva]While Jay Cutler has a strong arm, it's no good if it's overthrowing receivers. [/FONT]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Surely, judging Cutler's competence as the Bears' quarterback requires a set of instructions and probably depends as much on one's perspective as Cutler's results on the field. Is he still the best thing the Bears have going for their future? A great quarterback being dragged into the sludge of a bad team and a bad season? Or has he been a genuine disappointment, not performing up to expectations and pulling the team down on his own?
There's pressure on every NFL quarterback, to be sure. But it's time to take an unvarnished look at what we thought about Cutler versus what we now know.
He still has more raw talent than any Bears quarterback in recent memory, and a better arm -- and showed in games against Pittsburgh and Seattle, with quarterback ratings of 104.7 and 126.4, and more recently versus Arizona, when he threw for a season-high 369 yards and three touchdowns, that he is capable of big numbers.
OK, but what good is a big arm when it's used to overthrow receivers as he did on three occasions -- all of which were potential touchdowns -- in Sunday night's loss to Philadelphia? And he's reverting back to some bad habits like throwing off his back foot.
"He made good decisions [Sunday] night," said Bears coach Lovie Smith. "He overthrew a few passes. That happens with all quarterbacks. Jay was active throughout. He brought our team back and put us in position to win the game. That's what you judge everything by. You look at the full body of work and he put us in position to win the game. We weren't able to hold on."
Kyle Orton put you in position to win, too. Cutler, assuming he is around for the length of his deal, is being paid $50 million and cost you first-round picks in '09 and 2010 and a third-round pick in '09, not to mention Orton, to win games, not to throw a league-leading 18 interceptions. Not to move the ball well enough to get into the red zone 33 times, but score just 14 times for 38 percent. He was brought here to raise the level of those around him, to take the pressure off the defense and get the ball in the end zone. His full body of work? That would be 4-6.
But Cutler hasn't meshed with Ron Turner's offense. Cutler has no running game and poor pass protection, so he has little time to set up and throw a decent pass downfield. Shouldn't these arguments count for something?
They're all fair points, but when he has the opportunity to make a big play, a game-changing play, he's not capitalizing. Recently Cutler went 90 passes without a touchdown, the second-longest streak of his career, until breaking it with his pass to Kellen Davis. And he has to take some responsibility for the 19 sacks this season. He's not used to being pressured to this extent and it shows.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5 rowSpan=2><SPACER height="1" type="block" width="5"></TD><TD width=200>
</TD></TR><TR><TD width=200>[FONT=verdana, arial, geneva]The much-hyped Jay Cutler-Greg Olsen connection hasn't jelled as of yet. [/FONT]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
His receivers are young. They have not always been where they are supposed to be and all of his intended targets, tight ends and backs included, have dropped their share of passes.
For a while there, it did appear Cutler was going to make Devin Hester, Earl Bennett and Johnny Knox into a legitimate receiving corps, but aside from flashes of potential, their progress as a group has stalled. More importantly, the Cutler-Greg Olsen connection still hasn't coalesced.
He's an All-Pro. You don't throw for 4,526 yards as he did last season if you're not a winner.
Well, he did make a Pro Bowl last season, but he's never proved he's a winner. Despite everything Cutler has proved at the age of 26, he has not yet led a team in college or the pros to an above-.500 record. It's looking more and more like he's going to continue that streak this season and eventually, that becomes sort of a big deal.
Give him a break, it's his first season with a new team and for all the criticism about his body language, wouldn't you rather have a quarterback who is cool and unflappable, even if it comes off as aloof and immature?
Thing is, Cutler doesn't seem cool lately. He is looking lost and shaken by adversity, is 0-4 in prime-time games whatever that's worth, and it's hard to tell sometimes whether he's fighting for his team or showing up his receivers. He is described as a loner around Halas Hall and that's not a good description for a quarterback. He may develop into a team leader but he sure doesn't seem one now. Not yet, anyway.
Monday, November 23, 2009
The unvarnished truth about Cutler
<HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1>By Melissa Isaacson
ESPNChicago.com
CHICAGO -- Raise your hand if you'd like to be that proverbial fly on the wall when Jay Cutler gets his postseason player evaluation. Raise it higher if you'd like to contribute.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5 rowSpan=2><SPACER height="1" type="block" width="5"></TD><TD width=200>
Surely, judging Cutler's competence as the Bears' quarterback requires a set of instructions and probably depends as much on one's perspective as Cutler's results on the field. Is he still the best thing the Bears have going for their future? A great quarterback being dragged into the sludge of a bad team and a bad season? Or has he been a genuine disappointment, not performing up to expectations and pulling the team down on his own?
There's pressure on every NFL quarterback, to be sure. But it's time to take an unvarnished look at what we thought about Cutler versus what we now know.
He still has more raw talent than any Bears quarterback in recent memory, and a better arm -- and showed in games against Pittsburgh and Seattle, with quarterback ratings of 104.7 and 126.4, and more recently versus Arizona, when he threw for a season-high 369 yards and three touchdowns, that he is capable of big numbers.
OK, but what good is a big arm when it's used to overthrow receivers as he did on three occasions -- all of which were potential touchdowns -- in Sunday night's loss to Philadelphia? And he's reverting back to some bad habits like throwing off his back foot.
"He made good decisions [Sunday] night," said Bears coach Lovie Smith. "He overthrew a few passes. That happens with all quarterbacks. Jay was active throughout. He brought our team back and put us in position to win the game. That's what you judge everything by. You look at the full body of work and he put us in position to win the game. We weren't able to hold on."
Kyle Orton put you in position to win, too. Cutler, assuming he is around for the length of his deal, is being paid $50 million and cost you first-round picks in '09 and 2010 and a third-round pick in '09, not to mention Orton, to win games, not to throw a league-leading 18 interceptions. Not to move the ball well enough to get into the red zone 33 times, but score just 14 times for 38 percent. He was brought here to raise the level of those around him, to take the pressure off the defense and get the ball in the end zone. His full body of work? That would be 4-6.
But Cutler hasn't meshed with Ron Turner's offense. Cutler has no running game and poor pass protection, so he has little time to set up and throw a decent pass downfield. Shouldn't these arguments count for something?
They're all fair points, but when he has the opportunity to make a big play, a game-changing play, he's not capitalizing. Recently Cutler went 90 passes without a touchdown, the second-longest streak of his career, until breaking it with his pass to Kellen Davis. And he has to take some responsibility for the 19 sacks this season. He's not used to being pressured to this extent and it shows.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5 rowSpan=2><SPACER height="1" type="block" width="5"></TD><TD width=200>
His receivers are young. They have not always been where they are supposed to be and all of his intended targets, tight ends and backs included, have dropped their share of passes.
For a while there, it did appear Cutler was going to make Devin Hester, Earl Bennett and Johnny Knox into a legitimate receiving corps, but aside from flashes of potential, their progress as a group has stalled. More importantly, the Cutler-Greg Olsen connection still hasn't coalesced.
He's an All-Pro. You don't throw for 4,526 yards as he did last season if you're not a winner.
Well, he did make a Pro Bowl last season, but he's never proved he's a winner. Despite everything Cutler has proved at the age of 26, he has not yet led a team in college or the pros to an above-.500 record. It's looking more and more like he's going to continue that streak this season and eventually, that becomes sort of a big deal.
Give him a break, it's his first season with a new team and for all the criticism about his body language, wouldn't you rather have a quarterback who is cool and unflappable, even if it comes off as aloof and immature?
Thing is, Cutler doesn't seem cool lately. He is looking lost and shaken by adversity, is 0-4 in prime-time games whatever that's worth, and it's hard to tell sometimes whether he's fighting for his team or showing up his receivers. He is described as a loner around Halas Hall and that's not a good description for a quarterback. He may develop into a team leader but he sure doesn't seem one now. Not yet, anyway.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...o-put-jay-cutler-on-payroll-of-every-team-sat
Come to Think of it: NFL to Put Jay Cutler on Payroll of Every Team (Satire)
by Bob Warja http://bleacherreport.com/users/2175-Bob-WarjaBob Warja
View Profile
<SMALL>Senior Writer</SMALL> Written on November 29, 2009
Elsa/Getty Images
In a move sure to spark significant controversy around the league, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced today that Bears QB Jay Cutler's salary will be equally distributed to all of its teams, effective immediately.
Said Goodell of the surprising move, "Look, Cutler does his damnest to throw the ball to each team he plays, which helps them win, right? Well, then it's only fair that the money the Bears are paying him gets shared by the entire league."
"With the length and amount of that contract he's signed to, the Bears can't pull him, so eventually Cutler will play against most of the teams in the NFL before his career is over, and I just think his expected contribution to those teams should be recognized."
The Bears were not immediately available for comment, with Lovie Smith saying only that he couldn't personally vouch for the fact that Cutler plays for the Bears.
"Jay Cutler? Yes, I've heard the name. But I'm not going to get into questions about whether he plays football, and if so, if it's for us or what have you. I just know that we still have a chance to reach our goal, and we'll go from there."
Cutler, who was acquired in a trade with the Denver Broncos prior to the season, leads the NFL in interceptions, with 20. He threw two more in a 36-10 loss to the Vikings on Sunday.
Meanwhile, as to the rumor that the Bears have contacted the Guinness World Book of Records people, a team spokesman said, "I won't confirm or deny that, but do I believe any publicity is good publicity? Yes I do. This whole interception thing has been spun in a such a negative light, and I just feel it's high time that Jay gets recognized for the truly historic event we are witnessing."
Cutler's problems have even carried over to his personal life. His attempt to pass the potatoes during Thanksgiving dinner resulted in a mess on the floor.
As for the weak offensive line, lack of running game and poor receivers, Cutler said none of that matters.
"I am The Saviour, and my mere presence should elevate these mortals into super human status."
No word on whether GM Jerry Angelo has returned from Barbados, come to think of it.
Come to Think of it: NFL to Put Jay Cutler on Payroll of Every Team (Satire)
by Bob Warja http://bleacherreport.com/users/2175-Bob-WarjaBob WarjaView Profile
<SMALL>Senior Writer</SMALL> Written on November 29, 2009
In a move sure to spark significant controversy around the league, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced today that Bears QB Jay Cutler's salary will be equally distributed to all of its teams, effective immediately.
Said Goodell of the surprising move, "Look, Cutler does his damnest to throw the ball to each team he plays, which helps them win, right? Well, then it's only fair that the money the Bears are paying him gets shared by the entire league."
"With the length and amount of that contract he's signed to, the Bears can't pull him, so eventually Cutler will play against most of the teams in the NFL before his career is over, and I just think his expected contribution to those teams should be recognized."
The Bears were not immediately available for comment, with Lovie Smith saying only that he couldn't personally vouch for the fact that Cutler plays for the Bears.
"Jay Cutler? Yes, I've heard the name. But I'm not going to get into questions about whether he plays football, and if so, if it's for us or what have you. I just know that we still have a chance to reach our goal, and we'll go from there."
Cutler, who was acquired in a trade with the Denver Broncos prior to the season, leads the NFL in interceptions, with 20. He threw two more in a 36-10 loss to the Vikings on Sunday.
Meanwhile, as to the rumor that the Bears have contacted the Guinness World Book of Records people, a team spokesman said, "I won't confirm or deny that, but do I believe any publicity is good publicity? Yes I do. This whole interception thing has been spun in a such a negative light, and I just feel it's high time that Jay gets recognized for the truly historic event we are witnessing."
Cutler's problems have even carried over to his personal life. His attempt to pass the potatoes during Thanksgiving dinner resulted in a mess on the floor.
As for the weak offensive line, lack of running game and poor receivers, Cutler said none of that matters.
"I am The Saviour, and my mere presence should elevate these mortals into super human status."
No word on whether GM Jerry Angelo has returned from Barbados, come to think of it.
after watching him literally throw my money away on three prime time games because he sucks, sucks, sucks, (did I say he sucks?), I adopted a fade the jackass system.
1-0 baby. And as usual, he was good for a red zone pick
he's a dunce that sucks
1-0 baby. And as usual, he was good for a red zone pick
he's a dunce that sucks
Chicago was a huge loser when they picked up Cutler. Not only are they stuck with his ridiculous inflated salary, they are stuck with a spoiled little brat who doesn't have any idea how to win football games. Here's a guy that proclaims to the world that He has a better arm than John Elway ! Chicago gave up Kyle Orton but also 2 1st. round draft choices and a 3 rd. round draft choice ! You would think that they thought they were getting the second coming of Joe Montana ! total joke..... unless you are a Bear fan. I love it ! :toast:
:lol:
:lol:
pretty strong...
i am not a cutler fan at all...
but if he gets the time & has some decent receivers he can make plays...
your mini assessment of cutler lacked many key items...
the bears do not have an oline worth a damn...w/pace at lt...that is a joke...
& the bears have to rebuild the entire oline...which is not an easy task...
the bears have no playmaking wr's...who in the hell is he supposed to throw the ball to?
huh? not the defense? did you watch the game?
minnesota put up over 500 yards of offense against 'em...
lovie smith is in charge of picking his coaches...
&
when his qb is not getting coached up by pep hamilton...& cutler expressed those problems to smith & turner...
then that is on the hc...
pep hamilton's job is bears qb coach...
he is supposed to work w/the qb's...
cutler's mechanics have been messed up all season...
but lovie smith fired ron rivera to hire his pal as dc...
then when his buddy could not handle the dc job...smith demoted 'em...& took over...
lovie smith should not be calling the defenses any longer...he is a joke...
&
the bears defense is as big... if not a bigger joke...than cutler's play
i am not making excuses for cutler...
i do not like cutler at all...
but cutler is not what's wrong w/the bears...
they have orlando pace at left tackle...
did you watch today's game?
answer that...
because i do not believe you did...
jared allen embarrassed that old guy all day...
cutler was hit alot today
