Baffoe: Jay Cutler's A Jerk Who's Screwing Up The Bears' Rebuild
By Tim Baffoe--
(CBS) The 2015 Chicago Bears were dead in the water before the rickety ship even set sail. Any honest observer came to terms with that in August and hasn't let the pathos by local news stations grab them with how "heartbreaking" it could be for a 2-5 team to lose to a better team like the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
Bitter as it might be, the smart resignation was to hope for the best combination of the Bears positioning themselves toward a good draft spot while at the same time pieces of the future not regressing.
Oh, and make do with Jay Cutler at the helm and all his punchably smirking existence, too. At least that jerk would be gone soon.
Ignoring wins and losses, all isn't bad. The Chicago defense seems to be scabbing over the massive wound inflicted by former defensive coordinator-turned-collegiate position coach Mel Tucker. Young players are playing hard for John Fox and his coaching staff, a far cry from the apathy worn on the sleeves of Bears under Marc Trestman last year.
The talent tank is by no means full, but it isn't dry. Rookie Jeremy Langford proved capable of filling in for the injured Matt Forte (who may be out a while with speculation of an MCL injury), despite a crucial dropped pass late in the game.
"I just got to focus better on the ball and secure the catch to help my team out," lamented Langford, "and Jay Cutler."
Notice that the kid made a point to mention his polarizing quarterback, the same one Kyle Long said gave "another ballsy effort" despite losing his star running back and receiver Eddie Royal and playing behind a patchwork offensive line.
Long was mostly citing Cutler's rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter in which the the quarterback chose to take a Vikings safety head-on instead of easily running into a wide-open corner of the end zone. It was a play that had almost everyone asking, "Dude, what are you doing?" -- including Cutler.
"I instantly regretted it," Cutler said about the needless injury risk. "I'm thinking the shortest distance is a straight line. I knew the situation and wanted to get a score. It was me on him, and ultimately we got the touchdown, so I can't regret it too much."
Despite it being illogical, it resonated with teammates and coaches.
"Tremendous job finishing there at the goal line," Long said. "Speaks to the kind of person he is and the kind of player he is."
Cutler lost just his 11th career game when not throwing an interception, and he's been anything but one of the Bears' problems this season. At least not in the immediate sense.
The Bears are amid a rebuild and trying to figure out what's here that's part of the future and what's not. Two months ago, that conversation only included Cutler in terms of the one more year on his contract after this season being eaten or endured while selecting a franchise quarterback in the 2016 draft.
Despite Cutler's resume that showed he's the best quarterback in Bearsfranchise history even before tying Sid Luckman on Sunday for most passing touchdowns in a Chicago uniform, he's now making a case to not be automatically dismissed. Through Monday, Pro Football Focus rates Cutler as a plus-QB (think baseball's WAR but not in terms of games won) and the 13th-best quarterback this season, ahead of the likes of Philip Rivers, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning. Cutler finished 2014 ranked 31st.
Cutler has thrown for 1,442 yards with eight touchdowns and four interceptions.
Cutler is by no means one of the NFL's elite at the position, but after most had accepted that "he is what he is," he's sort of bucking that acceptance. Now, one would assume Bears general manager Ryan Pace has to be at least a little vexed from when it was known in the offseason that he was trying to trade Cutler.
That's compounded with the realization that the college quarterback class with names like Jared Goff and Connor Cook no longer elicits the salivating as it had in the preseason. A legitimate case can be made that sticking with Cutler and using what's hopefully a top-10 pick to fill a need other than quarterback helps the Bears going forward more than drafting a passer in the first round. Though as Cutler continues to make the Bears not a lock to lose each week, they might find themselves picking in the middle of the first round and away from the top quarterback choices anyway.
Adam Gase actually finally, really, truly seems like "the one" on the offensive coordinator carousel who Cutler can thrive under. Complicating this, though, is Gase being already a top candidate for most vacant head coaching positions once this season ends. What would Cutler's 27th (all numbers approximate) offensive coordinator bring about?
Such is the Jay Cutler problem and all its smirking irony. What a nightmare for that majority of Bears fans who despise him so much that they might not be rid of him. Even Cutler rationalists (raises hand) had entered this year with Cutler fatigue and figured for the sake of argument that soon moving on from his tenure would be best.
Meanwhile, Cutler keeps the rickety ship steady on a path to immediate nowhere, being cool and professional the entire way. And he gets the last laugh for now while media, fans and his superiors are confounded.
How dare he screw up plans for the future? What a jerk.
Tim Baffoe is a columnist for CBSChicago.com. Follow Tim on Twitter @TimBaffoe. The views expressed on this page are those of the author, not CBS Local Chicago or our affiliated television and radio stations.