Durkin's 2015 Bears Position Preview: Quarterback
By Dan Durkin—
Editor's note: This is the 10th piece in a series previewing the 2015 Bears as the first training camp practice approaches July 30. You can find them in one spot here as they're posted.
(CBS) The NFL has a quarterback problem. Given the importance of the position, there simply aren't enough quality players available to ensure each team has a starter with whom it can contend for a championship.
Teams without one are forced to either cast their lot in the draft on a prospect and cross their fingers that they picked the right one, or choose to (over)pay for their current starter knowing they won't find better options on the open market.
In 2015, 16 quarterbacks carry an eight-figure salary cap charge. No other position has more than 10.
Chicago's Jay Cutler is one of those eight-figure quarterbacks, but will he live up to the investment?
Starter:
Jay Cutler (32, 10th year)
Other competitors: Jimmy Clausen (27, sixth year), David Fales (24, first year) and Shane Carden (23, rookie)
Entering his 10th season, the conversation is no longer about Cutler's talent or potential. It's about results.
There has never been a doubt about Cutler's physical gifts. He has every measurable trait scouts seek for the position; he's simply been unable to put it all together on a consistent basis. Something seems to happen when the bullets fly, causing Cutler to revert to his default setting of trusting his arm instead of his reads and letting his mechanics go to waste.
This season, Cutler's surrounded by arguably the best collection of receiving weapons he's ever had and certainly the most established set of coaches he's had since his Denver days.
Offensive coordinator Adam Gase has shown the ability to alter his scheme to the strengths of his available talent. Quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains has known Cutler since his days at Vanderbilt, where he was an administrative assistant. Cutler has been lobbying to work with Loggains in Chicago for years and finally gets his chance this fall. However, recall if you will, Cutler also successfully lobbied for Jeremy Bates back in 2012, and that relationship lasted all of one season. It's another common thread in Cutler's NFL timeline.
Cutler's best served in an offense centered around outside and stretch run plays, with a bootleg play-action game built upon it. Catching the defense overpursuing is a great way to find voids, but Cutler also sees the field better when he's on the move. Such plays also simplify his reads by cutting the field in half.
Cutler will still be called upon to make five- and seven-step drops, stand patiently in the pocket to scan the entire field and deliver the ball on time. But Gase must make more of an effort to change Cutler's launch point and move the pocket on waggles and rollouts than former coach Marc Trestman did the past two seasons.
The keys to success with Cutler will be taking some pressure off him -- and the Bears defense -- by making a more concerted effort to run the football, which has been a hallmark of John Fox, and making sure he's getting the ball out in rhythm and not into harm's way.
Given that the Bears have already paid Cutler $48 million of the $54 million they guaranteed him in January of 2014, this season could be his make-or-break year in Chicago.
If the Bears were to move on from Cutler after this season, there's nothing in the pipeline to replace him.
Jimmy Clausen has been brought back for another season. He made a spite start in Week 16 last year against Detroit, proving why he can't be viewed as anything more than a fringe backup.
David Fales was drafted by the previous regime, so he may have lost the benefit of the doubt in the offseason turnover. Like Clausen, his NFL apex is likely that of a spot starter.
Rookie Shane Carden went undrafted due to his size and questions about his arm strength. The numbers he put up in college were more of a byproduct of his receivers' ability to run after the catch in East Carolina's horizontal passing game. He will likely be a camp arm with a chance to stick on the practice squad.
Given the state of the defense, this team will only go as far as the offense -- and more specifically Cutler -- can take it. The talent is there to put up points, but can Cutler play within the system and not give opponents extra possessions as he frequently did last season?
Position grade: C-plus.
Dan Durkin covers the Bears for CBSChicago.com and is a frequent contributor to 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @djdurkin.