Bears Bench Jay Cutler For Jimmy Clausen
(CBS) -- Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler will be benched for the team's Week 16 game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, according to a report by ESPN's Adam Schefter. Backup Jimmy Clausen will get the start.
Cutler has started every game for the Bears this season, throwing for 3,640 yards 28 touchdown passes and a league-leading 18 interceptions.
Cutler's 24 turnovers also lead the NFL, and the Bears offense has failed to break 28 points in 2014. He has an 89.5 passer rating -- the best single-season mark of his career -- but much of that and his big passing yard numbers are viewed as hollow statistics in a pass-happy offense for a team that's trailed big in many games.
Clausen has appeared in three games for the Bears this season, going 3-for-9 for 42 yards. He last started a game when he was a rookie with the Carolina Panthers in 2010, but he had little success then, going 1-9 in his starting stint. He struggled mightily that season, completing 52.5 percent of his passes while throwing three touchdowns against nine interceptions.
Reports indicated that Bears coach Marc Trestman made the decision Wednesday morning. In his afternoon news conference with local media, though, Trestman made no mention of the big move -- even after directly being asked for his thoughts on ESPN analyst Jon Gruden, his former boss in Oakland, saying that Cutler should be benched.
Trestman did admit to his own failures in developing Cutler.
Chicago hosts Detroit on Sunday at noon at Soldier Field.