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The Bernstein Brief: Silence On Jay Cutler Speaks Volumes

By Dan Bernstein-
CBSChicago.com senior columnist

(CBS) With every day that passes without a public commitment to Jay Cutler as their quarterback, the Bears are incurring some risk.

It's true they are using this time to gauge his value on the trade market, aware that moving him before Thursday could both accelerate the reconstruction of the team and get them out of another year of expense. Even if nobody bites, they could opt to release him, facing uncertainty at the most important position in exchange for fully embracing a new culture under a new regime.

The problem could be if they ultimately decide to bring him back, having stopped short of endorsing him.

Sometimes these divorces become self-fulfilling once a team makes it clear that they are not entirely on board with somebody so significant to everything they do. There's some discomfort in sending the message to the team that sticking with him was any kind of second choice or less-undesirable scenario.

In other words, their silence on Cutler has already spoken volumes.

Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. Follow him on Twitter  @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.

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