Chicago Bears need 2014 to be Jay Cutler’s year

As one of the few still aboard the Jay Cutler Bandwagon, I will readily admit that it becomes more difficult each season not to jump ship.

For reasons that I don’t even fully understand myself, I root hard for Cutler. But never in my 13 years of following football have I been as frequently baffled by a player as I am by him.

At times I’m convinced Cutler is capable of winning the league MVP. Other times I’m convinced he belongs in the Canadian Football League.

Cutler has great talent — he owns maybe the strongest arm in the NFL — but pairs it with inconsistent tendencies and reckless decision-making. Since joining the Bears in 2009, Cutler has been intercepted on 3.6 percent of his throws — third-worst in the NFL during that span, according to ESPN Stats and Info.

To me, there are two Jay Cutlers: Good Cutler and Bad Cutler. Last season, we saw plenty of both.

• Week 1: Trailing 21-10 to Cincinnati and the NFL’s third-best defense, Cutler led a second half rampage and delivered the game-winner to Brandon Marshall with eight minutes left. Good Cutler.
• Week 2: Trailing 30-24 to the Vikings, Cutler got the ball at his own 34 with 3:43 left. Three minutes and 30 seconds later, Cutler finished the drive with a perfect bullet to Martellus Bennett. The Bears won, 31-30. Good Cutler.
• Week 4: Cutler committed four turnovers in the first three quarters as the Bears fell behind big to Detroit. Chicago couldn’t recover in the fourth: Lions 40, Bears 32. Bad Cutler.
• Week 15: Trailing 24-17 to the Browns after three quarters, Cutler led three consecutive TD-scoring drives to open the fourth quarter. Chicago ultimately won, 38-31. Good Cutler.
• Week 16: With a chance to clinch the NFC North with a win, Cutler didn’t generate a touchdown until the third quarter’s final play. The Bears were dismantled by the Eagles, 54-11. Bad Cutler.
• Week 17: In a winner-takes-all showdown at Soldier Field, Cutler outplayed Aaron Rodgers. He threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns, finishing the game with an 88.8 QBR (scale 1-to-100). The Bears lost thanks to a Chris Conte blown coverage, but nonetheless: Good Cutler.

The 2013 season obviously did not assist me in my quest to figure out Jay Cutler. It’s a quest that dates back to 2010, when I believed Cutler was ready to make the jump from good to great.

That season, Cutler led the Bears to 11 wins and the NFC North crown — good enough to secure a bye week in the playoffs. A flawless performance from Cutler against Seattle in the Divisional round earned the Vanderbilt grad a golden opportunity to advance to his first-ever Super Bowl: the NFC Championship game matched Cutler against Rodgers and the Packers at Soldier Field.

I expected the red-hot Packers to beat the Bears, but I wasn’t counting out Jay Cutler, who was in the midst of his best professional season.

Shockingly, Cutler seemed disengaged through the first half and into the third quarter. He went 6-for-14 with an interception and threw for just 80 yards, not once even threatening to score.

After Chicago’s first series in the third quarter, it got even weirder for Cutler: he left the game with a knee injury (an MRI later showed a sprained MCL) and did not return. Cutler appeared to be healthy enough to play — he was even riding the bike on the sideline — but never seemed interested in returning to the game.

The Bears ultimately lost, 21-14, ending their season.

It was the most extreme case of Cutler’s nonchalant on-field attitude turning into a story, but it certainly wasn’t the last.

He is king at making grumpy and blank facial expressions on the field, even in the biggest moments of the biggest games.

In September 2012, Adewale Ogunleye — a former teammate of Cutler — expressed concerns over Cutler’s hard-to-detect emotions.

"“The problem with Jay is we’re not sure about his emotions. The only thing we see is when he is really angry. Even when he does a really good job he doesn’t show a sense of happiness. There is no good to Jay, there is no smiling. All we see is when he is pissed off, when he is angry and that reflects in the way people might view him in the locker room.”"

The NFL’s elite quarterbacks — see: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers — are able to channel their inner-frustrations during grim moments and turn it into motivation for their teams. In similar situations, Cutler zones out and disengages himself from the game.

I don’t buy that Cutler’s poor attitude doesn’t affect his teammates. It has to — he’s their quarterback and he’s supposed to be their leader.

Still, I haven’t given up hope on Jay Cutler. I believe he’s as capable as any quarterback in the league. He just hasn’t yet realized his full potential.

But I also believe this: if Cutler can’t turn around his fortunes this season, it might be too late. 2014 has to be the Year of Cutler.

The Bears have set forth for him, on a silver platter, a clear path to success and to the playoffs.

2014 has to be the Year of Cutler.

Cutler will be throwing to two receivers who form the best wide receiver duo in the NFL — Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall. Just last season, Jeffery had 1,421 yards receiving and seven touchdowns. Marshall had 1,295 yards receiving and twelve touchdowns.

In Cutler’s backfield will be Matt Forte, who finished second only to LeSean McCoy in yards rushing a season ago and who is still a year and change away from turning the dreaded age of 30.

Cutler will be protected by one of the NFL’s best offensive lines. Chicago allowed only 30 sacks in 2013, fourth-best in the league — a far cry better than the Bears’ 2012 offensive line, which allowed 44 sacks.

And, after the Bears finished 30th in total yards allowed last season, general manager Phil Emery has spent much of the offseason revamping the defense. Chicago spent its first four draft picks on defensive players and signed two of the league’s most sought-after free agents — defensive ends Jared Allen and Lamarr Woodley. Between the two, Woodley and Allen had six sacks in 2013.

You could make the case, without argument from me, that the 2014 Bears will be the most complete team Cutler has quarterbacked since entering the league in 2006.

Translation: Cutler has no excuse in 2014. He must perform, and at the very least he must lead the Bears to the playoffs.

If he doesn’t, that’s it for me. I will forever be done trying to believe in Jay Cutler.