The Jay Cutler trade: What We’ve Learned Ten Weeks into the Season
You know the story. Earlier this year, former Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler was offered in a three team trade by first year Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels. Cutler acts like a baby and wants out of Denver. McDaniels ships him to Chicago for several draft picks and then-Bears quarterback Kyle Orton. McDaniels is criticized heavily for the trade. Jay Cutler becomes an A-list superstar in the Windy City.
Before this season started, I, along with several other prediction makers, bit on the hype of Jay Cutler leading the Bears to the playoffs and the Denver Broncos taking a major turn backwards. The Bears, after all, had a relatively decent draft and were already not too shabby of a football team to begin with. An elite quarterback was the only piece missing out of the puzzle. As for Denver, they were without their star quarterback. Their best player, wide receiver Brandon Marshall, was unhappy and underwent a holdout in which led to a suspension. All the hype that surrounded the trade for Eagles Pro Bowler Brian Dawkins was gone, and many doubted his abilities to be an effective leader.
After ten weeks of the NFL season, we’ve seen a little bit out of everything between these two teams.
The Chicago Bears opened the season with a poor performance out of Jay Cutler against the Packers, but bounced back in three straight wins, including a win against the defending NFL champions. Jay Cutler made less mistakes and Greg Olsen became a primary target. After their bye week, they’ve dropped five of their last six, their only win against a garbage Cleveland team. It would be easy to point the finger at Jay Cutler, seeing as though he has 17 interceptions this season. The team, as a whole, have turned the ball over far too much. Matt Forte, coming off of an excellent rookie season, has been disappointing in his sophomore year as the premiere back. Above all else, though, the once feared Chicago defense has become an average unit with a very battered defensive line. There is a lack of identity and balance on this team, and at 4-5, there is much work to be done. The NFC wild card race is turning out to be very crowded, and there aren’t many favorable games for them to pick up. Jay Cutler needs to be more conservative with the ball. The turnovers are putting too much pressure on the defense, ajnd this defense cannot win games anymore. There is also a very significant lack of depth in the receiving core. Jay Cutler really only has Devin Hester and Greg Olsen to count on for clutch plays. It is difficult for him to spread the ball around to unreliable, young and unproven receivers, which has resulted in his 14-17 touchdown/turnover ratio. The trade for Cutler was a very wise decision, but there won’t be much to show for it this season. This team needs weapons for Cutler to throw to. Oh, and Cutler has to actually play like the quarterback the Bears thought they were going to get out of this trade and not a careless guy with a big arm. It is unlikely the Bears make the playoffs, and I doubt coach Lovie Smith is going to be there much longer. They could keep him around for another year, but next season will be “Do or Die”, and it all starts with a great draft. It also requires Jay Cutler to lead this team. They gave up several draft picks and a decent quarterback for him, after all.
As for the Denver Broncos? Up until their Week 7 bye, the Broncos were beating every team in their path with inspired defense and an offense that always seemed to be in rhythm. Josh McDaniels constructed an offensive philosophy that only required a steady game manager to keep it moving, and that’s how Kyle Orton was built into this offense. Brian Dawkins and the revamped defense have played inspired football and were able to help keep the Orton-led offense on the field. I had this team winning three to five games total season just because of how much of a mess the franchise had looked in the offseason. By Week 6, they were 6-0. Josh McDaniels was looked upon by the NFL brass as a genius, and the Broncos were riding high towards an AFC West title. After the bye week, though, they traveled to Baltimore and were routed by a feisty Ravens squad. The offense could not get into a rhythm and the Ravens applied a rough pass rush the entire game, exposing Kyle Orton for the first time all season. The following week was more of the same when the surging Steelers came to town. While dropping two straight games is relatively difficult to overcome, their 6-0 start gave them some breathing room, especially in a division where half of the teams are terrible. In a Week 10 game against a weak Redskins team in Washington, though, what was expected to be a turnaround game for the Broncos turned out to be a costly affair. Kyle Orton injured his ankle and was taken out the game. The offense turned the ball over and the Redskins capitalized on their ailments plaguing the once-feared Broncos. At 6-3, the Broncos are in position to lose hold of their lead in the division. The San Diego Chargers, who are surging after a rough start, share a 6-3 record with Denver and are coming into town this Sunday. With Orton still unlikely to play and the offense in limbo, the Rocky Mountain Meltdown of 2009 may be in full effect if the Chargers manage to take the lead in the division.
The Bears and the Broncos are both in jeopardy of missing the playoff boat. Between the two teams, though, Denver has the best chance of swimming afloat and sneaking into the playoffs. The Chargers are very inconsistent, to the point where they could even lose hold of the division themselves. Denver, regardless of the result in the battle for the AFC West crown Sunday, will still be alive in the playoff chase. Kyle Oton will return sooner rather than later, and Josh McDaniels is too witty of a coach to let a playoff bound team slip through the cracks and miss the boat again. Not counting a big game against the unbeaten Colts, the Denver Broncos have a relatively favorable schedule ahead of them.
As for the Bears? They have plenty of rivalry games to play, including two against the Vikings, who lead the NFC North, and a crucial game against Green Bay. Outside the division, they host the Eagles on Sunday night, a team in which are in must-win mode at the moment coming off a hard loss against the Chargers. They also have to travel to Baltimore and try to stop a Ravens team who will most likely be fighting for their playoff lives by Week 15. The odds do not look in favor of the Bears. Their coach will be on the hot seat if they don’t make a run for playoff contention. With no chance at all to keep up with a red hot Vikings team, they need to settle for a wildcard spot by pulling a few games out from their own division, possibly even splitting one with the Vikings.
For the Bears, their season rests within the big arm of Jay Cutler. For the Broncos, they absolutely NEED Kyle Orton. In terms of the big trade made in the offseason, you could make a stand and say that both teams came away was winners, but we will not really see how these teams fare until perhaps next season; Denver will have several draft picks to help make their team better on both sides of the ball, and Jay Cutler will be able to have a showcase season without the pressure of living up to the hype from the trade.
As for this season, though, the Broncos are still in the race and the Bears are in complete disarray. I am sure Jay Cutler wouldn’t mind being shipped back to the Rocky Mountains, though.
