Jay Cutler just can’t win, which is why it won’t be a surprise at all when he chooses to quarterback a team other than the Bears next season.
After famously being mocked for sitting out the second half of the NFC Championship game in January 2011 with a knee injury that was later reported to be a slight tear of the MCL, Cutler now finds himself being second-guessed for coming off the injured list too soon in Sunday’s costly 21-19 division loss at home to the Lions.
Cutler obviously wasn’t at full strength after missing almost a month with a groin strain, but the blame falls on first-year coach Marc Trestman — not Cutler — because Trestman was the one who decided to let Cutler start despite a strong two-game showing by backup Josh McCown.
Hindsight was indeed damning for Trestman after McCown took over when Cutler added an ankle sprain to his host of injuries and nearly sent the game into overtime with a late TD pass to Brandon Marshall.
And with the Bears’ defense keeping the incomparable Calvin Johnson relatively in check while limiting Matthew Stafford to 219 passing yards, it’s easy to think a healthy McCown would have given Chicago a much better chance to win than a gimpy Cutler.
A healthy Cutler, though, gives the Bears a much better chance at success over the course of a full season, but you have to wonder if the frequent second-guessing and criticism he hears in Chicago haven’t soured the free-agent-to-be on the Windy City entirely.
Good quarterbacks are a precious commodity in the NFL, of course. Unless the Bears give him the franchise designation (which would be extremely expensive, especially with the salary cap expected to remain flat), look for Cutler to go somewhere else that appreciates that.