Bears Football Blog

Cutler leads Bears to victory in Denver

When you boil it down, all the buildup to Jay Cutler's return to Invesco Field to face his former team was about five minutes and seven seconds at the end of the second quarter Sunday night.

All the venom for the Broncos' former quarterback -- and there was plenty of it -- resulted from a series of missteps that happened before the trade five months ago and hopefully can be put to rest after the Bears' 27-17 victory before 70,098 noisy and hostile fans.

Josh McDaniels didn't think Cutler was the long-term solution, not measured against Matt Cassel anyway, and when Cutler found out about it, he blew his top. When the new coach wouldn't promise to commit to Cutler long term, that was it.Continue

Cutler uneven in debut

It was only a dressed-up scrimmage for the purpose of selling tickets.

No, Jay Cutler isn't going to resemble Kyle Orton this season, even if it was the kind of uneven, sometimes head-scratching preseason effort the Bears are used to.

A night after Orton threw three interceptions for the Denver Broncos, Cutler should've had two.

He can thank cornerback Reggie Corner -- we know why he isn't named Receiver -- for dropping one that hit him in the numbers. It came on Cutler's first throw after firing off his back foot deep for Devin Hester and getting picked off by Leodis McKelvin in the first quarter of what turned into a 27-20 victory for the Buffalo Bills on Saturday night at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Continue

Cutler big fan of McNair

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler remembers the helping hand he received from Steve McNair and is mourning the loss of the former Tennessee Titans quarterback.

In a story by Jim Wyatt of the Nashville Tennessean, Cutler said he needed a good showing in the Senior Bowl to boost his stock before the 2006 NFL draft. Because the offense Cutler's team would be running was being directed by the Titans' coaching staff, McNair volunteered to tutor the former Vanderbilt star beforehand.

''Mac met with me on two occasions, and he would have stayed there with me all day, as long as it took for me to learn the offense,'' Cutler told the newspaper. ''I'll never forget that, and that just shows you the type of guy he was. That was going to be a big step for me to go there and play well. Ever since then, I have thought of him as a friend.'' Continue

Bears need WR for Cutler

Third-round draft pick Juaquin Iglesias ran under a bomb from Caleb Hanie in the two-minute drill to score a touchdown on the final play of the Bears' offseason training activities Wednesday at Halas Hall.

There might not have been a more fitting conclusion to the voluntary offseason program for a team that has remade itself since stumbling at Houston last season, a loss that prevented it from reaching the playoffs for the second straight year. Newcomer Jay Cutler didn't throw the pass, but the second team finishes practice, and it was a different sight for the Bears, who had just two touchdown catches of more than 23 yards in 2008. Continue

Cutler deflects critics

Being anointed a franchise quarterback for a franchise with a history of quarterbacking as dire as the Bears can’t be easy.

Throw in some flak from former NFL coaches and the media and things can only get tougher.

But Jay Cutler is taking it all in stride.

‘‘I think every quarterback in the NFL has a lot of pressure,’’ Cutler said Saturday after a diabetes awareness event at La Rabida Children’s Hospital on the South Side. ‘‘You are trying to lead a team offensively. You are trying to do the best you can out there. Anywhere you go you’re going to have pressure. Obviously, Chicago has great fans and great tradition. They expect a lot. And, I expect a lot out of myself. It’s going to be a fun year.’’ Continue

Cutler displays arm

On a sunny Wednesday afternoon, the Bears finally unveiled prized quarterback Jay Cutler at the first organized team activity of the offseason.

His fastball was as advertised -- wide receivers can hear it before they see it if they don't turn their heads in time. But the best Cutler has to offer is impossible to see in such a scaled-back setting.

The Bears forked over two first-round draft picks and Kyle Orton to acquire a player with the athleticism to keep a play alive in the pocket and make a play downfield. Combined with running back Matt Forte, the Bears should have a more potent play-action game. It's hard to see any of that when there are no shoulder pads, let alone no live rush. Continue

Cutler's dream job

Growing up in southern Indiana, Jay Cutler was a Bears fan, so he understands the franchise's history of quarterback futility.

That was apparent during his introductory news conference Friday at Halas Hall when he was asked the last time a Bears quarterback faced the kind of expectations that will greet him when he takes the field.

''I don't think I was alive,'' Cutler said quickly. ''It's been a while.''

Indeed it has. That's why the news of the Bears acquiring Cutler from the Denver Broncos on Thursday was almost unanimously hailed as a great move. Cutler, though, said he is fine with such expectations. Continue

Bears acquire quarterback Jay Cutler, add tackle Orlando Pace

The Jay Cutler saga has come to an end in Denver and the Cutler era has begun in Chicago.

The Bears acquired the 25-year-old, Pro Bowl quarterback from the Broncos along with a 2009 fifth-round pick in exchange for Kyle Orton, this year's first- and third-round picks and a 2010 first-round pick in a deal that Bears general manager Jerry Angelos said “came together unexpectedly.”

“We had a chance to talk amongst us," Angelo said Thursday evening. "I came to the conclusion with taking with Lovie [Smith] and Ted [Phillips] as well as ownership that I felt like we needed to pursue this. And if we got in it, we needed to get in it to win it.

“We didn’t know where we stood in the process until about an hour before.”

The Bears instantly become arguably the best team in the NFC North. Now the top draft priority has to be landing a receiver to go alongside Devin Hester. The Bears worked out North Carolina's Hakeem Nicks and Rutgers' Kenny Britt, with more workouts certain to be in the works. Continue