Cutler Doesn't Cut it in Bears Debut
Dennis Dillon - SportingNews.com
Sep 14, 2009
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- It was only one game. There's a lot of football still to be played. It's way too early to panic, Bears fans.
But, geesh, that was a stinkeroo Jay Cutler turned in Sunday night in his first game as the Bears' quarterback. He completed only 17-of-36 passes, was intercepted four times and finished with an abysmal 43.2 passer rating.
I know what you're thinking. Rex Grossman or Kyle Orton could have put up those kinds of numbers. But let's look at it from a different perspective. In Chicago's 21-15 loss to the NFC North rival Packers, we saw the worst of Jay Cutler. Surely, the best is yet to come.
"I still think we're a good football team," Cutler said, trying to put a confident spin on the game. "This was Game 1. There are 15 more. There's a lot of football left. We just need to get back together, watch some film and get ready for Pittsburgh.
"One loss isn't the end of the season."
No, it isn't. But Bears fans, who had been waiting for this moment since the Bears acquired Cutler from Denver in the biggest trade of the offseason, had to be a bit dismayed. They were expecting big things from Cutler, a Pro Bowl player last year who was supposed to be the greatest Bears quarterback since Jim McMahon -- if not Sid Luckman.
Instead, they witnessed the first four-interception game of his career. They watched him botch a potential victory -- the outcome was in doubt until Packers QB Aaron Rodgers heaved a 50-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings with 1:11 left in the fourth quarter -- by throwing a quartet of passes into the hands of guys in green.
Three of Cutler's interceptions came in the first half, including an absolutely awful toss that landed in the hands of Johnny Jolly -- a lineman, no less -- at the Green Bay 12.
Asked if he just didn't see Jolly, Cutler laughed sarcastically and said, "Yeah, I didn't see him."
Tramon Williams, who wouldn't have been on the field as much if the Packers hadn't been playing so much nickel defense, accounted for the other first-half interceptions. Cutler's final pass was picked off by cornerback Al Harris and allowed the Packers to run out the clock.
Let's not overlook Cutler's good moments, though. In the first half, he completed a 68-yard bomb down the sideline to rookie wide receiver Johnny Knox, who got behind cornerback Charles Woodson. And early in the third quarter, Cutler's 36-yard scoring pass to Devin Hester cut Green Bay's lead to 10-9.
Despite Cutler's travails and injuries to starting linebackers Pisa Tinoisamoa (knee) and Brian Urlacher (wrist), the Bears could have (should have?) won the game. They muffled the Packers' high-throttled offense all night, holding Green Bay to just 226 net yards, including only 76 yards rushing.
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