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Phil Emery Knocks “Elite Status” Off Jay Cutler

By Jordan Campbell

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Oct 26, 2014; Foxborough, MA, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (6) looks on from the sideline during the last seconds of the fourth quarter against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots won 51-23. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

A week after Chicago Bears general manager Phil Emery called Bears’ quarterback Jay Cutler an ‘elite’ NFL starting quarterback, Emery may have backed off those comments on Monday while giving his mid-season press conference at Halas Hall. 

Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has always been among the most debated quarterbacks in the NFL. Cutler’s backers would suggest that the quarterback is an elite quarterback in the NFL while Cutler’s detractors would point to the quarterback’s inconsistencies as being the reason why the Bears’ quarterback will never be an elite quarterback.

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    • Last January, the Bears provided their insight on the debate by signing Cutler to a 7-year contract extension that made him the highest paid player in the NFL for the 2014 season. Cutler was certainly getting paid as an elite quarterback, but his play suggested otherwise.

    Bears general manager Phil Emery had a chance last week to offer his opinion on Cutler, and Emery once again stated that Cutler was an elite quarterback.

    That was not the sentiment that Emery shared on Monday while conducting the Bears’ mid-season press conference. With the Bears on a 2-game losing streak and Cutler having committed four turnovers combined in those two games, Emery avoided calling Cutler an elite quarterback in the NFL.

    “Obviously, we’re a 3-5 team, and he’s a 3-5 quarterback right now,” Emery said. “There’s a lot of things he’s got to get better at. There are a lot of things we’ve got to get better at. In terms of protecting the ball, in the fumbles, he had one against San Francisco [in Week 2], had one this past week and had one the previous week against Miami. Some of them are just situations, a guy coming from the blind side. But obviously, you have to keep the ball up and away. We’ve got to get better at that. Obviously he knows that. He holds himself accountable for it, and he’ll continue to strive to get better in that area.”

    It should be prefaced that the Bears’ struggles this season are not entirely on Cutler. But, having said that, Cutler has been a large part of the problem.

    Emery and head coach Marc Trestman believe that they can fix Cutler but the problem is Cutler is a nine-year veteran in the NFL and is still making the same mistakes that a rookie quarterback would make. Cutler is not going to break his same cringe-worthy habits. Emery slightly admitted that on Monday when the general manager indicated that ‘old habits are hard to break’ while speaking about Cutler.

    With each passing week, it is becoming abundantly clear that Cutler is not the answer at the quarterback position for the Bear. Though, barring a trade, the Bears have locked themselves together with Cutler. Cutler is guaranteed $38 million over the course of the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Cutler is then guaranteed $10 million for the 2016 season. Meaning, there is strong chance that Cutler will be the starting quarterback for the Bears through, at least, the 2016 season.

    Though, if Percy Harvin can be traded, then there likely would be a taker for Cutler if the Bears ever do decide to shop Cutler. That is a decision that the Bears should make sooner rather than later.

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