Brian Hoyer vs Jay Cutler: Is There Another Chicago Bears Quarterback Controversy?
Is there another Chicago Bears quarterback controversy brewing between Brian Hoyer and Jay Cutler?
After the Chicago Bears 17-14 win over the Detroit Lions,fans are breathing a sigh of relief. The Bears actually looked competent on both offense and defense. We’ll put Connor Barth and the special teams aside for another post. How much of the Bears’ success was the fact that it was the Detroit Lions? How much of it was due to the coaches and a better game plan? How much can be attributed to the quarterback?
There are some analysts who are ready to start throwing dirt on the Jay Cutler era in Chicago. Fox Sports analyst Jimmy Johnson, who was early to break the Marc Trestman to the Bears news a few years ago, seems ready to say that Cutler has thrown his last pass for the Bears:
"During halftime, the Fox analyst cited the leadership difference between fill-in Brian Hoyer and Cutler in suggesting the Bears will not return to Cutler when his injured right thumb is healed. He said Hoyer was “auditioning” for the job.“I think there is a good chance Jay Cutler has seen his last snap as a Bear,” Johnson said."
Johnson doesn’t bother to mention that the Bears played the Texans (5th ranked defense) and Eagles (3rd ranked defense in the games that Cutler started, while Hoyer got to face the Dallas Cowboys (18th ranked defense) and Lions (25th ranked defense). Johnson fails to mention that Cutler was hurt for all of or at least part of the Eagles game. He also fails to mention that Hoyer racked up most of his stats in the Cowboys game in garbage time when the outcome had already been decided.
So naturally, the “Jay Cutler is done as a Bear and Brian Hoyer is going to be the starter” buzz has started. Bears head coach John Fox did little to quell the buzz at Monday’s post-game presser:
"“We’ll evaluate it just like we do every position on the football team,” Fox said. “I think Jay has played a lot of good football. In fact, in the cut-ups watching Detroit in last year’s two games, I thought he played pretty well. Right now I don’t like getting into speculation and predictions because we’ll know more on Wednesday.”Might a hot-hand element make it difficult to sit Hoyer and give Cutler his job back?“I think it’s performance-based,” Fox said. “Anybody that’s performing well, I don’t think we’re going to be likely to change.”"
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This isn’t the first time that Fox has failed to give Cutler the vote of confidence. When Fox and Ryan Pace took over the team after the 2014 season, they didn’t endorse Cutler and many reports indicated they were trying to trade Cutler to the Tennessee Titans for the draft pick that became Marcus Mariota. Cutler is used to swinging in the wind.
Brian Hoyer, meet Josh McCown. A few years back, Josh McCown stepped in for an injured Jay Cutler and performed admirably against lesser opponents, rallied the Bears to a 3-2 record in his starts and suddenly the Bears were mired in a quarterback controversy. Some fans believe the Bears should have stuck with McCown to this very day. They would be idiots.
Let’s be clear. Jay Cutler is a better quarterback than either McCown or Brian Hoyer. Is Cutler the perfect quarterback? Far from it. But neither is Hoyer. Let’s not forget his playoff meltdown that killed the Texans just last season against the Chiefs. Let’s not forget that McCown practically single-handedly handed the Bears a win when he went to Tampa as their starter in 2014. If Brian Hoyer was that good, he wouldn’t have settled to be Cutler’s backup.
The best thing the Bears could do is let Cutler heal up. Maybe there’s no sense rushing him back? Ride the wave of lesser defenses with the Colts and Jaguars on the horizon and see if Hoyer can do what a backup is supposed to do – keep your season alive and win a couple of games in the event the starter is injured.
John Fox is notorious for playing it close to the vest. His lack of an endorsement for Cutler may just be a little gamesmanship to keep the Colts guessing. Chances are, we won’t know what happens with Cutler until Sunday anyway.