Ron Jaworski, while being locked up in his offices at NFL Films is in the midst of his top 30 NFL QB’s. I was very surprised that he ranked Jay Cutler at #8 in his countdown. It’s not that I don’t think he has top 10 ability, but the fact that the national media destroys all aspects of Cutler’s game except for his big time arm. Brett Favre was considered unorthodox and a gun slinger and threw some of the worst interceptions of all time at the wrong time, and he still never suffered from the amount of fallout as Cutler has from turning the ball over, even though Cutler hasn’t had a good line in front of him or the depth at wide receiver that Favre did in Green Bay.
Jaws is one of the few that has always defended Cutler’s ability. Jaws got to see one of Cutler’s best games of 2011 in person when the Bears beat his beloved Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football in a game that Cutler went 18 for 32 for 208 yards and 2 TD’s. Cutler led the Bears to 13 unanswered points in the final 15:21 to secure the victory 30-24. Jaws loves his big, accurate arm with deceptive athletic ability.
Jaws stated that Cutler, as we all know, needs to clean up his red zone turnover rate, which he did in 2011 when he didn’t record one interception in the red zone after turning the ball over an inexcusable 13 times in the previous three seasons. Cutler’s ability and importance to the team was never felt more than when Caleb Hanie took the field and squeezed the playoff life out of the 2011 season.
Where have the other NFC North quarterbacks ranked at? Christian Ponder was ranked at #28, and Matthew Stafford came in the ranking at #14. The only real question left in the ranking will be whether Aaron Rodgers is first or second behind Tom Brady.
Nothing will be better than Cutler and the Bears offense breaking out this season with Brandon Marshall, and making a deep run to the Super Bowl, and then all the haters having to change their minds about Cutler. Jaws then will have to rank Cutler in the top 3 to match his big time talents next offseason.
DA BEARS