As first reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN, Jimmy Clausen will replace Jay Cutler as the Bears starting quarterback in week 16.
Stunner from Chicago: Bears starting QB Jimmy Clausen this week, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 17, 2014
Cutler, was given the yank after a season-long struggle. He leads the league in turnovers with 18 interceptions and 6 lost fumbles. On the other side Jimmy Clausen comes in with a 1-9 record as a starter and a 58.4 passer rating. That is only 4 points higher than Cutler’s on the season.
This also comes after a whirlwind of rumors have surfaced of firings in the front office and coaching staff. Calls for Cutlers ousting have also come to be known. When a player is making up around $18 million and is not being as productive as that money calls for, it is rather difficult to cut or trade that player. Easy to cut Cutler, but pretty hard to swallow millions of dollars that the Bears would owe him.
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The Bears may have made a huge mistake. If their plan was to trade Cutler in the offseason to unload some of that cap space, they just made it even more difficult. If the Bears can’t trust Cutler to start at quarterback, what NFL team is going to eat a large portion of his contract and trade away draft picks? Not many. Also, what is the point to sending Clausen out there instead of letting Cutler finish the season? The Bears are out of the playoff run and don’t have much to lose.
The best case scenario for the Bears is this: Clausen plays week 16 and 17 and has terrible games. This would point to coaching and play-calling as being the problem, not Cutler. Then Cutler’s trade value would seemingly rise, leaving the Bears some flexibility to trade him, if they were to use that option. That would also put more pressure for Trestman and company to be fired. Worst case is Clasuen having success, leaving the Bears with no way to dump Cutler’s contract and Trestman saving his job.
Remember that if you think this was a great move.