NFL Top 10 Series: Quarterbacks - #8

Welcome one and all to the much talked about and much anticipated (maybe not so much) debut of the NFL Top 10 Series. We’ve gone through the motions since the middle of the month of April with honorable mentions posts, which if you’re reading this post right now you have probably read through most if not all of them. We’re down with two and with eight to go you need not to worry because from here on out there will be a lot of normalcy, in your opinion at least, as to who is on this list. Of course, we have to get through one more enigmatic quarterback before we get to that point. The man that we’re about to see on this list has taken a lot of punishment under center for the last couple of seasons. This year however, with what has happened in the offseason, and with the hints that we got last year too, he might be the one dishing it out in 2012, and in a big, big way. In fact, you might want to say the rest of the league may want to…

Bear down in preparation.

Quarterback #8 – Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears

Jay Cutler has taken a lot of punishment under center in The Windy City. I have a hunch that that's all about to change in 2012. 

We all know the narrative by now. Jay Cutler isn’t tough. Jay Cutler is mentally weak. Did you see the 2011 NFC Championship Game? Cutler didn’t want anything to do with it. He doesn’t have what it takes to win it. He’s a wimp and he wouldn’t even go out there with torn ligaments in his leg. Now that I have drawn in your attention with all of that garbage being spewed out of the proverbial sewer, it is time to get real.

Jay Cutler is a bonafide Top 10 quarterback and in my opinion is ready to take that next giant leap.

Since coming into the NFL in 2006, Jay has had a couple of missteps, but for these missteps he has found a way to make a whole lot of something out of nothing, especially in his tenure in The Windy City. In The Mile High City, he was lucky enough to have a huge, reliable target in Brandon Marshall that turned Cutler into a machine under center. He shattered records like Elway shattered hearts (mainly Cleveland’s) and lord only knows what might have been had he not gotten so annoyed that he was the topic of trade conversations after Josh McDaniels got to Denver.

As we know, that was never to be. Cutler found his way to Chicago, and Bears fans were welcoming him with open arms. Finally they had find a reliable-looking quarterback after so many years of rolling through the rotisserie of journeymen quarterbacks that did nothing to improve the team. No success is had without trouble though and needless to say Cutler had a lot of growing pains in his first season with the Bears. A 25+-interception season left Cutler as the butt of all the jokes, and with Kyle Orton flourishing in Denver, many were wondering just who exactly got the better of the deal.

Of course, if you really were considering that Kyle Orton was a better quarterback than Jay Cutler based on anything but team success, you would probably be locked up in an insane asylum. The two are on completely different levels. Orton lacks arm strength, and played so poorly in the eyes of a certain fanbase, that he was booted out of town for an enigmatic quarterback who shall remain nameless. Meanwhile, Jay Cutler has only gotten better since the disastrous 2009 season and has shown absolutely no signs of letting up.

There were the bumps in the road: the disastrous Week 4 game in 2010 against the New York Giants where the Giants defensive line sacked Cutler what seemed an uncountable number of times, and the much maligned NFC Championship Game where Cutler’s actions on the sidelines were the attention rather than what he was doing on the field. The Bears’ quarterback took heat from almost all angles, from comedians, to former NFL players, to current NFL players, and analysts and pundits and whomever could get their left hooks in took steps at him.

Cutler followed it up with a dynamic 2011 season and showed a lot of flashes of brilliance that had Bears fans thinking of high aspirations. That was until late November, when Cutler fractured his thumb on his throwing hand while trying to make a tackle, effectively ending his season.

This year though, expectations are high once again for the Vanderbilt University graduate. Why is this? Simply because Cutler has a great arsenal of weapons around him arguably for the first time in his tenure in Chicago. Brandon Marshall has returned via a trade with the Miami Dolphins, Alshon Jeffery, a dynamic wide receiver from South Carolina was drafted in April, and Matt Forte, despite being in a holdout, is expected to once again prove why he’s one of the most versatile threats in the NFL.

Cutler’s presence in the pocket isn’t so much to gawk about, as he’s really best when he rolls out and he isn’t taking a beating behind his atrocious offensive line that was ranked dead last according to Pro Football Focus. Despite that though he is very good under duress, having the third best completion percentage at 56.2 last year only behind Drew Brees and Tony Romo. In fact, Cutler was graded as the sixth best quarterback when facing pressure last year, based on 133 dropbacks. His Sack % really was 17.3, and his TD to INT ratio was 1.5 (3 TD to 2 INT). His arm strength is superb, and is one of the best in the league, if not the best all around. And with Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery at his disposal, expect Cutler to unleash the cannon of an arm he possesses regularly.

So despite what you may think or feel about him, the fact of the matter is Jay Cutler is a Top 10 quarterback and is set to, if all goes right, perform at an extremely high level in the 2012 season.