Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune
Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune
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Joe Robbins, Getty Images
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Bruce Kluckhohn, USA Today Sports
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Michael Noble Jr. / Chicago Tribune
Andrew Weber, USA Today Sports
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Anthony Souffle, Chicago Tribune
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Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune
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Brad Rempel, USA Today Sports
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Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune
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Charles Rex Arbogast, AP
Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune
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Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune
John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune
Michael Conroy, AP
Dennis Wierzbicki, USA Today Sports
#CuttyDoesIt
For those who are unfamiliar, that’s the cute little hashtag Jay Cutler supporters have used when taking to social media in droves to defend the embattled quarterback throughout his tenure in Chicago.
Because of his injuries, we’ve been spared from the rallying cry for much of the season. And if the team’s front office has any clue, #CuttyDoesIt will soon go permanently extinct in this city.
How any of these hashtag-wielding, unrepentant apologists have possibly persisted through the duration of Cutler’s Bears career is up there with Stonehenge as one of humankind’s great mysteries. It’s hard to pinpoint just what they’ve admired, considering his time in Chicago has amounted to a combination of unjustified hype, wildly inflated compensation, temper tantrums and basically total disappointment. He’s essentially the Gordon Ramsay of football.
On one hand, it’s not Cutler’s fault that former general manager Phil Emery decided it’d be wise to offer more than $50 million in guaranteed money to a bad decision-maker with a questionable attitude. On the other hand, it IS Cutler’s fault that he’s a bad decision-maker with a questionable attitude.
But now, with all the guaranteed money from that awful contract having been paid out, there remains no conceivable justification for current GM Ryan Pace to continue dealing with this mess.
On the field, we’ve seen all there is to see. The franchise provided more than enough support, resources and benefit of the doubt. In return, Cutler failed again and again. And again. And again. It’s safe to say his term in Chicago has included more trust-busting than the Teddy Roosevelt presidency.
How about off the field? Some in the #CuttyDoesIt camp claim he would be a great candidate to help develop a quarterback if the Bears were to take one in the first round of the upcoming draft. But Cutler has more technical glitches than a Samsung Galaxy Note7, and asking him to mentor a young QB would be akin to asking a creationist to teach a course on evolution. Not only would he suck at it, he wouldn’t even believe in the principles he’d be asked to instill.
Finally, for those delusional enough to think the Bears should hang onto Cutler because he holds trade value, please understand what the rest of the league already knows: No one is going to offer anything of value. Think of a beat-up 1989 Toyota Tercel. Sure, it could be claimed if abandoned on the side of the road. But no other car owner is about to roll down their window and ask you what you want for it.
There’s just no sense in hanging onto this clunker anymore. If you couldn’t come to terms with it the past eight years, hopefully it’s clearer now: #CuttyDoesn’t, #CuttyDidn’t and #CuttyNeverWill.
Tim Coffey is a RedEye contributor. @tqcoff