Chicago Bears ride Jay Cutler in 2015 one last time

By Frank Florio | April 13, 2015

The Chicago Bears have hitched their wagons to Jay Cutler long enough to get two head coaches fired without any worthwhile results, and have to be at least considering moving on from the inconsistent quarterback. But thanks to a number of factors, the odds are they’ll stick with Cutler for at least one more season before being willing to make concrete efforts to part ways. While that may not make Bears fans happy, there is some upside.

Jay Cutler’s contract is virtually untradeable. Even if the Chicago Bears did manage to find a potential trade partner with enough available salary cap space to absorb it, they would get little in return and may have to throw in draft picks just to get the other team to agree to the deal. That means the Bears lack the ammunition to move up and take the likes of Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota, both of whom will be gone within the first six picks of the draft. So even if Cutler is banished, the Bears would have little ability to replace him with anyone this season.

However new head coach John Fox may be just what Jay Cutler needs in order to finally turn his head around and play up to his potential. Fox has worked wonders with the likes of Tim Tebow and other tricky quarterbacks in his past stops, and that ability is a part of what landed him the Chicago Bears job. So don’t be surprised if John Fox takes a year to see if he can fix what’s wrong with Jay Cutler before giving up and turning to the first round of the 2016 draft for a replacement.