selection7

Perfect answer (by Cutler), IMO.

Is 6.4 ypa actually that weak? You hit 7 ypa and you're doing good...8 and you're the best in the league. 6.4 is more like average right?

Average to above average length career for an NFL'er, our team stayed with him through all those injuries, and he'll retire rich. Don't be too sorry for him.

Also, 4th quarter wins are more exciting for a fan than a nice, safe 10 point lead all game.

Doesn't bother me a bit. As a previous post said, he signs sometimes. Why should he have to sign all the time? He hasn't even done anything here yet, so maybe being put up on such a pedastal everywhere he goes makes him uncomfortable. Hard to keep your focus that way.

Orton doesn't have the arm? How long have you been following the Bears Also, you've read the stats page wrong (it happens to the best of us). You're looking at his stats when he passes at least 31 times in a game, not a depth of over 30...though it should have clued you in when you reported that Cutler throw 149 deep balls last season, haha. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/splits?playerId=9597 Cutler from beyond 30 yards was 4/27 and 1 TD Orton from beyond 30 yards was 3/33 and 0 TD (literally he was 1/11 but I multiplied it by 3 to make it more apples to apples) I don't think the picks stat is useful because of last second of the half hail mary's, though for full disclosure Orton did throw 3 in only 11 attempts to Cutler's 4 in 27 attempts. Also remember that Orton was badly hurt. It stands to reason his deep stats would have been better than Cutler's (it wouldn't have taken much) if he had been. It's awesome that Bear fans finally want to see the glass half full with a Bear QB, but I've been around long enough to know how it goes with some of you fans (not necessarily you Nfo). The media loves to build them up so they can tear them down later, but that doesn't mean we have to as fans. Just like Orton, Cutler's young and and should only get better, so who knows he could very well put up great deep ball numbers, but let's just not make the mistake of assuming strong arm = completed bombs without any other reason to assume so.

It's been pointed out already, but the thing to remember is not to get too hyped up about Cutler's "deep" ball. A 22 yard pass is not deep. The article conveniently left out that from 30+ yards out, Cutler was equally as horrid at the long ball as Orton, but with thrice as many attempts. So Cutler has a big arm, but that should manifest itself in strong throws while on the run (hopefully not backpedalling), not completed fly routes...though the latter would be nice since we do have Hester.

I also didn't realize Love is paid more than Bill Belichick. I don't remember Lovie's deal being that huge back when it was signed. What happened? You think if Belichick and Lovie went out to eat lunch together Lovie would volunteer to pay the whole bill, then would nonchalantly toss a few Benjamin's Belichicks way and tell him to "buy yourself something nice"?

Not to mention the prediction for Cutler's TD/Int is the same as last year's Orton stats...if Orton had thrown 6 more TDs and 6 more picks. I'm not sure that's an insult but it at least suggests they think Cutler won't exactly be playing like a pro-bowler out of the gate. Most likely it's like you said and it's just all hot air to throw something together by the print (or otherwise) deadline.

I saw that article before you posted it and sent it to my friend. Amazing stuff.

I think I've got a really good idea. How about a system where only guys in their first year (two if necessary) not drafted in the first round can wear the retired numbers, then the rookie/sophmore has to switch numbers if one is available and let a new rookie use the number. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but bear with me. --It almost guarantees that no other player will be remembered for that number other than the retiree. --It means that it will become common knowledge among fans that the rooks wear the numbers of the greats, sort of like an adverstisement for the great players until the rooks have proven they can become NFL'ers in their own right, and the yearly fan conversation of "which Bear great is that rookie wearing?" would become a training camp staple, keeping our older players relevant. --The rookies would be indoctrined into Bear lore in a more personal way than what we have now. Can you imagine joining the Chicago Bears as a rookie, putting on #51, and not feeling a pride that would drive you to succeed. --Importantly, it would free up all those numbers so that first two year guys aren't taking up numbers that veterans could have.

Yeah, someone probably used a "razor" to stab him...getting caught "shaving" money off his payment to his bookee. Or he could secretly be a superhero like Hellboy. ...OR, it's a fashion accessory like with Sasha Fierce. I'm not sure which.

Damian Vick should still be available in the 2nd. Ok, I admist I just made that up, hardy-har.

#1, some of these players are dumb as rocks (and even less wise, haha). You don't need a Wonderlic test to tell you that. #2, some of them surely suffer from addiction. So drug addiction could ruin their chance at being successful? Strange, who's ever heard of such a thing? But maybe if we all collectively laugh at them enough it will help convince others not to follow in their footsteps.

He's not acting aloof about a bold move to help his franchise. He's acting aloof about a very risky move that has good reasons to look like may have not helped the team. It's also a risky move that has good reasons to look like it will help the team. It's both. But you knew that. It's already been pointed out many times. You just don't like him and so take another opportunity to insult him. It's wrong and immature. You're the one with the attitude problem, not him. I get tired of defending people from other people who love to be ugly. Just give it a rest. You'll be happier. EDIT: errr, actually azbearsfan may not have been one of the more egregious, so sorry. but you know who you are.

Yards per attempt is definitely the good one because it was true last year too. Most of the others are relatively meaningless because they're based 50% of Orton's rookie year while Cutler's rookie year only accounts for 14% of his stats.

Some of you guys are acting like I'm asking why did Cutler require more value? Duh. I asked why he required insanely more. Cassell was practically given away for free. In fact I can't fathom how Denver wasn't able to aquire Cassell if they wanted him so much. All they had to do was give up a second rounder and not require Vrabel and it would have been a better deal. In fact, why didn't Cassell become a Bear (remember we didn't know Cutler would be available yet)? We could have easily beaten that and had great depth with two promising young QB's at the very least...all for nothing more than a second rounder. I guess the best answer I've heard is that the two coaches were buddy-buddy, but that's still pretty far-fetched. Also, apparently JA was never going to offer 2 first rounders but just threw his hands up and did it when crazy Daniel Snyder started screwing things up. He may have already informed Kyle of his intentions and just wasn't going to go back ofter that.

Cutler has what you would call very likely to be earned incentives (like 70% snaps and top5 QB in any category) that make his contract thus: 7.6M-2009, 7.9M-2010, 16.3M-2011 7.6M is pretty good for a guy who's proved very little and still well in the middle of his rookie contract. If we like how Cutler adjusts to the Bears, I'm ok with a new contract just as long as Cutler understands it's like refinancing your morgage. You can get a better deal, but considering they've already got you, you've got to give something up (a fee in that case, in Cutler's case, a much lower contract than he'd get if he were a true free agent). Cutler gets more money sooner; the Bears get Cutler at a cut rate and sewn up for longer. As I put in another post, the 2010 deal looks especially beneficial to the Bears so don't expect the bears to renegotiate without Cutler giving up something serious in return. The last year was just padding. Cutler's agent probably never expected he'd get paid that, but I guess with the new collective bargaining agreement approaching you never know. JA's comment that a new deal is unnecessary probably suggests that Cutler understood before he signed on that wasn't allowed to be a dealbreaker. Unnecessary, of course, doesn't mean it won't happen anyway if both parties want it to.

Remember, there were the picks lost too. a staggering value. And Cutler will come in completely new to the offense while Kyle had been in it for years. Cutler also has a bit of a reputation (hopefully undeserved) for immaturity and Urlacher isn't the type to suffer fools. Don't act like you have no earthly idea why he might say "I guess" just because you don't like the guy. When you start slagging off innocent people you're taking the ass-clownery too far.

What exactly are you basing this on? Convince me. I had been taking everybody's word for it (since everybody was saying it, it must be true, right?), then I read something on another messageboard and checked it out for myself and sure enough, Cutler's ratio on throws over 30 yards is 4/27 with 4 picks and 1 TD. Am I missing something? It kinda pisses me off how far from being a great deep ball thower that sounds like. He does have a 43% from 20-30 which sounds good to me, but heck, it's only 6 points higher than Orton's. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/splits?playerId=9597

Noticed Marc Bulger was one of the worst starting Qb's in the league last year while Kurt Warner was one of the best. I thought that was kind of satisfying remembering how Kurt lost his job after an injury to Marc back in the day. I've always liked Kurt. Of course maybe Marc is also a good guy; I don't know much about him.

Even if this does turn out good for us, I want someone to eventually explain how we had to trade two 1st rounders AND a third AND Orton for him ...when KC just got Matt Cassell AND Vrabel for one measily 2nd rounder. Regardless of Jay being more proven, that's a staggering difference considering Cassell actually had the better year and Cutler's other two years weren't that great. I was under the impression that teams just don't trade away draft picks like that anymore just for players. It's 1999 again.

That kind of interest maybe says more about his quality than stats or a popularity contest pro-bowl. ...unless it's an indication of how desperate teams are for a QB . But these teams that were interested have all studied the tapes a lot more thoroughly than us Monday-morning quarterbacks.

Chris Simms has his work cut out for him. Kyle isn't trying to redeem his career like Chris. Nor has he been tiptoeing around, just hoping not to screw up. He's been steadily working towards this moment in his career and it's going to be fun to watch it all go down. ...just as long as it's not against us.

He had one season as an anointed starter. So of course none of the pundits or fans who say he wasn't a long term answer actually know that to be true. After injuring himself he slowly started playing better, finally finishing the season with a week17 game QB rating in the 90's. The two players are as strikingly similar in some ways (tall, strong-armed, young, don't get rattled) as they are different in others (deep ball accuracy, maturity, mobility). I'm definitely one of the few on this board that initially thought the deal sounded terrible because you look around the league and compare him to other QB's and there didn't seem to be any reason Orton shouldn't continue to grow into an elite QB. Especially since most seem to agree that on another offense Orton's 79.6 rating would be more like an 85. so two firsts and a third are a lot to give up if you're just upgrading from/losing Orton rather than Jonathan Quinn, or even Rex. But apparently Cutler is more than hype when you look into some of the things that make him really special. It's hard to put a price on players that are truly special. AND he grew up a Bears fan so maybe he won't just be gone in 2 years when it's time to negotiate a new contract. I read that even though Cutler tends to be a bit antisocial, he still had close friends on the Broncos who were high character guys so I don't expect him to be a character problem.