Here is the Trib article:
Jay Cutler's seeming swan song with Bears more like audition for others
Mike Mulligan
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...-bears-mulligan-spt-1027-20161026-column.html
It seems strange to think of Jay Cutler suddenly auditioning for his job in his 11th season, eight with the Bears, but that is the reality.
Cutler returns to his tired, old starting role Monday night against the Vikings amid the giddy certitude that it soon will be over. Bears coach John Fox may half-heartedly ratchet up a p.r. campaign to try to sell Cutler to a suspicious fan base, but the simple fact is Cutler already might have played his last game for the Bears if Brian Hoyer hadn't been injured.
Two different league sources say Fox had told friends he was done with Cutler. The player is coming to the end of the guaranteed money on his contract and can be launched after this season with minimal salary cap impact.
The worst kept secret is football is that Cutler is only back as a starter because the Bears have nowhere else to turn. Hoyer's on injured reserve with a broken arm, Matt Barkley isn't ready for prime time and the organization has failed to draft or develop another option.
That leaves the rest of 2016 for Cutler to spend on trial before a jury of 31 other NFL teams. There is no mercy in that court. But there remains a glaring shortage of quarterbacks in professional football and some team somewhere has to be weighing the possibility of bringing in Cutler next year.
Idle speculation will be that maybe Dolphins coach Adam Gase will seek a reunion. Or that Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan will land one of the five or six-plus head coaching jobs that annually open and perhaps take a chance on Cutler.
Maybe it won't even be a team that has a connection to Cutler. Fix-It Fever is endemic in the NFL. Many of the best and brightest have convinced themselves over the years that they can put healing hands on a player and repair lost causes. One man's trash is another man's treasure.
The Browns signed Robert Griffin III to be its starting quarterback in 2016. Jeff George, the talented Hoosier Hurler to whom Cutler often has been compared played for seven teams over 15 years despite a reputation as a problem. Cutler may have experienced a similar journeyman career if he had not landed on the Bears with their well-earned reputation for mental constipation.
Regardless, the challenge for the rest of 2016 — outside of scouring the college ranks for a legitimate potential starter or at very least an authentic developmental guy — is to figure out a way to find success with what should be a motivated Cutler.
Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains needs to figure out in a hurry how to get Cutler to play more like Hoyer did in terms of protecting the ball, while also adding some downfield passing finally to jump start an offense can't seem to score touchdowns. Cutler will be a hard sell for any team next year if he continues to turn the ball over. Then again, the Bears won the turnover battle — by two — and still somehow lost to the Jaguars.
The most disappointing element of the Cutler era has been the fact the player only seems to succeed when running on rocket fuel — top receivers, highly paid linemen, strong running game. Everything around him needs to be highly efficient, while, sadly, the Bears mostly have been running on diesel fuel.
Can Cutler succeed without the volatility he previously has needed to escape the grip of gravity? The gap between playing and winning is immense and Cutler simply has been a player in Chicago. Dreams of national conquest are long gone. The question remaining is how much the guy wants to continue to play.
He's now auditioning for the next chapter of his football life. Can he give a practical demonstration of his suitability or is this a trial he's doomed to fail? At least he will provide something worth watching on a 1-6 team.
