Jay Cutler

Franchise passing leader who took the 2010 Bears to the NFC Championship Game.

Jay Cutler (born 1983) is a former NFL quarterback who spent most of his 12 seasons with the Chicago Bears, where he became the franchise's leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns, attempts and completions. His best year was 2010, when Chicago won its division and reached the NFC Championship Game.

Quick Facts

Position: Quarterback
Number: 6
Born: 29 April 1983
Birthplace: Santa Claus, Indiana, U.S.
College: Vanderbilt (2001–2005)
High school: Heritage Hills (Lincoln City, Indiana)
Draft year: 2006
Draft round: 1

Facts from the source article.

Background

Cutler arrived from Denver on April 3, 2009, in a trade that sent quarterback Kyle Orton plus first- and third-round picks in 2009 and a 2010 first-rounder to the Broncos. His first Chicago season was turbulent: four interceptions in the opening loss to Green Bay, then seven touchdowns in three straight wins, then a stretch in which the Bears lost eight of ten while he threw an NFL-high 20 interceptions. He still closed the year with four-touchdown games against Minnesota and Detroit, finishing with 27 touchdowns and a league-leading 26 interceptions.

The Bears hired Mike Martz, known for the St. Louis Rams' Greatest Show on Turf, as offensive coordinator before the 2010 season. In Week 4 Cutler was sacked nine times in the first half against the New York Giants and missed the rest of that game and the next with a concussion. The Bears finished 11-5 with the NFC North title and a first-round bye, and despite taking a league-leading 52 sacks Cutler threw for 3,274 yards and 23 touchdowns. In his playoff debut he beat Seattle 35-24 with two passing and two rushing touchdowns, a feat only Otto Graham had managed in a postseason game. The NFC Championship Game against Green Bay ended for him early in the third quarter with a knee injury, and the social-media criticism from other players that followed was later described as perhaps the league's first player-on-player attack of its kind; an MRI showed a sprained MCL.

Cutler had grown up a Bears fan in Indiana, played college football at Vanderbilt, where he was the 2005 SEC Offensive Player of the Year, and was drafted 11th overall by Denver in 2006. After his release from Chicago he played a final season for the Miami Dolphins, and in 2019 he was named among the 100 greatest Bears.