Still wish the Broncos had Jay Cutler after all this time?
I don't. Josh McDaniels may have done a lot of things wrong, but one thing he got right was to send Jeff George's clone packing.
Cutler could win a hundred Super Bowls and I wouldn't care; the Broncos could finish at the bottom of the AFC West for a decade, and it wouldn't bother me. As long as I'm assured Jay Cutler will never throw another pass for the Denver Broncos, I'll be content.
This recent article from Rick Reilly hasn't received too much attention from Broncos fans, and rightly so. The Broncos have been pretty busy hiring a coach. But just in case there is anyone out there who thinks the Broncos would be better off with Cutler over any of the Broncos' quarterbacks, take a look at Reilly's article.
For those that can't bear to look, I've got some highlights.
Here's how Reilly described a locker room "exchange" between Cutler and former All-Pro safety John Lynch when they were both in Denver:
Once, in his rookie year in Denver, 45 minutes before a game, surefire Hall of Fame safety John Lynch was trying to explain something to Cutler about NFL pass coverage. Except Cutler wasn't looking at Lynch. He was texting.
"Man, I'm trying to talk to you!" Lynch protested.
Didn't help. Cutler was all thumbs, head down. Finally, Lynch slapped the phone out of Cutler's hands, smashing it to the floor.
He listened after that.
Thankfully, Lynch didn't smash Cutler's face that day--the Broncos might not have convinced the Bears to part with so many draft picks.
Later, Reilly describes an attempt Mike Shanahan made to try and mentor Cutler with none other than new Broncos employee (and Hall of Fame QB) John Elway:
The three of them sat down at a Denver steak joint. Elway, polite as ever, tried to impart some wisdom. Except Cutler wasn't looking at Elway. He wasn't looking at Shanahan, either. He was looking at the TV. The whole time. With his baseball cap on backward. All the way through dessert. Elway did not leave impressed.
At least Cutler wasn't texting. I guess he had matured.
I'm glad Bears fans are now put in the position of defending this sort of punk behavior. Team loyalties run deep; nearsightedness becomes the common cold around Chicago. Jay Cutler is simply a misunderstood emo kid from Indiana who is only an insulin shot and a throw-off-the-back-foot touchdown pass away from becoming the next great quarterback.
Cutler will probably beat the Seahawks later today; he may very well play for a championship later this year. If he does, expect all of the comparisons to come flooding back to Denver. Still, I highly doubt he'll get there. Life has a funny way of humbling the cocky, the double chinned, and those who believe they've nothing to learn from those who have come before them. Besides, if John Lynch couldn't tell Cutler not to stare into zone coverage, I doubt he's learned the lesson yet.
Even if Cutler does win it all, so be it. I'd rather watch the Broncos struggle with Tim Tebow, Kyle Orton, or even Brady Quinn.
At least they'll have the decency to look John Elway in the face.