It’s good for Jay Cutler to be back in Chicago. Very good, actually.
He’s back for an American Cornhole League tournament in Bedford Park, and six years removed from his run as the Bears’ prolific and polarizing quarterback, the welcome seems to be increasingly warm.
“I think maybe now there’s a little more appreciation for what I did while I was here,” he told the Sun-Times.
There has to be. After enduring Mike Glennon, Mitch Trubisky, Andy Dalton and Nick Foles, there’s no doubt Bears fans look back a little more fondly on the Cutler years.
And now the attention has shifted fully to former first-round pick Justin Fields, who struggled through a chaotic rookie season under Matt Nagy and is hoping to stride confidently into the future with new coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.
The fan base desperately wants him to succeed, and that includes Cutler. He knows better than anyone how difficult it is to win over the city, but he’s optimistic Fields can do it.
“If the Bears start winning … I hope they do. And I hope Justin is successful and I hope he’s the next big thing here and he’s the best quarterback to come out of Chicago Bears history.”
The first steps of Fields’ career were choppy as he rattled around in Nagy’s dysfunctional offense and ill-fated plan for him to sit behind Dalton all season. He played 12 games, starting 10, and finished with seven touchdown passes, two touchdown runs, 10 interceptions and a 73.2 passer rating.
The Bears believe that cleaning up the mess Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace left behind is the first step toward Fields becoming a franchise quarterback. While that might be true, the next challenge will be to create stability.
In Cutler’s eight seasons, he played under three head coaches and six offensive coordinators. He’s apprehensive about the Bears putting Fields through a similar ordeal.
“I like him ... he’s got all the tools, but it’s the same problem the Bears have had for a long time: They’re turning over coaches and turning over OCs,” Cutler said. “It’s hard for a quarterback. You look across the league and the guys that are really good at quarterback have the same coaches and same systems each year.
“This is like learning a different language. It’s like if I told you: ‘Hey, you’ve gotta learn Spanish this year and next year learn Italian and the next year learn Chinese,’ it’s not gonna be easy.”
While Cutler’s life is a little too busy at the moment, he envisions eventually establishing a stronger post-career relationship with the organization.
Eberflus has been reaching out to prominent former players ever since he took the job, but hasn’t contacted Cutler. Or maybe he has.
“I’m horrible with my phone, so there’s no telling,” Cutler said with a laugh. “He could’ve called me, maybe not — I have no idea. I don’t even check my voicemail.
“But I spent the most time with the Bears, I was a Bears fan growing up, my kids love watching Chicago, so it’s one of those things that if the opportunity arises and it works, I’d definitely be down for it.”
He’s also been consumed by practicing for the ACL event, which opens Friday night at Wintrust Sports Complex with a celebrity contest that also includes ex-Bear Zach Miller, Jarrett Payton and country singer Brett Young as they vie for $100,000 for charity.
ACL’s Final Chase tournament runs Saturday through Monday as pros compete for $70,000 in prize money. All days of the event have free admission.
