The Jay Cutler Saga, Part 1

"Everyone's to Blame"

Our long national nightmare is over. Jay Cutler is no longer a member of the Denver Broncos. With it goes my three month emotional roller coaster ride, replaced by an eager anxiety to see how the new team performs. Honestly, I'm just glad it is finally done. Cutler and a 5th round pick are going to the Bears for Kyle Orton, a first rounder, a third, and a 2010 first. I've now had a day to reflect on this whole mess, and I'm ready to play the blame game.

The post-season drama began with the firing of Mike Shanahan late last December. Broncos fans rang in the New Year drunk on confusion and uncertainty. Two days earlier, the team completed their fall from a playoff spot to a disappointing second place in a bad conference. Still, the Shanahan firing came as a shock to players, media, and fans alike. Initially I was upset, but my anger eventually subsided into curiousity. Who to replace "The Mastermind"?

Owner Pat Bowlen hired Josh McDaniels, the Patriots' offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. McDaniels' offensive style obviously differed greatly from Shanahan's West Coast style of play, but Jay Cutler initially expressed an interest in learning McDaniels' system. However, he also made a public appeal for McDaniels to retain the Broncos' offensive staff. McDaniels canned offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Jeremy Bates and replaced him with Mike McCoy anway. Thus, the Jay Cutler Saga began.

Who's to blame at this stage? Not Jay for wanting to keep a coach with whom he is comfortable and familiar. Not McDaniels for hiring new staff- he is the head coach after all. Blame Bowlen at this stage. Cutler performed well under the Shanahan/Bates offense. The 2008 season showed more than anything that it was the Broncos' defense that needed an overhaul. Bowlen should have foreseen this potential conflict between coach and quarterback. Either keeping Shanahan or hiring a defensive minded coach (Steve Spagnuolo!) would have been a better solution. Bowlen either didn't foresee a disagreement or didn't care about (or underestimated) its consequences. In the end, the personalities and decisions of McDaniels and Cutler are to blame for the negative and dramatic way this turned out, but Bowlen's decisions to fire Shanahan and hire McDaniels were the avoidable catalysts.

Josh McDaniels' staffing choices made Jay Cutler distinctly aware of just how much change McDaniels planned to bring to the Broncos organization. So, when news broke in early March that McDaniels had listened to an offer for Cutler, Cutler could have done well to have been a little less shocked. The entire structure of the team had been upended, yet Cutler still believed his job was sacred. Being upset in such a situation is justified, as long as that situation is handled professionally. Instead, Cutler's erratic and sometimes infantile response dominated sports news for the next month. Real-time media drives the modern world, and the NFL is no different. Of course, it didn't used to be this way. As soon as the theoretical 3-way Cutler-Cassel trade story broke, Cutler and his agent, Bus Cook, should have immediately met with Josh McDaniels to talk through Cutler's role on the team.

A coach has the right (and the duty) to do what he feels is best for his team. A quarterback (or any player for that matter) should have a good relationship with his coach and his owner and make his vision for the team clear. The NFL and their employees, whether they be players, coaches, or owners, have a responsibility to try to get along with their co-workers and work together for the success of their team. To me, this seems like a basic tenet of effective communication in the workplace. Yet, the two sides talked more to the media than to each other about the situation. This is not an appropriate way to get across a message. When the two parties actually did talk directly to each other, it was more often through text messages than face-to-face.

The massive media attention garnered by the situation has an upside. People are now much more aware of who Josh McDaniels and Jay Cutler are. Their arrogance and naivety showed the world how young the coach and the quarterback really are. By prancing around in the public eye, the two should be aware by now of how their actions were perceived. Since they'll both be facing increased scrutiny this season, McDaniels and particularly Cutler should take advantage of this opportunity to grow.

Despite Cutler's childlike behavior in March, I see in him the potential to become an elite player. He is only twenty-five and has played for only three seasons. He has already shown his character and toughness by playing through an undiagnosed case of Type I Diabetes in 2007. He got healthy and had great stats in 2008. Perhaps being on the Bears will have a maturation effect on him. Chicagoans will be watching his every move. And after all, if he messes up, he'll have to answer to his parents, lifelong Chicago Bears fans.


Part One recapped the events leading up to the Jay Cutler trade and considered issues of personality, attitude, and behavior. Part Two will consider the 2009 football implications.