While Bears like Cutler's game, Angelo not so much

Jerry Angelo and Jay Cutler aren't the most popular figures in Chicago sports history.

Angelo is viewed as a failed former Bears general manager and Cutler as the disappointing current Bears quarterback.

So fans might have trouble picking sides after Angelo's recent negative assessment of Cutler's 2013 season on thesidelineview.com.

Personally, I tend to trust Angelo's opinions more than Cutler's mechanics.

Cutler likely couldn't care less what anyone thinks of him as he smirks all the way to the bank. Life is good. His family is healthy and growing. He could be concussed out of the NFL any snap now and still be wealthy for several lifetimes.

The thing about money is if you're given enough it can make you believe you're one of the NFL's best quarterbacks.

Angelo, however, ranked Cutler down around the middle of the NFL pack, which was surprising considering that Angelo is responsible for Cutler being here in the first place.

One would expect Angelo to overrate Cutler to justify the huge package he sent to Denver to acquire him. However, Angelo's scouting report portrayed Cutler as lacking poise, poor at reading defenses and inconsistent in the clutch.

You know, just a few of the complaints that critics in town have expressed about the Bears' quarterback for years now.

Current Bears general manager Phil Emery and head coach Marc Trestman disagree with the voice from the past. They just guaranteed Cutler $54 million over the next three seasons.

I wondered even more about that decision while listening to the compliments heaped upon Peyton Manning during Super Bowl week.

The Broncos' legend was on the verge of being anointed the NFL's all-time greatest quarterback ahead of the likes of John Elway, Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas.

All Manning had to do was win the Super Bowl. Instead, the Seahawks pressured him and won the championship.

So Manning isn't the NFL's best-ever quarterback, but he still is considered the best-ever regular-season quarterback. His statistics during 2013 suggest that this was the best-ever single season by a quarterback.

Now think of the primary physical tools Manning employed to accomplish the feat at age 37: Weak arm and statuesque mobility.

While it isn't fair to compare any quarterback to Manning, Cutler's two greatest perceptible attributes are a strong arm and the ability to move.

Until the Seahawks shocked him, Manning excelled more with brains and instincts that translated into poise under pressure, consistency in the clutch and the ability to read defenses.

Yikes! Those are the very qualities that Angelo and other observers haven't seen in Cutler. Trestman essentially was hired to instill them, and we're still waiting.

This is a new year, however, and next year will be another new year and the year after that will be another new year, just as the past eight years were new years in the NFL for Cutler.

Is there still time for Cutler to justify the financial investment the Bears made in him? Sure, but doubts do abound and will until he proves the skeptics wrong.

Nobody expects Cutler to become Peyton Manning, who between disappointments went to three Super Bowls and won one.

The possibility of Cutler matching that record appears to have passed - underthrown if you will - along with the one where he was supposed to be the next Elway in Denver.

What hasn't passed is Cutler's opportunity to become the quarterback Angelo thought he acquired for the Bears five years ago.

Emery and Trestman bet $54 million it'll happen.

Jerry Angelo, whom you'd think would be Jay Cutler's biggest supporter, doesn't sound so sure.

mimrem@dailyherald.com