Imrem: Maybe McPhee can get to Cutler, too

Two topics dominated the Bears' media briefing Wednesday afternoon: New free-agent signee Pernell McPhee and incumbent quarterback Jay Cutler.

They had little in common, but what else is there to do in March but connect NFL dots?

McPhee, introduced in Halas Hall, patiently and politely answered the softball questions lobbed at him.

Cutler was off somewhere else, leaving new general manager Ryan Pace and new head coach John Fox to field hardball questions about him.

Discouraging was that Pace actually uttered, "Jay Cutler is our starting quarterback."

Encouraging was the way Pernell McPhee portrayed himself.

McPhee said he played at 285 pounds last season, which makes him one jumbo linebacker even in a 3-4 defense the Bears are installing.

But the really big thing is that McPhee describe his game with, "I'm violent."

Serve that man some 1985 Bears meat … woof-woof-woof!

McPhee came from the Ravens, where Ray Rice was a teammate, so it should be noted that he meant violent on the field, not in casino elevators.

Coming from the Ravens, however, also means that he's familiar with a winning football culture of accountability.

It's difficult to believe that a pollutant like Cutler would have been allowed to pollute the environment in Baltimore.

Veterans like Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil, the linebackers who were listed ahead of McPhee on the Ravens' depth chart, wouldn't have allowed it.

Cutler got away with it here because the Bears' players lacked the leadership qualities to call him out.

But maybe McPhee learned something in Baltimore. Remember, we're talking about a violent 285-pound linebacker who played with winners on the Ravens.

Let's assume that McPhee will be willing to take Cutler aside and deflate his head like a Patriots football when the starting quarterback fails to behave like a starting quarterback.

Oops, sorry, we don't want to advocate off-field violence. Let's just hope that McPhee can intimidate Cutler with a mere glare.

Installing the 3-4 defense, the Bears also are in the market for one of those monster 350-pound nose tackles.

So wouldn't it be refreshing if he and McPhee moseyed up - one on each side - and gently made a quarterback sandwich out of Cutler?

OK, OK, all of this would be too much. Pace and Fox can't allow teammates to get physical with their starting quarterback.

Cutler really is the starting quarterback, isn't he? We have to take Pace's word for it, don't we? It's a done deal, right?

Well, maybe yes and maybe not so much.

Don't take as gospel anything anyone in the NFL says at this time of the year. First of all they all fib; second of all things change; third of all they all fib some more.

The company line was that Pace and Fox weren't, well, repulsed during their initial meetings with the quarterback they inherited.

Fox, though, was less enthusiastic when discussing Cutler, invoking his customary line, "We've not been on the grass for one snap yet."

In other words, the foxy older head coach needs to see more. So does the savvy younger general manager, even if he didn't say so.

Then there's the new, big, violent linebacker, about whom Pace said, "He hits the quarterback a ton."

We're assuming the GM meant opposing QBs, but Jay Cutler is advised to not go out of his way to find out.

mimrem@dailyherald.com