North: Time for Chicago Bears to move on without Cutler
After eight years of inconsistent football play, I'm hoping the Jay Cutler era with the Chicago Bears is finally coming to an end.
The nightmare will be over and the Bears can wean themselves off one of the most overrated quarterbacks in team history. Cutler never seemed capable of stringing several solid games together, let alone an entire season.
Frankly, I knew when the Bears signed him the team was not going anywhere with this talented-but-nonplused leader.
His former employers, the Denver Broncos, knew what he was and wasn't, but the Bears didn't. No, they chose to sign him to a whopping seven-year, $126.7 million extension, and then the team was held hostage by one of the worst contracts ever signed.
A well-known media member on Twitter suggested that if the Bears brought back Cutler it would be inexcusable. But I thought it was inexcusable to give him an extension at all, especially for that kind of money!
So now the Bears are a lowly 2-7 and Jay's the only one left from eight years ago except for ownership and the front office, which is a story for another day.
Oh well, time to start paying more attention to the Blackhawks and the Bulls.
Who is MVP of the NFL?
I'm hearing people push for the Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott for MVP, and he just might deserve it. The talented rookie has over 1,000 yards rushing and should be rookie of the year, so he could possibly win both awards in his first pro season.
My choice for MVP, though, is Cowboys rookie quarterback Dak Prescott. I doubt their record would be 8-1 if they didn't have Prescott, a fourth-round pick who replaced the injured Tony Romo.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, the last Romo holdout, finally came to the realization that Prescott is here to stay and should be their starting QB even when Romo is healthy.
Expect Romo to be playing in New York or somewhere else next year or retire.
The Cowboys have a great offensive line and a stud running back, but Prescott should be MVP of the NFL. He's a closer and plays best when it counts.
The Cowboys have been very fortunate. Romo won 15 of his last 19 games, yet the last playoff game he won was in 2014 in the wild-card contest against the Detroit Lions, 24-20.
Cowboys fans haven't suffered too many heartbreaks, and I wish I could say the Bears had the problem of choosing between two solid QBs.
It's a great problem, but Prescott has his arrow pointing up while Romo's is pointing down.
Now the Bears have to point themselves in a new direction without Cutler.
• Follow Mike North on Twitter @north2north. His column appears each Tuesday and Friday in the Daily Herald, and his video commentary can be found Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at dailyherald.com. For more, visit northtonorth.com.