It's not so crazy to be wondering about Cutler
It was quite a scene late Sunday, as Donovan McNabb stood for nearly a minute with his arms over Jay Cutler's shoulders, speaking into his ear like an older brother assuring him it would all be OK.
"It's a fraternity of quarterbacks," McNabb explained. "I've been through situations somewhat similar to what he is going through right now.
"I will continue to provide (support) for him and let him know that he's not the only one who's been through this."
McNabb gave Cutler a bear hug as they departed, hoping Cutler takes some solace in knowing he's not alone.
Who better, right? McNabb knows what it's like to get booed, and he knows how hard to it is to win right away as an NFL QB.
Except, not so much.
They both became full-time starters in their second seasons at age 24.
McNabb immediately went 11-5 and the Eagles went to the playoffs. In fact, he went 11-5 the next year, too, and made the playoffs again, starting a string of four straight NFC title game appearances, including one Super Bowl.
In his first three full seasons, in 42 games McNabb was 29-13 with three postseason berths.
In his first three full seasons, Cutler is 19-23 in 42 games, hasn't had a winning season and hasn't been to the playoffs.
While McNabb was 35-14 at Syracuse, leading his team to four bowl games in four years, Cutler didn't post a winning record at Vanderbilt.
McNabb was kind to console Cutler, but McNabb really didn't suffer all that much.
He has played on much better teams than Cutler in both the pros and college, an overwhelming factor in their respective success.
And we all know a lot of this isn't his fault. Cutler's taking a beating physically, he has a weak receiving corps, a terrible offensive line, no running game and a questionable offensive philosophy.
But it doesn't completely explain away or excuse an inability to protect the football or win late in the season when in contention.
It's not all on him, not by a longshot, but the fact is that he hasn't won. At some point, and it won't be this year, Cutler has to prove to himself and to his teammates that he's a winner.
When the Bears made the deal, any questions along those lines were met with hysteria.
No one was allowed to ask why he hadn't been able to win or why Denver collapsed to lose their last three games last season and four of the last six the previous season.
These are reasonable questions.
The reality, however, is that when a player of his talent is available, you also have to ask why, and for Josh McDaniels to explore an upgrade - causing Cutler to throw a fit and force his way out of town - you had to wonder what we weren't being told.
It turns out Cutler's even more capable physically, more gifted than imagined, with an arm and quarterbacking abilities rarely seen in Chicago at that position.
But in many ways, he's shockingly less capable than advertised in so many ways, easily forced into bad throws, into mistakes, and into red-zone interceptions, the death knell of any team.
If Cutler were never to succeed, he also wouldn't be the first player seemingly perfect physically to fail at the QB position.
Jeff George comes to mind. George threw 1.36 TDs for every pick and Cutler throws 1.25 TDs for every interception, while many of today's great ones, like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady - and even McNabb - throw twice as many TDs as picks.
There are exceptions, to be sure, as Brett Favre's career ratio is only 1.55.
So no one here is giving up on Cutler. He has all-pro talent, and for the Bears to go far they need that.
They got lucky in 2006, but generally speaking, you need brilliance at the position.
And we would still expect Cutler to win here if ever given an NFL team around him, but it's not unfair to wonder if he'll ever be given what he needs.
"Everyone's been through a situation where you struggle a little bit," McNabb said Sunday night, "but he will bounce back."
It's comforting to hear that from someone like McNabb.
If would be more comforting if we had better answers to some uncomfortable questions.