Cutler the ultimate test of Bears' QB curse

Jay Cutler's struggles could be attributed to the Cubs' curse if the Bears didn't have one of their own.

Nevertheless, Cutler must be starting to understand both what it's like to play for the Cubs and play quarterback for the Bears.

The Bears' perpetual futility at quarterback is similar to the Cubs' perpetual inability to win a World Series.

So many general managers, field managers and players arrive at Wrigley Field eager to shoot their best shots.

All are going to conquer the curse and win a championship with the Cubs. Instead they leave wounded and wasted like Leo Durocher, Andy MacPhail and Dusty Baker did.

Then there are the players. Think of how many came to the Cubs as champions and left as losers, or were losers here and went elsewhere to become champions.

Too many, of course. Almost as many as the countless quarterbacks who came to the Bears prepared to defy history only to be swept away in it.

Now Cutler is a Bear after being a Pro Bowl quarterback just last season in Denver.

"He was never as good as everybody said he was," The New York Times quoted ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer as saying. "He has great talent and remarkable upside, but he's an average player."

Even if that's true, Cutler is average enough to be the Bears' best quarterback in memory if only they coached him up rather than down.

Not much chance of that, is there? Cutler looks lost just 10 games into his first season here.

I blame the franchise more than the alleged franchise quarterback because Cutler had more success playing the position for three NFL seasons in Denver than the Bears had at filling it over 60 years in Chicago.

If Joe Montana was drafted by the Bears instead of by Bill Walsh in San Francisco, he would have wound up with a nice career teaching high school P.E. If Brett Favre was traded to the Bears instead of to Mike Holmgren in Green Bay, he would have been happy to retire 15 years ago.

Cutler is the ultimate test case to determine whether Halas Hall really is where quarterbacks come to die and be buried under a terrible offensive infrastructure.

"He's had so much statistical success he's never been broken," Dilfer said. "Like big-time race horses, you have to break them."

Mike Shanahan made progress at that in Denver, but Cutler has gone backward here. The Bears are breaking him, all right, but into pieces.

One game Cutler throws 5 interceptions at San Francisco. The next game he looks even worse despite throwing only 1 in Soldier Field.

This isn't much different from Kosuke Fukudome being all-world a half-world away in Japan before struggling once he gets to Wrigley Field.

All it took the Bears was from April through November to deprogram Cutler of everything he learned under Shanahan from 2006 through 2008.

Anyway, the conclusion is the laws of nature prohibit the Cubs from winning a World Series and the Bears from having a quality quarterback.

Cutler isn't an innocent bystander any more than Lou Piniella is, but right now he is just another example of the futility inherent in trying to grow as Bears quarterback.

mimrem@dailyherald.com