Rozner: Bears are guaranteed an early QB controversy

As the Bears get ready to open camp this week, they can also prepare for a quarterback controversy.

But not the kind we've seen in the past.

No, there won't be much involving Mike Glennon and Mitch Trubisky, at least not from Glennon's perspective.

Glennon believes this is his team and he has to, but he also has John Fox on his side as the veteran coach tries to hang onto his job for another year. Glennon's success - or lack thereof - will likely determine whether Fox is here in 2018.

While a gander at the schedule in July can be nonsensical, that's right up our alley and it's hard to see more than a victory or two for the beloved in the first half, which means Trubisky will be lurking.

The bye week seems the perfect time to get the rookie ready to start his first game, though having to play Green Bay hardly seems like the best idea. Perhaps the next game against Detroit will be the one.

That controversy can wait a while.

The first quarterback storm will arrive in the third exhibition game as Jay Cutler begins his next career as a color commentator for Fox.

Cutler gets the only preseason game with much value, so he will get the opportunity to dissect Glennon and the vaunted Bears offense on Aug. 27 when the Bears visit Tennessee.

And Cutler also gets the first regular season game when the locals host the defending NFC champion Falcons at Soldier Field.

No matter how he does in the booth, the controversial Cutler will take a beating, just as he did on and off the field with the Bears.

There's never been much perspective as it applies to Cutler, not with the absurd hero's welcome or the pitchforks offered him on his way out of town.

He was never as good as his press clippings when he got here and never as bad as the epitaphs when he departed.

He couldn't possibly live up to the expectations, but he also never became what he should have given his considerable ability.

There are dozens of reasons for both and we'll not relitigate his NFL career again now as no one has the stomach for such debate after Cutler's eight mediocre years in Chicago.

But his TV career has the chance to be quite good if Cutler is willing to talk honestly about what he sees. He need not trash his former team - or any other team - to be a quality analyst, but he does have to talk openly as he sees the offense and defense unfold before him.

Like Cutler or hate him, what can't be denied is his football knowledge. Teammates - at least the ones who respected him - spoke frequently about his ability to pick up a new playbook, and he had a new one just about every season with the Bears.

They talked about his ability to understand instantly what the defense was doing, even if his decision-making would make you shake your head at such a notion.

From high above the field, there is no doubt here that Cutler will know what the offense intends to do and how the defense intends to attack it.

He will see the plays before they happen and he will know who has run the right route and who has missed the read entirely.

Yes, Cutler could be very good at his new job - if he will tell you what he's observing on the field.

That remains to be seen.

Either way, the specter of Cutler will loom large as the Bears begin their 2017 season, as does an almost certain overreaction to his performance.

Chicago should feel right at home with that.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.