LeGere: No two ways about it - Cutler must go

Quarterback Jay Cutler, the Bears' $126.7 million man, is 7-15 in his last 22 starts - and he has turned the ball over 35 times in those games.

No one in the NFL has thrown more interceptions this year than Cutler's 18, and no one has more turnovers than Cutler's 24.

Given the star power surrounding him, there's no reason this should have been Cutler's toughest year as a professional, but he doesn't deny that it has been.

"I think that's fair," he said. "With all the buildup coming into this year, the expectations, I don't think we imagined it would definitely be like that."

Despite the security of a lucrative long-term deal, Cutler isn't getting better - he's getting worse. Only once in his previous eight NFL seasons has Cutler thrown more interceptions.

He also has been sacked 36 times after getting dumped a season-worst seven times Monday against New Orleans. He's on pace for 41 sacks, which also would be the second most of his career.

Obviously that's not all his fault. The offensive line is in tatters, but good quarterbacks overcome adversity; Cutler succumbs to it.

So of course the Bears should dump Cutler and his obscene salary as soon as possible. The problem is he was so bad Monday that you have to wonder if any team would accept him in a trade, even if it cost them next to nothing in return.

Cutler's performance against the Saints should be the final straw for the Bears. Of the $38 million of his contract that was fully guaranteed, $22.5 million will be paid by the end of the season.

He gets another $15.5 million fully guaranteed next year and $10 million guaranteed for the 2016 season if he's still on the roster in March 2015.

Worst-case scenario, the Bears are out $15.5 million. If they can trade Cutler, the cap hit would be about one-quarter of that.

Even Bears coach Marc Trestman, Cutler's most ardent apologist and biggest cheerleader, seems to have finally, at long last, realized what is no longer deniable: Cutler has never been an effective leader, and he never will be.

"Offensively, we didn't play well - you know that," Trestman said late Monday. "We were very inconsistent. We had no passing game. We had 7 sacks.

"Certainly, not even close to being an offense that could compete through four quarters."

The final numbers say Cutler completed 17 of 31 passes for 194 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Saints.

But 107 of those yards and 8 of the completions (on 12 attempts) came in the fourth quarter when the outcome already was decided because Cutler was so bad that the Bears already trailed 24-0.

When it mattered, through the first three quarters, Cutler had a passer rating of 21.1, zero touchdowns and 3 interceptions - and the Bears had 63 net passing yards, compared to 331 for the Saints.

"It's frustrating," Cutler told WBBM Radio. "We're trying to say the same thing different ways after games. You get to a point where you don't have the answer. I think that's where we're at."

Keep in mind that the only defense in the NFL worse than the Saints' is the one Cutler practices against during the week.

That's the most compelling evidence yet that the quarterback must go before his physical skills and potential entice and mislead whoever will be coaching the Bears next season.

"We had really no kind of passing game early in the game, for the first half," said Trestman, getting it only two-thirds right. "It was certainly not good enough. That's all there is to it."

Unfortunately for Trestman, he found out too late that Cutler isn't good enough.

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