Rozner: Expectations for Bears' Trubisky off the charts

If you believe everything you see these days, Mitch Trubisky is headed for the Hall of Fame after leading the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl victory.

In his rookie season.

So, ya know, not much for him to live up to after spending about 15 minutes in Chicago.

Someone should let Trubisky know that Jay Cutler was greeted in precisely the same way when he arrived in a city that has little experience with great quarterback play.

Yeah, the man who whined his way out of Denver was given a hero's welcome in Lake Forest, cheered by the media as a conquering Julius Caesar - and sent tumbling down the portico in similarly inglorious fashion.

Much of Cutler's existence in Chicago is indefensible, from his record to his interceptions.

Most disappointing was the unfulfilled promise, the extraordinary physical gifts that never translated into consistent play.

If he is indeed finished with football, his career record of 68-71 pretty much sums it up.

Cutler was not a leader at a position that requires it, perhaps more than any other in sports.

He did not inspire. Rather than unite, he frequently divided.

But none of it was intentional. Some are born leaders. Some just don't have the personality for it.

That was Jay Cutler, who gave the impression to those who didn't know him that he simply didn't care enough, that he didn't work hard enough.

It's understandable.

But to those who did know him, it's also unfair.

"It's ridiculous," Kyle Long said last season. "That's just wrong."

Long is a born leader who has superb football pedigree. He knows a little bit about those who care and those who don't, and he was offended by the Cutler chronicle.

"Jay gets a new system every year and every year he's prepared and knows it better than anyone here," Long said. "That doesn't happen without an incredible amount of work."

In his final three seasons, Cutler had three different offensive coordinators, which was pretty much the average for his entire career.

And his offensive lines were never among the best in the game, a constant work in progress that never made much progress.

"I don't know if I've ever seen a quarterback take the kind of beating he does and get up every play and do his job," Long said. "He's really tough. I mean, sometimes you think he won't get up, he can't get up. But he just gets up.

"Don't talk about heart. Get your brains beat in and keep taking snaps and then talk about heart.

"He plays hurt all the time. Why would a guy keep getting up if he didn't care? That's just not true."

But now the welcoming committee has turned its back, and the narrative is Cutler didn't care about football or his teammates or the Bears.

He may have had that look about him, but the reality was different from the perception.

"Ever since I put on a Bears helmet, I've been a huge fan of Jay," said lineman Matt Slauson a couple of years ago. "I've always believed in Jay and known that he's a stud. I'm sick and tired of people dogging him. He's just an absolute beast."

That was from one of the most respected players in the room.

It's a different view than the one accepted on the outside, where Cutler could do no wrong when he got here, and could do no right when he left.

Mitch Trubisky has thrown a few passes in rookie camp and he's pretty much a flawless football player, if you're to believe the popular assessment.

Maybe Chicago should give him a chance to settle in and find his way before thrusting such expectations upon him.

But for his own good, the youngster need only look at Cutler's exit to know what awaits him if he is something less than the perfect quarterback.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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