Who is going to tell him?

By that I mean, who is going to tell him? Who is going to get in Jay Cutler’s face and inform him the Green Bay debacle was ridiculous?
The four interceptions in Sunday’s opener were a career high, but the poor decision-making and the recklessness were nothing new. He did that periodically with the Broncos. It’s up to someone in the Bears’ organization to tell him that being blessed physically is not a license to throw risky passes over and over again.
But for the life of me, I can’t figure out who that person would be.
It’s also up to someone in the organization to tell Cutler that his on- and off-field demeanor needs to change. Some TV analysts were annoyed by Cutler’s attitude in the news conference after the Bears’ 21-15 loss to the Packers. The attitude is nothing new either.
“I thought he looked completely immature,” former Saints and Colts coach Jim Mora said on the NFL Network. “He acted like he didn’t even care.”
Added former Rams coach Mike Martz: “He just doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand that he represents a great head coach and the rest of those players on that team. Somebody needs to talk to him.”
If you have been led to believe it’s all about you—if a team bets its future to acquire you and then gives you smooches at every turn—it might be hard to listen to someone tell you it isn’t all about you.
But that’s the situation Cutler and the Bears find themselves in after exactly one game.
So who’s going to tell him he needs to change?
Lovie Smith? The blank-faced guy on the sideline who only shows signs of life when it’s time to challenge an official’s decision? No. Smith has gotten to where he is by being a “player’s coach,” meaning he speaks no evil to his troops. The chances of Smith telling Cutler, with feeling, that his crazed quarterback act has to end are zero.
(A Denver radio host presented an interesting scenario to me Tuesday: The Bears don’t make the playoffs for the third straight season, the McCaskeys fire Smith and bring in former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan to be reunited with Cutler. My on-air response was something along the lines of, “Hmmmmmmmm.”)
Ron Turner? If you ever have gotten the indication the Bears offensive coordinator is a budding Buddy Ryan-like motivator, please let us know.
Jerry Angelo? The general manager has handed the team to Cutler and said, “Here, it’s your baby.” He could have helped tone down the hype surrounding Cutler in the off-season, but didn’t. He also could have added a front-line wide receiver in the off-season, but didn’t.
Brian Urlacher? Not his style, plus he’s out for the season. Injured players tend to be nonentities in the NFL.
Ted Phillips? Only if Cutler complains ticket prices are too high.
Olin Kreutz? He has his own problems with the offensive line. The question is whether the Bears center will reach the point where his natural instinct to protect his quarterback will give way to doing what is right for the team. Kreutz is busy in the trenches and might not be intimately familiar with the art of quarterbacking. But he does know what a dumb decision looks like on film.
The sky isn’t falling, though it is dark. The Bears need to view what happened Sunday as an opportunity. Somebody has to take Cutler aside and tell him the team needs a smart, in-control quarterback. A fiery quarterback, not a foolish one.
The way the franchise, the fans and the media have built Cutler up has been bewildering. He is not a veteran John Elway, nor even a close approximation right now. Maybe someday. That’s a huge “maybe” for any young quarterback. In the same way that the trail of Michael Jordan heirs is long and bloody, so it is with all the next Elways.
It’s up to the Bears to give Cutler every chance to maximize his potential. That will involve some tough love, something with which he doesn’t seem overly familiar. But if they get through to their quarterback, Urlacher’s absence might not be a deal-breaker for their playoff chances. And beating the Steelers this week might be more than a possibility.
When an organization has spent five months saying its new leader is a franchise quarterback who will make even the most pedestrian receivers better, it’s sort of hard to tell him he’s human.
But better now than later.