JAY’S ALL GOOD
Cutler makes no mistakes, leads Bears to huge win
ATLANTA— Let’s start with the things Jay Cutler didn’t do Sunday because they were as big as the big things he did.
He didn’t throw an interception. He didn’t throw passes that looked risky, ill- advised or downright crazy. He didn’t fumble. That isn’t faint praise; that is heavy praise. His tendency to try to force footballs into windows the size of portholes has kept him down as a quarterback.
On one of his biggest days as a Bear, Cutler looked like the player his team says he is, Chicago desperately wants him to be and the viewing public doesn’t see consistently enough. He completed 26 of 38 passes for 381 yards and a touchdown in a 27- 13 victory against the Atlanta Falcons. The yardage was his highest in a game in his fiveplus seasons with the Bears.
All that after a two- game losing streak in which he looked like the other Cutler.
‘‘ What impressed me most about Jay was, No. 1, how he started the week,’’ coach Marc Trestman said. ‘‘ This couldn’t have been a more difficult week for a quarterback for the Chicago Bears, and he came in on Monday and Tuesday [ and] worked at it. His demeanor didn’t change. It wasn’t any different this week than it was after [ victories against] San Francisco and [ the Jets].’’
How about it, Jay? Was it your toughest week with the Bears, seeing as how you were coming off a two- interception game against the Carolina Panthers and the ‘‘ noise,’’ as Trestman calls media and fan criticism, sounded like a jet engine?
‘‘ I think I’ve had more difficult weeks,’’ he said with a smile.
He’s probably right about that. There have been worse games and noisier aftermaths in his careening career with the Bears. For example, there was that four- interception disaster against the Green Bay Packers in 2012. But everything looks bigger and brighter when you grab a game you really needed to win. The victory raised the Bears’ record to 3- 3.
OK, the Falcons aren’t particularly good ( and specifically awful on defense). But in what looks to be a roller- coaster season for the Bears, you might as well enjoy the sights from the top while you can.
Cutler’s yardage came in all different ways, a refreshing development after how the Bears operated last week. He resurrected a vertical game that had been dead on arrival against the Panthers, throwing a 74- yard bomb to Alshon Jeffery and a lovely 47- yard completion to Brandon Marshall while under heavy pressure.
Jeffery said afterward he was ‘‘ kind of’’ surprised by how open he was on his big third- quarter play, and he should have been. The last time he was that open might have been high school.
‘‘ We always talk about ‘ be special,’ so it was one of those plays [ where] you’ve got to be special,’’ he said.
One of Cutler’s best moments didn’t even count. On a second down in the fourth quarter, he calmly waited and directed receivers with his left hand, the way a leader does. He finally completed an eight- yard touchdown pass to Jeffery, but officials ruled Jeffery had stepped out of the end zone and back in. No problem. Two plays later, Matt Forte took advantage of great blocking to barrel in from the 9- yard line on third- and- goal. The two- point conversion gave the Bears a 27- 13 lead.
On Cutler’s big day, there were other stars. You know, Khaseem Greene, Darryl Sharpton and Christian Jones. Never heard of them? Don’t feel bad, I’m not sure their families have heard of them. They filled in for injured linebackers Lance Briggs, D. J. Williams and Jon Bostic and did a nice job. The Falcons averaged 3.2 yards a carry. The approach was simple. ‘‘ Just line up and play, hit, be physical and get the offense the ball and let them do what they do,’’ Greene said.
It allowed Cutler, the good version, to have his day. He gets a lot of praise when he plays well, just as he gets heavy abuse from people like me when he plays poorly. That’s how it is with quarterbacks, but maybe more so with him. He can be excellent one game and brazenly, stubbornly foolish the next. That pattern isn’t like to change, and Chicago’s emotions will continue to be worked like a yo- yo.
I’d say Cutler is his own worst enemy, but I read Twitter, and there are people ahead of him in line. He made friends with himself Sunday, and it was very, very good.