Even after a tumultuous 2014 season for Jay Cutler in Chicago, the Bears “fully expect” him to be their quarterback in 2015, according to a report from ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.
Recent reports indicated that the Bears for a trade were shopping Cutler, who was benched in favor of Jimmy Clausen by former coach Marc Trestman in December. However, a source told Mortensen that there was “absolutely zero truth” to those reports.
From Mortensen:
At most, Chicago has been positioned as a passive listener if other teams have interest in any of its players, including Cutler -- which is the case for the majority of teams, a source noted.
Bears head coach John Fox and general manager Ryan Pace, both recent hires, have not publicly committed to Cutler being the team’s quarterback, but Mortensen says “clarification is expected in the near future, perhaps as early as this week.”
Cutler, who signed a massive seven-year, $126 million extension just last year, is scheduled to make $15.5 million in 2015. Additionally, Cutler will make another $10 million guaranteed for injury in 2016 if he remains on the Bears roster “as of Thursday at 4 p.m. ET.”
Keeping Cutler around is clearly a massive financial undertaking for the Bears, but aside from the recently re-signed Clausen, they don’t seem to have a better option to lead the offense. Still, according to Mortensen, new offensive coordinator Adam Gase has been “enthusiastically making plans with a playbook they believe will accentuate Cutler’s strengths.”
In all, Cutler threw for 3,812 yards, 28 touchdowns and 18 interceptions for the 5-11 Bears in 2014.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
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