Chicago vs. Minnesota--a tale of two quarterbacks

Last season the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears battled for the NFC North Division crown, with the Vikings coming out on top. The Vikings were 10-6 and the Bears were 9-7--only two years previous having competed in the Super Bowl. On Sunday, the teams meet in a game that marks the convergent paths of two teams clearly traveling in different directions. In fact, it is quite remarkable how far and how quickly the Bears have fallen in the time since they lost the title game against the Indianapolis Colts and had two consecutive division titles under their belt. And when you examine it closely, much of the disparity between these two teams comes down the quarterback position.

In 2006, the Bears were the top of the heap in the NFC with their vaunted defense carrying the day. The Chicago quarterback, Rex Grossman, while doing enough to win ball games, was still embattled in the Windy City, and two years later is playing as a backup to Matt Schaub in Houston. No matter what Grossman's dad has said of the Bears handling of his son, the quarterback had moments (his best season was 2006--23 TDs and 20 INTs), but he never played consistently enough to be the long term answer.

Thanks to injury and performance, Kyle Orton had supplanted Grossman since the Super Bowl, but he never captured the imagination of the fan base (which really wouldn't be that difficult given the history of signal callers in Chicago), and this past offseason he also was shipped out of town. Orton started off the 2009 season with six straight wins and has since come back to earth, but his performance (12 TDs, 6 INTs) still would be welcome in the "city of big shoulders" compared to what they have seen there so far this season.

Coming to Chicago in the trade was Jay Cutler, who had famously (or infamously) engineered his departure out of Denver. In the early going, the Vikings dipped their toes in the Cutler trade speculation, but got cold feet (or perhaps wind of a bigger fish swimming by). Cutler went to Chicago for Orton and several high draft choices and had preseason prognosticators claiming he would be the catalyst to send the Bears back to the Super Bowl.

So far, in 10 games for the Bears, it doesn't appear to have worked out that way.

Cutler currently leads the league in interceptions with 18 (compared to 15 TD passes) and has throw some at the most inopportune times--such as on the final drive in the Bears' loss last week against Philadelphia. While not every interception can be attributed to a quarterback (poorly run routes, miscommunication with receivers, bad catches, tipped balls and great plays by the defense all can result in picks), Cutler has made some bad decisions and some bad throws. His play (which include a 4- and 5-interception game this season) has been inconsistent and certainly less than expected.

The Bears are currently 4-6 (and could be eliminated from the divisional race with a loss this Sunday), but it would be unfair to lay it all at Cutler's feet. The aging defense, which lost its leader at middle linebacker, Brian Urlacher, in the first quarter of the opening game this season, has struggled and not returned to its dominating form of 2006. At the receiving position, it has been know that the biggest question for Cutler would be who to throw to--while Devin Hester is an exciting and capable receiver, he is a kick returner by profession and shouldn't be counted on as a number one receiver. The rushing attack with Matt Forte is not clicking like it did last year--Forte is averaging 3.3 per carry compared to 3.9 (3 TDs total compared to 12) last season.

The bottom line is that Cutler is a talented athlete who is perhaps trying to do too much for his team. He has all the physical tools for the position, but may be crumbling emotionally under the weight of expectations from the team he grew up following. At age 26, time is on his side, and if the Bears continue to put players around him (which might difficult given the draft choices they traded away), he is the kind of quarterback a team can grow with. They aren't far off, but the patience of a fan base that just watched their team play in the big game only three years ago may be wearing thin.

On the other side of this matchup, the Vikings, who have struggled to find their own answers at quarterback since Brad Childress took over as head coach, signed free agent Brett Favre during the offseason. And much has been written about his play this season. To paraphrase Robert Frost, the Vikings signed the player more travelled--and that has made all the difference.