Feb. 04--Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton hasn't softened his stance on Jay Cutler and sees no hope of success for the Chicago Bears until they make a change under center.
Tarkenton, who was critical of Cutler when the Bears quarterback did not play in the second half of the 2010 NFC Championship Game after suffering a knee injury, said Wednesday on "The Mully and Hanley Show" on WSCR-AM (670) that Cutler "has not performed, in any situation."
"This is a guy that teases his coaches with his powerful arm and all that stuff, but the bottom line, he's not a player," Tarkenton said. "And Chicago's gonna die keeping on hoping that Jay Cutler's gonna be that player.
"He's not going to be any different than what he's been. But there's such a scarcity of quarterbacks that people get a guy and just hope against hope because he's got one thing: a big, powerful arm. A big, powerful arm is not essential."
Tarkenton, who starred for the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants during an 18-year NFL career, cited the New England Patriots' Tom Brady, the Seattle Seahawks' Russell Wilson and former San Francisco 49ers star Joe Montana as examples of quarterbacks who lacked cannon arms and weren't first-round draft picks but went on to win Super Bowls because of their other abilities.
"That quarterback who's elite ... you've got to look at his intangibles," Tarkenton said. "Can he, at that moment, make plays when you need him to make plays, be the leader in the clubhouse, be the leader on the field, and the moment's not too big for him? Jay Cutler fails in all those."
The Bears fired coach Marc Trestman after the 2014 season and hired John Fox, but Tarkenton doesn't expect the change in leadership to make any difference in how Cutler performs.
"He's who he is," Tarkenton said. "He has proved, over the years, he's not the guy.
"NFL coaches, the worst thing they do is judge quarterbacks. They have no clue how to coach and how to judge a quarterback. They have one thing: How strong is his arm? They tell me he's got a big, strong, powerful arm. He has proven time and time again he's not the quarterback that you need to get you where you need to go. And they'll end up dying with him there, I don't care whether you have John Fox there or who you have there, it won't be any different."
Tarkenton's criticism comes one week after former Bears kicker Jay Feely cited a lack of leadership on the part of Cutler and Trestman.
