Everybody who is a Chicago Bears fan remembers where they were when the team made their blockbuster trade for quarterback Jay Cutler. It was a monumental moment in franchise history. A team notorious for playing it cheap at the position for years finally paid up what was necessary to get their hands on a Pro Bowl-caliber player. Chicago had not seen this level of talent under center in navy blue for decades.
What nobody has ever been able to gauge is how Cutler himself reacted when the trade became official. He was happy to be out of Denver. That much is certain. The environment had grown toxic with new head coach Josh McDaniels. He just wanted out and didn’t care where. What nobody ever really knew was his personal feelings when he found out it was the Bears.
Earl Bennett, his former teammate at Vanderbilt, was one of the first to find out when it happened. He was busy in class back at school trying to finish for his degree. In his latest #StoryTimeWithEarl segment, he described what happened and how gave a clear vision of Cutler’s mood at that time.
The call came in while the professor was talking. Respectfully, I declined the call and continued to pay attention. Then, he called back, which let me know it had to be serious. I had known the caller for quite awhile so a back-to-back call had to be taken seriously. I stood, walked out of class and took the call.
As I answer the phone with a simple “Hello,” his response was a classic “Where are you?” I respond, “In Nashville in class trying to better myself.” His next words blew my mind — “Get on a plane and meet me in Chicago for dinner tonight! I’ve just been traded.” In the four years of knowing him, playing one season at Vanderbilt together and training for the combine in Atlanta, I had never heard him so excited.
Jay Cutler got his ideal scenario
It would appear that all those stories that Cutler grew up a Bears fan in Santa Clause, Indiana weren’t just fun nuggets. They seem to have carried more weight than expected. Imagine that. You endure the nightmare of losing your head coach, having to watch the next one pick apart your game in a private meeting, and leave your future in the hands of the football gods by demanding a trade. Then they send you to the team you worshipped as a child.
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That is like a Hollywood movie moment. It isn’t hard to understand why Cutler was so excited. It also becomes easier to understand why he never made any serious attempt to go elsewhere. He had opportunities. The Bears hadn’t been overly great at building around him and he took a lot of beatings. However, there was never any hint that it was getting to where he wanted out.
This story helps to explain where his mind was. He was playing for the franchise he’d loved for ages. Nobody would want to give up that dream, even when it was hard.
