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Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler As An MVP Candidate Is No Joke

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Brandon Marshall is never short of an opinion. In August when he was addressing the media, he dropped in quite a nugget. Marshall said that Jay Cutler was going to win the MVP in 2014. It was one of those quotes that got plastered on every website across the country. Many used it as a humorous kicker on television shows, but rarely was it taken seriously.

Here we are six games into the season, the Chicago Bears sit with a 3-3 record and it would seem that Marshall was just running his mouth and his prediction is completely unfounded. But let’s not laugh off Marshall’s comments just yet.

Through six games, Cutler sits in the top five in the NFL in completions, completion percentage, yardage and touchdown passes. Cutler is on pace to throw for 4,500 yards and 35 touchdown passes. There’s one thing stopping him from being a legitimate MVP candidate: turnovers.

Cutler has also thrown six interceptions, only two behind Kirk Cousins for the highest total in the NFL. We have seen how good the Bears are when they don’t turn the ball over; in fact, they are undefeated when they have a positive turnover ratio, sitting at 3-0.

The Bears are three games away from finishing their first-half gauntlet. After two difficult road games in Weeks 8 and 9 against the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers, the Bears’ schedule gets considerably easier. It’s very conceivable that the Bears could be sitting at 4-5 and finish the year 10-6 to make the playoffs. In the final seven games, the Bears have five home games, and one of their two remaining road games is against the struggling Minnesota Vikings.

The finish is going to come down to Cutler and how much he takes care of the football. If the Bears are plagued with inconsistent play out of their quarterback position where he looks like a Hall of Famer one week and Jeff George the next, the Bears will finish near an 8-8 record and this is the last time you’ll hear the words ‘Jay Cutler’ and ‘Most Valuable Player’ mentioned in the same sentence.

Now, to be fair, even if Cutler elevates his play over the last 10 games of the season, he may not be able to do enough to catapult himself over Andrew Luck, Aaron Rodgers or even DeMarco Murray in the MVP race. But the truth is that if Cutler takes better care of the football over the second half of the season and continues to play as he has in the other aspects of his game, Marshall’s statement may not come true, but it certainly won’t be laughable.

Bill Zimmerman is a Chicago Bears writer for www.RantSports.Com. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.

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