It’s fair to say that Jay Cutler’s time with the Chicago Bears won’t be remembered all that fondly. Even though Cutler is better than the slop the Bears dealt with before his arrival, he’s been frustratingly turnover-prone and seemingly unable to fix it. The bad news is Cutler now has to learn a whole new offense, which no quarterback transitions seamlessly into. The worse news is that no matter what happens to Cutler in 2015, he might still be the Bears’ quarterback in 2016.

Next year, Cutler will carry a $17 million cap hit with $13 million in dead money. Yeah, cutting him saves $4 million and all but the team still has to eat that $13 million. That’s not a great move to make when you’ve got the rest of the roster to worry about. But, in 2017, Cutler’s gets paid $16 million with only $2 million in dead money and a $2.5 million roster bonus. That would be absolute the prime time to ditch Cutler if that’s what it comes down to.

Plus, should Cutler struggle this season, it’s going to be entirely too easy to chalk it up. Adam Gase’s offense is a lot like Mike Martz’s, so in theory, Cutler should be more comfortable and productive than starting from square one.  But it is still a new offense in a lot of ways, so if Cutler flops, the Bears’ brass will have a hard time holding it too much against him. That’ll be especially true if rookie Kevin White plays like a rookie and the tires on Matt Forte start to flatten. Between the new offense and the financials of it, it’s too easy to justify holding on to him. It’s too easy to tell yourself that a lot of money is on the line, and giving Cutler a second year in the system is the prudent decision to make.

Cutler has been sold to the Bears fanbase for years now, pitched over and over again on the virtues of Cutler’s growth and preparation, and how this year could be “the year” everything comes together.  I’m definitely not saying Cutler is finally becoming the top-tier player everyone in Chicago hoped he’d be.  I’m sure they’re more tired of waiting for that than anyone, but with the way things are looking, they could be waiting a lot longer than they want to.

Doug Green is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL. Follow him on Twitter @DGreenNFL.