Cutler Fiasco Will Haunt Broncos, Bowlen

I don't know about you, but when one of my bosses urgently needs me, he either calls or yanks me by the earlobe into his office. We're still waiting for Pat Bowlen to have such contact with Jay Cutler, which shocks me. For a quarter-century, Bowlen has been among the dynamic owners in American sports, a primary reason why the Denver Broncos have been an elite NFL franchise.

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But he and his minions have thoroughly botched the Cutler ordeal, turning what should have been a simple mending of a quarterback's bruised ego into one of the more embarrassing management farces we've seen. At the start of this year, before a playoff game in Nashville, I ran into Cutler at a local cult bar called Losers -- crack your joke here -- and had a cordial chat with him. He asked who I liked in the game, and I told him Baltimore over Tennessee.

"Good pick," he replied.

You mean to say I can gain a personal audience with Cutler when Bowlen, his superior and a man who might make the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday, can't find a way? At some point during this month-long taffy pull that has dominated the national sports scene, you'd think Bowlen would have jumped on a private jet and demanded an official meeting with the face of his franchise, the player he's paying $48 million over six seasons. Instead, he sat back and watched as the Broncos' new coach, 32-year-old Josh McDaniels, played a dangerous game by trying to acquire Matt Cassel to replace Cutler, then had the attempt explode in his face when Cassel was traded to division rival Kansas City. That left Cutler understandably upset -- he is, after all, one of the league's best young passers -- and the onus fell on Bowlen to soothe the rift between an inexperienced McDaniels and an overemotional Cutler.

He failed miserably. Oh, there were rumors Bowlen was having health issues and that he wasn't the central figure in the McDaniels hire, but any notion of a detached role ended Wednesday when Bowlen issued the release that effectively ends Cutler's career in Denver and places him on the trade market. Wrote the owner: "Numerous attempts to contact Jay Cutler in the last 10 days, both by coach Josh McDaniels and myself, have been unsuccessful. A conversation with his agent earlier today clearly communicated and confirmed to us that Jay no longer has any desire to play for the Denver Broncos. We will begin discussions with other teams in an effort to accommodate his request to be traded."

Translated, Bowlen has the back of his coach. Translated, management is unified and telling a disgruntled player that he's no longer wanted. But here's the problem with Bowlen's statement: According to Cutler, Bowlen never tried to directly reach him. When asked that very question by ESPN, Cutler sent a one-word text message: "No." Is he lying? I doubt it when a Broncos representative acknowledged Bowlen might set up such a phone call via general manager Brian Xanders or a personal aide, which isn't exactly a direct route. Cutler's agent, Bus Cook, said the Broncos didn't reach him until Tuesday, when he said Xanders called and relayed a message that Bowlen wanted to talk to Cutler at once. Again, why didn't Bowlen call Cutler personally and say something to the effect of, "Look, I'm the boss, you're the employee, and you'd better sit down and talk to me if you don't want your ass in a ringer." Remember, it was McDaniels who betrayed Cutler's trust by going behind his back and trying to obtain Cassel, whom he developed into a solid quarterback in New England last season when Tom Brady was sidelined. "Conversations took place," McDaniels said when asked about Cutler trade talks. "You take into consideration what anybody is trying to offer up. If the quality of the trade you feel, in the long run, improves your team, you analyze it. It's been made very clear to me it's my job to listen to a number of scenarios that would improve the team."

While one can claim fairly that Cutler is a baby of sorts, the classiest organizations privately would try to repair the broken trust and make Cutler feel like he's wanted. I thought the Broncos were a classy organization that would be above fighting with a Pro Bowl quarterback. Turns out they pushed the Pro Bowler out the door, a crazy move for a franchise that finally found a quarterback whose skill level was in the vague vicinity of John Elway, revered god of the Rockies. It's a stunningly stupid risk by McDaniels, who has questions about whether the rocket-armed Cutler can run his New England-style offense with the efficiency of Cassel, much less Brady. Yes, Cutler is cocky and bomb-happy, but as a Vanderbilt guy and 62-percent career passer, I like his chances of figuring out any pass offense. Unless McDaniels acquires an established quarterback in a deal for Cutler -- Jason Campbell from Washington is the only one who fits that bill, and he has made only incremental progress so far -- he'll be stuck with Chris Simms, who was marginal as a Tampa Bay starter before injuries slowed his career. I wonder if McDaniels is familiar with the term "career suicide" and how he could sabotage himself before he gets started. That's why Bowlen needed to be involved all along.

So here we are with a fascinating situation in which Denver's loss is another NFL team's triumph. Given that the quarterback position is the most important in team sports, heavy panting can be heard from Cleveland to Tampa to New York to Chicago to San Francisco to Detroit to Washington to Charlotte. Suddenly, with the draft approaching, the league's hottest story is the unexpected availability of a guy who has thrown for 9,024 yards and 54 touchdowns in his first three seasons, which are supposed to be difficult times for a young quarterback. In games when Denver's shaky defense allowed 21 or fewer points, Cutler was 13-1 as a starter. Yet he became a second scapegoat when Bowlen already had foolishly made a scapegoat of Mike Shanahan, the two-time Super Bowl champion coach who was fired so the Broncos could hire a raw McDaniels, the latest branch of the not-so-impressive Bill Belichick tree.

Who wants a quarterback who threw for 4,526 yards last season and led a Elway-like comeback on a memorable Thursday night in Cleveland? Oh, everyone.

The team that really should go hardest after Cutler is the Bears, as we read each day in Chicago's two bankrupt newspapers. Not to insult the poet Carl Sandburg, but the City of Broad Shoulders actually is the City of Weak Shoulders. Can you believe the league's charter franchise never has had a franchise quarterback, unless you count Sid Luckman, he of the leather-helmet era? For all the fuss made of the Cubs and their 101-year drought, the town's quarterback phobia is almost as freaky. Rex Grossman, by Chicago standards, actually was a decent passer -- though the fact teams are showing no free-agent interest underscores that he was a maddening turnover machine. Want a roll call of some of the worst NFL quarterbacks ever? They played in Chicago: Chad Hutchinson, Craig Krenzel, Jonathan Quinn, Henry Burris, Cade McNown, Shane Matthews, Moses Moreno, Steve Stenstrom, Rick Mirer, Peter Tom Willis. And that's just since the early 1990s. In the City of Weak Shoulders, journeyman lugs such as Jim Miller and Erik Kramer were considered stars. Kyle Orton actually heard raves last season because he protected the football, even if he wasn't producing much in the way of points.

Another incentive to pursue Cutler? He grew up in Santa Claus, Ind. -- would I make that up? -- rooting for the Bears. Dan Patrick once had Cutler on his radio show and asked, "You grew up in Indiana -- are you a Colts fan?"

"I'm a Bear fan," Cutler said.

"Would you like to play for the Bears?" came the followup.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind playing for the Bears," Cutler said.

Don't hold your breath. Bears management never has placed much importance on the quarterback position, which is akin to a baseball franchise deciding it doesn't need a pitching ace. The current general manager, Jerry Angelo, wasted a wonderful era of defense -- and a chance to win a Super Bowl -- because Grossman was his quarterback. Now, the defense has issues, and if Angelo was smart, he'd offer the aging, injury-plagued Brian Urlacher in a Cutler deal.

Detroit is interested. But the Broncos aren't keen on inheriting the No. 1 pick in the draft and the monstrous financial obligations, even if it would bring Georgia QB Matthew Stafford, his big arm, his impressive Wonderlic score and his rapidly rising stock. Carolina is interested, and with Julius Peppers available, that could be a sweet deal for the Broncos. Teams such as the Jets and Bucs are in hot pursuit of Cutler, but they have no serious quarterback to offer. Washington? Dan Snyder is wacky enough to pull it off. Cleveland might make sense in a three-way deal, with Denver getting Brady Quinn and the Browns keeping Derek Anderson. But Brady Quinn is closer to being Jonathan Quinn than making the Pro Bowl.

Whatever, wherever, Jay Cutler will have a new home. It just blows my mind that the Broncos didn't preserve a quarterback who could rule pro football the next 10 years. That same night in Nashville, I said something to Cutler about the coach he admired, Shanahan, and how he'd been fired days earlier. There was no response.

All of which might explain why he was hanging out at a bar with a curious name. He worked for Losers, didn't he?