Cutler vs. Orton: Who has the better facial hair and nicer demeanor?
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It’s too bad that the pre-season game between the Chicago Bears and the Denver Broncos this evening at Invesco Field will be about as relevant as your fantasy football match-up with Lou from accounting. Had it been the regular season with a potentially important outcome at stake, the already palpable tension surrounding Jay Cutler’s return to Denver might be too much to take. Still, there a lot of question marks for both teams heading into the season: Is Cutler a jerk? Was Kyle Orton a mistake? If Cutler leaves on a stretcher this Sunday, will the Bears try to get Rex Grossman back from the Texans? You’ve got questions, and we’ve got sides. Two of The A.V. Club’s resident sports fanatics, John Reidy (a.k.a. the local Broncos defender) and Dan Solomon (a.k.a. da Bears guy), talked head-to-head about the two teams and just what in the hell is so wrong anyway with having a neck-beard.
Dan Solomon: Bears and Broncos fans typically don't have a whole lot to say to each other. We both wear orange and blue, and we both endured a couple of years with Todd Sauerbrun, but aside from those tenuous connections, there's not too much else between us to discuss. Of course, after what Bears fans want to someday refer to as “The Trade”—in capital letters like that, because they hope it will have netted Chicago a multiple Super Bowl-winning QB—we certainly have much more interest in each other. Specifically, I'm hoping to learn a little bit more about what to expect out of Cutler, both on the field and off, especially since he's managed to acquire one hell of a reputation as, well, not what you'd call a "high character" guy after forcing his way out of Denver back in April. More so, I'm wondering what to expect when the two teams meet tonight. Is the Denver defense going to be looking to kill him?
John Reidy: I would say that the defense doesn't have anything against him personally, but I think if they can lay one on him for the fans, they'll do just that. Despite how many people feel that Coach Josh McDaniels is the real enemy, it’s Cutler that gets the grief because he’s perceived as the reason why the Broncos will undoubtedly blow this season. As far as his character, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. He’s just kind of a jerk. But if he can’t figure out that acting like that in Chicago is not going to end well, then I guess he’s as dumb as everyone here thinks. It comes down to how much can you put up with: Can you deal with a semi-douchebag QB as long as he’s winning games? My guess is yes. I don’t think Bears fans will find him pleasant, but I think most of the negative stuff written about him was purely because of the circumstances of his departure.
DS: Let’s talk about Cutler's alleged douchiness. Does he bring flair to the role of the douchebag? Chicago is the city that adored Jim McMahon, after all, and it's not like he was all that great on the field. Did he show any signs of flash to his jerkiness in Denver? The last half-dozen or so guys we had under center were all fairly uncharismatic, though one of them certainly did have a high-personality beard.
JR: Douche-y and fun is a good combination. Chad Ochocinco comes to mind, but Culter is not of that ilk. He’s a bit of a curmudgeon, and that’s strange for such a young guy. For someone who should be having a good time playing a game and being the focus of a team and a city, you’d think he’d be a little cooler. And what's with the obsession with Orton's beard? Any time someone wants to disparage him, they call him “neckbeard.” As far as I can tell he hasn’t had the neck-beard for a while. What in the hell is wrong with having a neck-beard?
DS: I'm a little bit ashamed to know this, but I'm pretty sure he kept the beard right up until the Denver trade happened. He never really struck me as the sort of guy who gave a fuck. He was the dude who was into Wilco and introduced recycling at Halas Hall. If you saw that beard on a guy at the Dirty Projectors show, you wouldn't really bat an eye. I've rocked an Orton-style beard on and off since I was old enough to be lazy about shaving, and I never acquired any rude nicknames about it, but I'm also not being made fun of on deadspin.com every week. I kind of took it as an Al Gore-after-losing-the-election move—Orton went 10-5 as a rookie, which was the second best rookie record for a post-merger NFL quarterback at that point, and yet he still found himself benched for the playoffs. Why not grow a beard at that point? It's cold up here in Chicago.
JR: So did the Broncos make a monumental mistake bringing him in? His debut in San Francisco did nothing to still the call for McDaniel's—and Orton's—head. The second game, he looked pretty good except for that left-handed pass, but what's his demeanor? Does he have what it takes to shrug off his shoddy play and the stupid fans booing him?
DS: I don't think it was a mistake at all for the Broncos to make the trade with Orton in mind. (I say this as someone who actually purchased a Bears #18 Orton jersey this month, albeit for $5 from the clearance rack at training camp.) I think he has the potential to be great. He doesn't have the physical talent that Cutler does, but he's a natural leader who rises to every challenge he's given. After The Trade, while the Bears players were all expressing appropriate enthusiasm for having a Pro Bowler step in, they all tempered their remarks with eulogies about how terrific Orton was. He started last season very strong for us, and suffered a few setbacks that weren't really his fault, and he still finished better than most Bears quarterbacks. My take on it is that the Broncos figured they'd be getting the guy who started the season in the trade. I hope they do.
