Bears quarterback Jay Cutler is entering the final year of his contract and he’s said all offseason that he doesn’t expect to get an extension from the Bears before the 2013 season gets underway.
Cutler didn’t waver from that stance after the first practice of the Bears’ first minicamp under new coach Marc Trestman.
“You’ve got to win games to earn those contracts. I’m in last year obviously. We’ll play it out and see how it goes,” Cutler said, via Michael C. Wright of the ESPNChicago.com.
Winning games will rely on a lot more than just Cutler and the quarterback also talked about what we’ll see from the Bears on offense this season. He said that the Bears want to avoid long stretches with the ball in Cutler’s hand by getting the ball out to the team’s playmakers as quickly as possible. It sounds better than the old hold the ball long enough for Cutler to get creamed system we saw them run with Mike Martz, but it will still take better play from the offensive line than the Bears got last season.
Jermon Bushrod was signed to play left tackle and Roberto Garza will be the center, but the Bears will be holding competitions for other spots on the line over the rest of the offseason. The play of the winners of those battles will have a lot to do with how much the Bears win and, in turn, how much Cutler will make in 2014 and beyond.