The Chicago Bears are one win away from matching last season’s total and they’ve played nine games. Jay Cutler avoiding the turnovers he’s been known for in the past has been a big reason why things have been better.
Cutler, in 8 games this season, has thrown just five interceptions, without a single multi interception game yet. Last season Cutler had seven games with two interceptions or more, leading the league with 18 interceptions in total. He led the NFL in interceptions before, throwing 26 picks in 2009, his first season with the Bears.
But it’s not just the interceptions that have gotten better. Cutler is playing well, and not costing his teams wins (most of the time). His protection is better than ever (only 4.2% sack rating), his interception ratio is down to 1.8%, his yards per attempt are back to where they usually are (7.4 after falling to 6.8 last season) and his passer rating of 95.3 is the best of his career if he keeps it up, almost breaking the top 10, currently 12th in the NFL.
After an 0-3 start, the Bears have won four of their last six games, with the last two coming on the road against the Chargers and looking very dominant against the Rams. Back to back games against the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers might curb the excitement a little bit (although both teams are having big problems of their own) and catching up with the 7-2 Vikings and 6-3 Packers could be difficult, this season at least, but the Bears are getting a lot more positive vibes from this season than anyone expected, and most of all seem to be convinced that Cutler, already half out of the franchise when 2015 began, is the guy to have at quarterback for the foreseeable future.