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Chicago Bears coach John Fox called it "all an open competition" Wednesday at the NFL owners meetings when asked whether there was any scenario in which he envisioned Jay Cutler competing for the starting job at quarterback. “I would say logically if you are looking at the depth chart and you are asking me for it two weeks before we can really get anything going, I’d say he’d be first on the depth chart, yeah,” Fox said. “Obviously you’ve got to start somewhere and my experience in football and really anything is it’s not where you start the race, it’s where you finish it. We have to start the race with some kind of lineup, and we have not discussed that in depth. We have not presented it to our players in depth. I think it’s important for them to see it maybe more than you guys. I’ve had guys who were third on the depth chart that by the time we started the opener were first. I can’t tell you what’s happening. If I could I’d be at some racetrack somewhere.”  Either way, it’s clear Fox and the Bears plan on placing their bet first with Cutler, who in six seasons with the team has gone through four offensive coordinators, two head coaches and two general managers. Cutler set Chicago’s single-season record last season for completions (370) and finished with career highs in completion percentage (66.0) and passing touchdowns (28). But Cutler also led the league in turnovers, which played a role in his benching, not to mention the current climate of uncertainty regarding the quarterback.
Cutler enters the second season of a seven-year, $126.7 million contract he signed in January 2014. Having studied Cutler thoroughly during extensive roster evaluations shortly after taking over as coach, Fox identified one of the main factors in the quarterback’s struggles from last season. “I think maybe he got to a point where he lacked confidence. He has to build that back up, and it’s going to take time,” Fox said. The coaching staff can help, Fox said. “Football-wise, there are things you can do in coaching; playing defense, playing complementary football is going to be something that helps,” he said. “I liken it a little bit, and not being critical to Tony Romo. I know he’s a tremendous competitor. I thought he had one of his better seasons a year ago, and with success comes confidence. I’m not going to be critical of last year. I wasn’t here last year. I had my own problems. I know this: Unless something good happens, it’s hard to have confidence. Our job is going to be building that confidence. I’ve seen him have success; maybe not super recently, but in spurts, in sections of his career. Now, like anybody, it’s becoming more consistent with that success.” At this point, veteran Jimmy Clausen seems to have the best chance of unseating Cutler. But such a scenario isn’t likely. Fox served as the head coach in Carolina when the Panthers selected Clausen in the second round in 2010, and the quarterback started 10 games as a rookie in leading the team to a 2-14 record, which resulted in the coach’s firing. Clausen started one game in 2014 when former coach Marc Trestman benched Cutler and the former Notre Dame star completed 60 percent of his passes for two touchdowns and an interception to go with a passer rating of 77.0 in a Dec. 21 loss to the Detroit Lions. Fox didn’t rule out the possibility of adding another quarterback in the upcoming draft, but the team’s moves in free agency up to this point indicate the Bears will be in position to stick to new general manager Ryan Pace’s philosophy of selecting the best available player, regardless of position or need. “Ryan has the approach, which I’m on board with, of taking the best available player,” Fox said. “We’re sitting there at No. 7. I’m not sure what could happen with that, but we’ll look at the best available player. I think quarterback is a unique position. I’ve been places where we took one just about every year, whether it was a college free agent or late in the draft, early in the draft or middle of the draft.”
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