Comparing Jay Cutler trade to Mitch Trubisky trade

Chicago’s draft day swap with the 49ers has been much maligned in recent days. Skeptics and detractors believe that Ryan Pace and the Bears gave up too much to acquire a quarterback who might not be any good. Does this sound familiar? It should. It was only eight years ago that the Bears made a similar swap for another young quarterback: Jay Cutler.

Now that the Cutler era has come and gone – with no Super Bowl rings to show for it – one might be forgiven for describing Cutler’s tenure as a failure. If Bears fans have their way, the Trubisky era will be no such thing. But how do these two trades compare to one another?

Now, here at cover32 we’ve been a little more positive on the Trubisky trade than most (check out Justin Boyd’s piece on why you need to relax), but other analyses have not been so kind. The draft chart numbers work out slightly better for the 49ers in this particular trade, not to mention the fact that there was no way San Francisco was going to pick Trubisky, making the trade completely unnecessary. These quibbles are compounded by the $18.5 million now clogging up space in Mike Glennon’s bank account. Reasons to hate this trade are coming in from every angle.

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But if you’re looking for reasons to love Ryan Pace’s big move, here’s this: it could not possibly go any worse than the Jay Cutler trade.

For those of you who may have overdone it on the Malort for the last eight years, here’s a recap. The Bears received Jay Cutler and a fifth-rounder that was used to select Johnny Knox. In exchange, the Bronco’s received a 2009 first-rounder (used to select Robert Ayers), a 2009 third-rounder (used to select future Pro Bowler Mike Wallace), a 2010 first-rounder (used to select now-retired offensive tackle Anthony Davis) and Sandburgian folk hero Kyle Orton.

The Bears received a quarterback who, over the course of eight seasons, had a record of 51-51, a touchdown-to-interception ratio of about 1.3/1, and a passer rating that only once had the audacity to sneak above 90. For the grand privilege of a near decade of borderline competency, the Bears surrendered two first round picks, a third rounder that turned into a Pro Bowler, and lest we forget, Stacker of Wheat Kyle Orton.

There’s no way for anyone to know at this moment how the Trubisky deal might work out for the Bears. Eight years from now, however, we’ll have a pretty good idea. It seems pretty wildly unlikely that it could go any worse than the Bears’ last big trade for a quarterback.

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