Of all the scenarios that might have crossed even the most virulently pro-Packers mind, Jay Cutler throwing three interceptions by halftime in his Bears debut was not one of them.

Nor was a fourth interception that cost his team a chance to win Sunday night.

So, no. Don't come here and try to weave that unthinkable tale of woeful quarterbacking. Since Cutler came to town, it was supposed to be on the banned-book list.

But it came to life Sunday night. Cutler was dreadful in the Bears' 21-15 loss. That last interception, with about a minute left in the game, sealed his team's fate. He was left to knock Packers cornerback Al Harris out of bounds and listen to the taunts of jubilant fans at Lambeau Field.

You can't put a ceiling on the disbelief involved here. It wasn't just Cutler's 43.2 passer rating. It was that he looked like so many of the quarterbacks who have stumbled through Chicago.

Pick a word: Unimaginable, bizarre, awful -- however low you want to go. Rex Grossman-like?

"It's still a learning process," Cutler said. "We haven't been together that long in game situations. That's no excuse for what happened out there."

At the rate he was going in the first half, it was a wonder Bears coach Lovie Smith didn't throw his red flag and challenge the trade that brought the quarterback to town.

The scouting report on Cutler always has been that the rewards outweigh the risks on the field. He'll brashly, rashly throw into coverage and break a coach's heart once in a while, but he'll make more plays than not.

On Sunday night, Cutler's worst attributes crept into the light. Time and again, he tried to make plays only he saw. He threw across his body. He threw off the wrong foot. He screamed at a world that would do him so wrong.

Jay Cutler, hear him roar.

How bad was it? He could have been picked off twice before his first interception. On his second interception, a short pass meant for Matt Forte landed in the hands of Packers defensive end Johnny Jolly. Bad.

Packers cornerback Tramon Williams returned the third interception 67 yards, which eventually turned into a touchdown. Worse.

On that interception, Smith challenged a fumble at the end of the return, and by the time the referee was done looking at the replay, the Packers had gained two yards. That's how it went in the first half.

Stop me if you've heard of this kind of categorizing before, but the best way to put it is that there's a Good Jay and a Bad Jay. Good Jay threw such a sweet touchdown pass to Devin Hester in the third quarter that it could have made a grown Bears fan cry. That 36-yard connection helped cut the Packers' lead to 10-9.

Bad Jay loitered and lurked.

The defense that so many of us had dismissed going into the game played well most of Sunday. After weeks of intrigue about his back, Charles Tillman ended his Medical Mystery Tour and started at cornerback. Brian Urlacher was knocked out of the game with a dislocated right wrist. And still the Bears hung on ... until Rodgers hit Greg Jennings for a 50-yard touchdown pass with 1:11 to go.

Pick No. 4 arrived soon after.

What became clear Sunday was that the Bears face a delicate balancing act: How do they get Cutler to be smarter with the football without taking away the playmaking ability that makes him so dangerous? The early outlook: Good luck with that.

The Bears have given him the keys to the car, and it's hard to turn around and tell him to drive safely. With the puppy love they've shown him, it might be hard to tell him to do anything. He could turn out to be their version of Carlos Zambrano. They're going to have to live with a game like Sunday's. The payoff is supposed to be huge numbers and big victories. We'll see.

Remember what everyone, including Cutler, said during the preseason: Just wait until they put together a real game plan. They would be much more dangerous when they could pick apart an opponent's defense with a good attack.

Well, no.

In essence, the Packers dared him to beat them by throwing to his wide receivers. That rookie Johnny Knox was the intended receiver on Cutler's fourth interception is all anyone needs to know.

At the rate he was going in the first half, it was a wonder Bears coach Lovie Smith didn't throw his red flag and challenge the trade that brought the quarterback to town.

QB can be competitive without being combative
David Haugh In the Wake of the News
September 14, 2009
GREEN BAY -- At the end of his 68-yard catch in the second quarter Sunday night at Lambeau Field, Bears rookie wide receiver Johnny Knox put a finger to his lips and his shook his head.

Knox was shushing the crowd.

He should have told his quarterback to pipe down too. Somebody sure needed to at some point during Cutler's worst night as an NFL quarterback in the Bears' 21-15 season-opening loss the Packers.

If nothing else, Cutler's first game with his new team guaranteed that Sundays in 2009 will be louder than ever for the Bears, and it has nothing to do with crowd noise.

There was Cutler yelling at the back judge to throw a flag, screaming at tight end Desmond Clark to adjust his route, running his mouth constantly at teammates running their pass routes.

"It's still a learning process," Cutler said. "We haven't been together that long, but that's no excuse."

If Cutler really wanted a reason to rant, he should have asked long snapper Patrick Mannelly what he was thinking snapping to Garrett Wolfe on a fake punt on fourth-and-11 with the ball on the Bears' 31 that ultimately failed and led to Green Bay's go-ahead field goal.

Or barked at defensive backs Nathan Vasher and Al Afalava, who blew the coverage on Greg Jennings' 50-yard touchdown reception with 1 minute 11 seconds left to give the Packers their clinching score.

Clearly, Cutler's teammates and coaches will get plenty of advice this season -- and earplugs too, if they're smart.

Just curious: Who's going to get in Cutler's face?

"It is tough," Cutler said. "I'm sure the city of Chicago is disappointed."

Before the Bears take on the Steelers, somebody at Halas Hall has to sit down the quarterback and reinforce that the offense will go as he goes. If he goes haywire, so will it.

Cutler's actions in the second half backed up his harsh words early on, but he didn't do enough to justify the outbursts. His fourth interception on the final drive -- the first time in 38 NFL starts he has thrown so many -- confirmed that.

The more Cutler yelled, the more frustrated of a tone he set. By the time Cutler had thrown his third pick in the first half, it was obvious the guy talking too much was trying too hard.

"I don't know if he lost poise or composure," offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. "I just know we all have to get better."

Bears players never will reveal if Cutler's on-field demeanor affected their focus. But they may wonder as they watch the videotape if Cutler seeing red affected the quarterback's ability to see Packers defenders in the passing lanes.

The Bears' offense eventually moved the ball because, while Cutler temporarily lost his poise, he never lost his confidence.

If Cutler had, he never could have hit Devin Hester in stride on a 36-yard touchdown pass. Or stood solidly in the pocket to find Clark on a key third-down conversion. Or heaved the ball to Knox on the 68-yard beauty over veteran Charles Woodson that looked like the Cutler so many Bears fans expected to see.

Knox's big-play ability will go down as one of the few pleasant surprises in Week 1. The breakdown of the secondary really should not have been a surprise.

On the pivotal play, Vasher squatted in zone coverage as if he expected safety help deep from Afalava. But the rookie bit on Rodgers' fake handoff, and that bought Jennings a split-second to get behind everybody.

That one play ruined an otherwise smart defensive game called by Lovie Smith. Ingeniously, the Bears found a way to pressure quarterback Aaron Rodgers and produce four sacks. Example: When nickel back Danieal Manning sacked Rodgers for a safety in the second quarter, the Packers never saw the blitz coming.

Smith's defense kept Rodgers in check despite losing middle linebacker Brian Urlacher for the second half with a dislocated right wrist.

But when it mattered most, Rodgers made a statement about why the Bears' defense respected him so much.

It resonated even louder than anything the Bears quarterback had to say.

* Angelo had some choice comments for the quarterback, Jay Cutler, that he traded for:

"He was very reckless with the ball," Angelo said. "It's one thing to try to make plays, but you've got to be smart about it.
"Without seeing the tape, I don't know what he was looking at. Watching the game, it didn't look good, obviously. When you throw across your body, bad things happen. Interceptions just killed us. Two were in the red zone.