CHICAGO – Brett Favre cranked up and made one more impossible throw, zinging a touchdown pass in the fading seconds. Too bad for the Minnesota Vikings, that merely put them into overtime.

Brett Favre cranked up and made one more impossible throw, zinging a touchdown pass in the fading seconds. Too bad for the Minnesota Vikings, that merely put them into overtime. Once again, they came up short. And the way Favre sees it, they're headed to an early playoff exit. The Vikings lost again Monday night, beaten by the Chicago Bears 36-30 when Jay Cutler tossed a 39-yard strike to Devin…

CHICAGO – Brett Favre got the Minnesota Vikings to overtime. The Chicago Bears got the victory.

Jay Cutler threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Devin Aromashodu 9 minutes into overtime as the Chicago Bears beat the fading Minnesota Vikings 36-30 on Monday. Nick Roach recovered a fumble by Adrian Peterson following a catch, setting up Cutler's fourth touchdown pass of the game and sending Minnesota (11-4) to its third loss in four games.

It certainly looked like a juicy prime-time pairing when the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears were scheduled for Monday night. If the script didn't play out as expected, well, at least it had no shortage of twists. There's Jay Cutler throwing about as many interceptions as completions for Chicago.

At this point, all speculation is welcome.

Mine has no foundation. 

No scientific evidence. 

No doctor’s expertise.

But, I have noticed something Cutler does that I have the same tendency to do, and if he is in the same situation I am in, then he may have comfort issues while playing.

If you watch him closely throughout the game, you will notice that he does this weird twitch with his right shoulder. He will do it coming out of the huddle, while standing on the sideline, and I have even seen him do it in an on-the-field interview.

It almost looks as if he has an involuntary spasm going on with his throwing shoulder.  Obviously, any sort of discomfort a quarterback feels in his throwing shoulder may cause him to lose velocity, accuracy, or just throw a downright bad ball.

I have the same sort of issues with my body, and have not had this diagnosed. The last time I asked a doctor about it, his response was, “You do that because you do it.”  And, no, I’m not joking. Seven years of medical school rewarded him with expertise like that.

So, I guess I am the one left to discuss this about Jay Cutler. I can say that it is not painful as much as it is uncomfortable. A tense feeling comes over your body and just makes you feel that you need to move that joint, muscle, or bone before you can go onto doing anything else.

It’s a type of OCD almost, except that we feel a little twinge of “pain.”  Not pain in the sense that it hurts, but just that it feels like something is bothering us.

And I can tell this is what is going on with Jay, because he isn’t just doing it on the field. If it were a playing issue, he wouldn’t be doing it while he was about to sit down on the bench to “watch” the defense play, or while he’s running into the locker room at halftime.

I can tell he has the same discomfort in his shoulder that I have in parts of my body. I have no explanation as to why this happens, and definitely don’t have any advice in how to help it.  This may be something that can be looked into by the Chicago Bears staff however, seeing as how sports trainers and doctors may know a little more about these sorts of issues than the local hack I saw a few years back.

Of course, I could be wrong, and there could be an actual issue with his shoulder. He could have had some minor damage done to it that could be fixed by surgery or rest, but neither he, nor the team, has come out and said anything about it.

But watch him carefully during the game on Sunday and you will notice that he does this quite often. Most of the time he does it as he is approaching the center to get underneath and receive the snap. That is another cause of reason for me to believe he is going through the same discomfort I am.

Lastly, I do not want this to come off as an excuse for his play. There are quarterbacks out there playing with legitimate injuries and still not throwing 22 interceptions.  If he would come out and disclose this issue though, the team might be able to do something about it.

Half of the time, sports are a mental game as much as they are a physical one.  Even if doctors just prescribed him a drug that would take his mind off his OCD-like behavior, he could gain confidence that could allow him to throw the ball to the guys in Bears jerseys rather than the opponents.

This year has been a disaster partly because of the play of Jay Cutler.  I am just trying to find a way to give us Bears fans some hope for next year.

Read more Chicago Bears news on BleacherReport.com

(QBER is short for Quarterback Efficiency Rating, a more comprehensive, easily understood rating system that I devised to place the emphasis where it belongs—the ability of a quarterback to advance the ball, avoid negative plays, and score touchdowns in comparison to his peers. A rating of 100.0 is the league average.) http://bleacherreport.com/articles/256842-brees-romo-mcnabb-are-week-1-qber-leaders

When news that Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall had caught an NFL-record 21 balls made the rounds last Sunday, one could only wonder what went through the head of Jay Cutler, his old quarterback.

Cutler wanted out of Denver last summer, but as they say, be careful what you wish for because it just may come true. He was traded to a Chicago Bears team that has no target close to the ability of Marshall on their roster, and Cutler and the offense have suffered because of it.

How bad has it gotten for Cutler this season? His QBER (86.7) has plunged to 23rd overall, the lowest it has been this season. Among veterans, only Marc Bulger (79.2) and Jake Delhomme (45.7) are below him.  

A number of factors have conspired to make Cutler the biggest individual disappointment of the NFL season. At the same time, he has been guilty to many of the same mistakes that plagued his Broncos career, most notably ill-advised throws in the red zone. The result has been 20 interceptions, more than any quarterback in the league.

Cutler has been prone to drive-killers since the first game of the season.  He has lost 315 yards on sacks and turnover returns, more than any quarterback except Ben Roethlisberger (minus 415), David Garrard (minus 398), and Brett Favre (minus 320).

For all his physical attributes, what Cutler has proved is that it takes more than a great arm to be a great quarterback.

The QBER leaders through Week 13 of the regular season:

1. Drew Brees 140.7

2. Brett Favre 139.4

3. Philip Rivers 137.3

4. Peyton Manning 133.1

5. Aaron Rodgers 131.1

6. Donovan McNabb 128.4

7. Tony Romo 121.8

8. Kurt Warner 121.1

9. Tom Brady 120.8

10. Matt Schaub 116.9

11. Eli Manning 113.0

12. Ben Roethlisberger 109.7

13. Alex Smith 109.2

14. Kyle Orton 109.1

15. Carson Palmer 104.6

16. Matt Hasselbeck 103.7

17. Joe Flacco 102.1

18. Matt Ryan 101.4

19. David Garrard 91.6

20. Jason Campbell 89.9

21. Matt Cassel 88.1

22. Brady Quinn 87.8

23. Jay Cutler 86.7

24. Chad Henne 86.1

25. Marc Bulger 79.2

26. Matthew Stafford 67.0

27. Mark Sanchez 64.9

28. JaMarcus Russell 50.4

29. Jake Delhomme 45.7

A few observations:

• Turnovers are the bane of rookie quarterbacks, but Miami Dolphins signal-caller Chad Henne is one of the exceptions. He has committed only eight turnovers in 322 pass plays, a rate that is 23 percent better than the league average of one for every 30.9 pass calls. The experience that Henne has gained in the absence of Chad Pennington figures to serve him well next season.

• If this is the final season for Jason Campbell as Washington Redskins quarterback, then at least he didn’t pack it in early. On the strength of five TD passes in the last two games, he moved up to 20th on the QBER charts, his best mark since he was 20th in the third week of the season.

• Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan appear to have hit the wall in their second seasons. In the last seven weeks, Flacco produced only three net touchdowns compared to seven turnovers. Ryan failed to pass for as many as 225 yards in six of the last eight weeks. (He sat out last week  because of turf toe.) He also had at least two turnovers in four of the last six games that he played to completion.

• Who throws the best interceptions in the league? In terms of field position, it’s Aaron Rodgers, whose seven picks gained an net average of 12.3 yards. That includes one that was returned 11 yards from the line of scrimmage for a touchdown.

Read more Chicago Bears news on BleacherReport.com

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