Brandon Marshall says he's the only person to hold Jay Cutler accountable
New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall is making a habit of scrutinizing Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, and the Bears organization as a whole.
Marshall spent the last three seasons with Chicago, and also played with Cutler for three years as a member of the Denver Broncos (2006-08).
The 31-year-old castigated the Bears organization for lacking chemistry earlier this summer, and stated that he was the only person to keep Cutler in check while in Chicago.
"I felt like I was the only one in the organization that had the (guts) to hold him accountable," Marshall said to Newsday's Kimberley A. Martin.
"It didn't go the way I wanted it to go, and there's some things I'd probably take back. But I didn't want to waste any time. You've got to think about this: I'm displacing my family, and there's coaches too. That's why I'm so passionate about this game, that's why I give everything when I hit this field. It's because you don't just play for yourself, you're playing for hundreds of people in the organization."
Cutler compiled a 44-38 record with the Bears, but he's been scrutinized for not elevating the Bears to the playoffs routinely, despite playing with a sub-standard offensive line over the past six years.
Marshall's comments appear to be coming from a point of frustration, alluding to the fact that the Bears didn't capitalize on their small window of opportunity to compete for a Super Bowl.
"I don't think there's anybody in the league that has more chemistry than us," Marshall said. "We saw the game the right way. We didn't even need to talk. And I thought that was something we could build on ... So, for me, I just felt like the time was now. The time was then for us to take advantage of that."
To Cutler's credit, he wished Marshall success with the Jets. However, one could wonder whether the tenuous wide receiver-QB relationship was a larger indicator of team-wide dysfunction during both players' tenures with the Bears.