GREEN BAY, Wis. — Jay Cutler gave the Chicago Bears a little bit of good Jay and a whole lot of bad Jay on Sunday night, and the result was a heartbreaking loss to his new team’s most bitter rival.
Cutler had some big throws and the Bears led the Green Bay Packers 12-10 after three quarters, but the Packers prevailed 21-15 thanks in large part to four Cutler interceptions. The last came with 1:06 left in the game, right after the Packers took the lead on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers to Greg Jennings and a two-point conversion.
“Probably the city of Chicago is disappointed, I’m disappointed,” Cutler said. “It’s tough, but we’ve got 15 more (games) to play. There’s a lot of football left in the season. I think this team is ultimately going to overcome this one and we’re going to bounce back and we’re going to be fine.”
In the 178th edition of an often-savage rivalry that began at Wrigley Field in 1921, Cutler completed 17-of-36 passes for 277 yards. But he threw three first-half interceptions.
“It was a rough first half,” Cutler said. “Three turnovers put the defense in a hole. We can’t put the defense in that position. We know that. It’s hard to win football games with three turnovers in the first half.”
With the Packers primarily playing nickel defense, Cutler went three-and-out on three of his first four possessions. On Chicago’s first possession of the second quarter, he completed a 68-yard pass to Johnny Knox for first-and-goal at the Packers’ 8, but three plays later he was was improbably intercepted at the line of scrimmage by 325-pound defensive end Johnny Jolly.
Cutler was asked later if he didn’t see Jolly.
“Yeah,” Cutler said, laughing sarcastically, “I didn’t see him.”
On his next possession Cutler was picked off at Green Bay’s 32 by cornerback Tramon Williams, who returned it 67 yards to Chicago’s 1-yard line. Ryan Grant ran it in on the next play to give the Packers a 10-2 halftime lead.
Cutler threw a third-quarter, 36-yard touchdown pass to Devin Hester to complete a 10-play, 79-yard drive. Robbie Gould’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bears a 12-10 lead with 3:51 left in the period.
Chicago still had a chance after Rodgers’ 50-yard winner to Jennings, but on the Bears’ last play, Packers cornerback Al Harris stepped in front of Knox at Chicago’s 43 and victimized Cutler again.
“He’s a good football player,” Cutler said. “He’s been around a long time.”
Bears coach Lovie Smith blamed the loss on the turnovers.
“Anytime you have four turnovers, you’re normally not going to win the football game, especially against a good Packers team,” Smith said. “We turned the ball over, and they capitalized on it.
“On the other side of the ball, we weren’t able to take the football away. It’s tough to win when you don’t do that.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
