Esiason: Cutler's fundamentals horrendous

• Tweet

CHICAGO, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason told a Chicago radio interview Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has "horrendous" fundamentals.

Esiason, now TV sports commentator, told "The McNeil and Spiegel Show" on WSCR-AM he believes whoever replaces Lovie Smith as coach of the Bears will have to sit down with Cutler and make sure the quarterback listens to him, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.

"Cutler has the tools, but he hasn't put it all together yet," Esiason said. "Jay Cutler just wants to feed Brandon Marshall the whole time and he kinda disengages everybody else. Whoever they bring in there is going to have to sit down with Jay Cutler and tell him this is the way it's gotta be and you gotta conform to what I want.

"And the only other thing that bothers me a little bit about Jay ... I think his pocket fundamentals are horrendous. Fundamentally, he carries the ball low. He's very lackadaisical in the pocket. He's like an old school gunslinger -- like a Daryle Lamonica type, where in today's NFL to get away with that is almost impossible."

Cutler, 29, joined the Bears in 2009 after spending 2006-08 with Denver. He has been named to the pro bowl once and led Chicago to the 2010 NFC championship game but was injured and the Bears lost.

Esiason, 51, was the league's MVP and a four-time pro bowl selection in 14 seasons with Cincinnati (twice), New York Jets and Arizona. He led the Bengals to Super Bowl XXIII and ranks in the Top 10 in several career passing categories.

Esiason said he had to re-learn the fundamentals himself when he was traded from the Bengals to the Jets in 1993.

"Yes you can teach an old dog new tricks if that old dog wants to buy in and become a great player. If that old dog doesn't want to and is going to resist everything that is happening around him, well then you're going to have a player that's impossible to coach."