Following the second straight week where the Chicago Bears allowed more than 50 points and scored less than 25, head coach Marc Trestman said quarterback Jay Cutler must start playing better.
The Bears are coming off of back-to-back rough weeks where they suffered a 51-23 loss to the New England Patriots and then a 55-14 defeat at the hands of the division rival Green Bay Packers. Cutler has been dreadful in each loss.
As the Bears (3-6) prepare for the Vikings (4-5) at home in Week 11, Trestman believes that Cutler needs to play better to get the team out of its funk.
"I think we've got to go back and get ready for Minnesota," Trestman said, according to ESPN. "With that in mind, Jay's got to play better. He's got to play better, but he can't do it alone. He's got to play better just like the rest of us do."
Cutler had a rough outing to say the least against Green Bay, fumbling the ball on a sack and throwing two interceptions while completing 22 of 37 passes for 272 yards and adding a touchdown.
While Trestman believes the team needs to put together a better effort, starting with Cutler, benching the signal caller is not an option at this point as the coach pointed to the overall team effort as a problem.
"He didn't play well enough [Sunday], and we didn't play well enough," Trestman said. "I'm certain he'd take accountability for that. But it's very clear he did not play well enough [Sunday]. We can't sugarcoat that. At the same time, we didn't play collectively well enough as a team."
Cutler, who signed a seven-year extension with Chicago in January, has committed 15 turnovers in nine games on 10 interceptions and five fumbles that have led to 65 points for his opponents.
"We're all searching for answers right now," Cutler said after Sunday's loss. "As players, we need to figure this out and look inside each player and find out what's really going on inside. There are a lot of frustrated guys in that locker room right now and frustrated coaches. The only thing we have to do is stick together and keep working, and try to get out of this hole and get things back together."
Cutler is 8-12 under Trestman thus far, but the coach insisted that he "isn't concerned" about the prospect of Cutler losing the respect of his teammates.
Cutler, 31, is 219-for-330 (66.4 percent) thus far this season for 2,365 yards and with 18 touchdowns and the 10 interceptions.
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