So the Chicago Bears finally did it. They finally broke down and got a franchise quarterback. After starting 37 different signal callers over the last 171 games, and sending just one quarterback in the last 44 years to the Pro Bowl, the Bears shipped a bounty of goods to Denver in exchange for 26-year-old Jay Cutler.

The price was steep, no doubt (quarterback Kyle Orton, two first-round picks and a third-rounder). But no one will remember the price in five years.

The Windy City is understandably buzzing about its new sports icon. And Bears head coach Lovie Smith and GM Jerry Angelo are looking a lot smarter. Indeed, Cutler has special talent. His arm is an absolute rifle. He shows strength and valor in the pocket. His athleticism easily exceeds NFL requirements. And, unlike Chicago’s last two future franchise quarterbacks, first-rounders Cade McNown (’99) and Rex Grossman (’03), Cutler arrives with an NFL track record.

Of course, it’s a track record marked with one huge blemish: attitude. Ask yourself two questions: (A) why was a budding young superstar quarterback with a favorable contract so readily traded from Denver in the first place? and (B) when Cutler was quarreling with new Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels, why did not one single player, Bronco or non-Bronco, lend an inkling of public support to the star passer? Gifted as Cutler is, his arrogance has been a much-talked about issue in NFL circles. At this point, he bears an unsettling resemblance to Jeff George.

Perhaps even more troubling is what Cutler so willingly gave up to come here. In Denver, he had a quarterback-minded head coach who had just helped guide Tom Brady to a perfect regular season and groomed Matt Cassel into a star. He also had two first-rate offensive tackles (Ryan Clady and Ryan Harris) who were both under 25 and had given up a combined 3.5 sacks in 2008. Plus, his top targets, Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal, formed the best young receiving tandem in the game. Would a quarterback who was really concerned with winning turn his back so impetuously on a club that offered even just one of these three factors?

At least Cutler now has a golden opportunity to stroke his ego. His head coach is defensive-minded. His tackles are Orlando Pace and Chris Williams, a respective future Hall of Famer and ’08 first-round pick in the eyes of optimists. Realists, however, see these tackles as injury magnets, one in the form of a declining 33-year-old and the other as an untested question mark. Cutler’s top two receivers are Devin Hester and Earl Bennett, both of whom are just learning how to be NFL wideouts. (And investors aren’t exactly lining up.) Thus, any success Chicago has offensively will be credited to the new quarterback.

Cutler does have the kind of talent that can mask an entire offense’s limitations. Plus, scintillating young running back Matt Forte gives the Bears a better running game than the one that helped this team reach the Super Bowl just three years ago.

The ’06 Super Bowl team, of course, was all about defense. This ’09 defense is essentially that same Cover 2 group, except now it’s coming off a season in which it ranked 21st in yards allowed. As hyped as Cutler is, defense is where Chicago’s playoff fate truly rests. Lovie Smith’s favorite unit must recapture its bite if this organization is going to break out of its two-year malaise.

With no major defensive personnel changes, how does that happen? For starters, the addition of perhaps the league’s most respected defensive line coach, Rod Marinelli, should invigorate a front four that produced just 23.5 sacks last season (the Bears as a whole ranked 29th in the league in sacks per play). Smith’s scheme––which stems directly from his Tampa 2 days with Tony Dungy––only works if the front four can get pressure.

From there, Brian Urlacher must bounce back from an overwhelmingly average ’08 season that prompted a din of whispers about whether back and neck injuries had taken a toll on the six-time Pro Bowler (Urlacher has not made it to Hawaii the past two years). Tailing off at a rate commensurate with Urlacher has been a secondary that enters 2009 somewhat discombobulated.

But none of these obstacles are insurmountable. And the difference between this Bears team and those of the past six decades is that, even if some of the defensive problems aren’t solved, there’s at least hope. That’s what a star quarterback will give you.

Offense

It will be interesting to see how Jay Cutler and…

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