Jay Cutler provides a blueprint for the development of Drew Lock

Drew Lock played bad against the Kansas City Chiefs. There’s no other way to put it; it was a bad performance.

After the game, some have decided Lock isn’t the guy. Others have argued he deserves more time.

Right now, we don’t know what we have in Lock. We have seen good and bad. The only thing that is certain is that the final 10 games of the season provide an opportunity for Lock to answer the question.

The Broncos have been down this road before and it was with Mr. Personality himself, Jay Cutler. Cutler’s three years with Denver provide a glimpse on how Lock should be judged going forward.

The Broncos entered this season committed to giving Lock the entire season as the starting quarterback. There has never been a promise beyond this season and there shouldn’t be.

Lock and Cutler entered their second seasons unquestionably the starting quarterback with no other viable option. Like Lock, Cutler started the final five games of his rookie season. Their rookie statistics are comparable. Lock was better in completion percentage and threw less interceptions, while Cutler threw more touchdowns.

Cutler’s second season was up and down, but he did show improvement by season’s end.

In his second season, Cutler did not have a game with multiple touchdown passes until Week 7 against the Pittsburgh Steelers and did not have a game without throwing an interception until Week 8 against the Green Bay Packers.

There were bad performances from Cutler at Oakland and “Monday Night Football” on Christmas Eve at San Diego. In both of these cases, and others in 2007, Cutler was able to bounce back from bad performances with improvement and victories. He never had two outright awful performances back to back.

Cutler’s best game in 2007 came in Week 14 at Kansas City against the Chiefs. His stat line that day was 20-of-27, 244 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. In three of his last four starts, Cutler did not throw an interception.

The only thing that truly mattered about Cutler’s sophomore season is that he was better at the end of the season than he was in the beginning. We saw flashes throughout the season and the final product justified moving forward with him as the franchise quarterback.

The repetitions and experience made Jay Cutler a better quarterback.

Since Cutler and the Broncos ended on a bitter note, what’s often ignored is that Mike Shanahan was properly developing Cutler. The following season in 2008, Cutler was still a project, but he took a big step forward. That season, Cutler received the only Pro Bowl selection of his career. He was still far from perfect in 2008, but the Broncos offense was high powered, and he was the quarterback leading the way. The Bears didn’t further Cutler’s development; they just expected him to be elite. The trade was the worst thing to happen to Cutler’s career.

For Drew Lock, his second season is only three games deep. Lock was decent against the Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots and he was embarrassing against the Chiefs. It’s unrealistic to expect Lock to be elite overnight and at the same it’s realistic to expect him to exhibit a level of improvement by season’s end.

Lock was always going to have bad games in 2020. How he bounces back will be truly telling. If Lock strings together multiple bad games in a row, then we might have a problem. Cutler was always able to stop the bleeding before bad play got out of hand.

Culter’s improvement in 2007 was gradual to the point that it was unnoticeable. It didn’t leap off the page and hit you over the head. It wasn’t that one game everything clicked, and he was so much better. Cutler was able to slowly begin to grow into the role of starting quarterback.

For Lock to be the Broncos quarterback beyond 2020, he will follow a similar path. Lock’s progress may not be obvious. We likely will have to wait until the season’s end to see Lock’s growth. His development will also last beyond 2020, but only if he shows true growth.

Make no mistake, if the growth isn’t there, Lock should not be the Broncos starting quarterback in 2021. If Weeks 15, 16, 17 loo like the last two games, we will know Lock is not the franchise quarterback of the Denver Broncos.

I wrote last season that after six full games of film, a quarterback is either figured out or they adapt and evolve. Trevor Siemian and Brock Osweiler were both ineffective after six full games of film. There is enough film on Lock at this point that he will have to continually adjust to opponents attacking his weakness or he won’t ever start beyond 2020.

One thing Lock has going for him that Cutler did not is that he’s likable. His teammates like him. That will go a long way in his improvement as he looks to build chemistry on offense.

Lock won’t be complete after 2020, regardless of who well he plays. The development will continue, but it needs to be worth it.

If Lock has not shown improvement by Week 17, he should be done as the starter. Anybody who is arguing differently would be lying to themselves. If Lock does show maturity in his play, then the Broncos should continue forward with him. It’s that simple. The Broncos and Lock have 10 games to figure this out, more than enough time to decide the future.