was a microcosm of Cutler’s career here — brilliant one week, brutal the next.

There are four years remaining on the seven-year, $126.7 million deal Cutler signed before the 2014 season. With all of the guaranteed money — $54 million — paid, it would cost the Bears just $2 million in dead salary cap money to waive Cutler.

Keeping him would cost $15 million in base salary and a roster bonus in 2017. That’s more money than a rebuilding team like the Bears would want to pay for a quarterback who will be 34 before training camp starts and coming back from shoulder surgery.

Earlier in the season Fox denied rumors he had told acquaintances he was finished with Cutler after this season. On Thursday, he was asked what he had learned about Cutler in two seasons.

“He’s extremely competitive,” Fox said. “He’s been very tough-minded when he’s had to deal with different surgeries, the hamstring (last season), the thumb and now the shoulder. He’s handled that as well as most guys I’ve ever been associated with.”

The hamstring injury was expected to keep Cutler out 4-6 weeks, but he missed just one game.

“Jay will do anything to keep playing,” offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains said. “When he’s back (after surgery), he’ll be in the quarterbacks room helping out.”

Asked what he’s learned about Cutler in his two years with him, Loggains said: “How tough he is, how much he cares and how much it means to him.”

But in his eight years in Chicago, Cutler was a lightning rod for criticism from outside Halas Hall, for his inconsistent play and the perception that he was aloof. The way he was perceived by others was different from reality, according to teammates and coaches.

Quarterback David Fales, who was re-signed by the Bears last week because of Cutler’s injury, was drafted by the Bears in the sixth round in 2014. He was the No. 3 quarterback behind Cutler for two years before signing with the Ravens earlier this season.

As a rookie, Fales said he didn’t know what to expect from Cutler.

“I’ve watched these guys since I was little,” Fales said, “and when you first get in the league, you’re kind of shellshocked and star-struck. I didn’t know what to expect, but he’s been awesome.”

Fales said some of the negative view of Cutler comes from uninformed outsiders.

“People talk who aren’t in the building,” Fales said. “They don’t know him and aren’t around him and aren’t in the (quarterback) room with him hearing the things that he says and does. People who are talking (badly) about him sometimes don’t really know him.”

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