page_title: Jay Cutler
section_title: 2007 season
hierarchical_section_title: Jay Cutler / Professional career / Denver Broncos / 2007 season
caption_attribution_description: English: Jay Cutler, Denver Broncos quarterback
context_page_description: Jay Christopher Cutler is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for 12 seasons, primarily with the Chicago Bears. He played college football at Vanderbilt and was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft, for whom he played for three seasons. In 2009, he was traded to the Bears, where he played for eight seasons. After being released by Chicago in 2017, Cutler initially retired to become a sportscaster for NFL on Fox's television broadcasts, but returned for one more season with the Miami Dolphins when quarterback Ryan Tannehill suffered a season-ending injury. He retired a second time following the 2017 season.
context_section_description: The 2007 NFL season marked Cutler's first full season as the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos. In the first game of the season against the Buffalo Bills, Cutler led Denver to a comeback win on a 12-play, 42-yard drive culminating in a Jason Elam 42-yard field goal as time expired. Cutler's pass attempts (39), completions (23), and yards (304) for the game were career-highs at the time. He led Denver to their second straight comeback win the next week in the home opener against the Oakland Raiders. Late in regulation, Cutler moved the team 78 yards in 15 plays for the game-tying field goal with 2:18 remaining. The game went into overtime, where he engineered a 52-yard drive that led to another game-winning field goal by Elam. Cutler had a touchdown pass during the game, making him the first Broncos passer to begin his Broncos career with at least one touchdown pass in his first seven starts. The streak reached nine games through losses to Jacksonville and at Indianapolis (which featured his first career rushing touchdown), but ended with a 41–3 home loss to the San Diego Chargers in the fifth game of the season.
  After the bye week in Week 6, the 2-3 Broncos beat the 4–1 Pittsburgh Steelers, 31–28 (all three wins on last-second Elam field goals). Cutler had a QB rating of 106.7, and career highs of 75.9% passes completed, three touchdowns, 41 rushing yards and a long run of 31 yards, earning NBC Sunday Night Football's Horse Trailer Player of the Game (with Elam). Cutler finally had an interception-free game in his 12th start against the 6–1 Green Bay Packers, in which he drove 89-yards for a game-tying field goal in the last 2:27 of regulation, before losing in overtime, 19–13, on Green Bay's first play from scrimmage. In week 8, Cutler had just four attempts against the Detroit Lions before leaving with a leg injury; backup Patrick Ramsey floundered in a 44–7 loss. Cutler returned the next week in a 27–11 victory at Kansas City.
  In Week 10, the 4-5 Broncos faced the 6-3 Tennessee Titans (and fellow 2006 draftee Vince Young for the first time) in a MNF game. Cutler posted a career-second-best 137.0 passer rating in a 34–20 victory. He was the first Broncos quarterback since Elway in 1995 to throw two 40+ yard touchdowns in a game (of the team's franchise-record four 40+ yard touchdowns that night), and the 5–5 Broncos moved into a tie with San Diego atop the AFC West. However, the Broncos won only one of the next five games, a 41–7 Chiefs blowout. In that game, Cutler passed for four touchdowns and a then-career-best rating of 141.0. But that bright spot came between two pairs of losses; in the four games Cutler had five interceptions, took 12 sacks, twice had a rating under 50.0, and culminated in 23–3 loss to San Diego that eliminated the Broncos from the playoffs. Cutler salvaged a 7–9 record with a 22–19 overtime win over Minnesota, eliminating them as well.
  Denver missed the playoffs for a second straight year. Cutler started all 16 games, completing 297-of-467 passes (63.6%) for 3,497 yards, 20 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He was the NFL's 12th-ranked passer (88.1) and also had the tenth-most passing yards (3,497). Furthermore, Cutler was the league's ninth-best third-down passer, with a 92.1 passer rating (73-of-125 for 901 yards, eight touchdowns, and three interceptions). It was the seventh most passing yards in Broncos history, and third-best completion percentage. Like his predecessor Plummer, Cutler showed mobility with 44 rushes for 205 yards (4.7 yards per carry) and a touchdown on the season.
  In late 2007, various experts suggested Cutler was the young quarterback most likely to reach the elite status along the lines of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Cutler, Brandon Marshall and Tony Scheffler went to Atlanta together to train and work on timing for the 2008 season.
caption: Cutler preparing for the Titans in a 2007 MNF game.
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