Eight quarterbacks have started for the Broncos since John Elway retired in 1999. But Jay Culter might be the man to finally replace a legend in Denver.
By Jerry MageeUNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERFull
(Clockwise, from top)
John ElwayGames started: 231 When: 1983-1999 Playoff resume: 22 appearances with a 14-8 record. Elway played in five Super Bowls and ended his career with seven straight playoff wins and two titles.
Brian GrieseGames started: 51When: 1999-2002 Playoff resume: Inactive due to shoulder injury in Denver's 21-3 AFC Wild Card loss to Baltimore in December of 2000.
Chris MillerGames started: 3When: 1999 Playoff resume:No playoff appearances with the Broncos
Gus FrerotteGames started: 7 When: 2000-2001 Playoff resume: Subbing for an injured Brian Griese, Frerotte threw for 124 yards and an interception in 2000 Wild Card loss eventual Super Bowl winners Baltimore Ravens.
Steve BeuerleinGames started: 5 When: 2002-2003 Playoff resume: No playoff appearances with the Broncos
Jarious JacksonGames started: 1 When: 2003 Playoff resume: No playoff appearances with the Broncos
Danny KanellGames started: 2 When: 2003 Playoff resume: No playoff appearances with the Broncos
Jake PlummerGames started: 54 When: 2003-2006 Record: 0-1 Playoff resume:1-3 in playoffs; sacked three times and intercepted twice in AFC title game loss to Steelers last year.
Jay Cutler Games started: 1 When: 2006 Playoff resume: None, the rookie started his first game last week in a 3-point loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

The first appearance by the Denver Broncos' heralded rookie quarterback had not gone so well, which is being kind. Jay Cutler's introduction as a starter last week against Seattle? Yeah, that, too, but the reference is to how John Elway broke in against the Pittsburgh Steelers in September 1983. Elway went 1-for-8, with one interception, and was replaced in the second half by Steve DeBerg.

“For 14 yards,” said Cutler, in a conference call with the San Diego media, noting Elway's yardage total. As Cutler confirmed, the Broncos have been recitingElway's figures to him as a means of making the point that even the greats – andElway was a great – can experience trials in their career's beginning
Cutler's arrival was the stuff of controversy. For an NFL team to change quarterbacks in the middle of a season often is an act of desperation. The Broncos were not desperate. They were 7-4 before coach Mike Shanahan took the football from Jake Plummer and handed it to the rookie from Vanderbilt. Some scholars contended Shanahan was misguided, that this was no time to invest an offense in a rookie, no matter what his potential.

“My only question is what took them so long?” said NFL Network analyst Cris Collinsworth. “After watching this kid in the preseason, he's absolutely phenomenal. Everybody you talk to who has been associated with this franchise for any length of time – Dan Reeves, Shanahan – they all throw out the 'E' word; they think he is the next Elway.”
Only Cutler did not wake up any Elway echoes against the Seahawks. He was a 10-for-21 passer for 143 yards with two interceptions, one of a poor, fluttering pass that he launched while in the grasp of a defender. It was returned for a touchdown. Through 57 minutes, Cutler had thrown for just 57 yards before wide receiver Brandon Marshall carried a completion 71 yards for a touchdown on a pass-run play that was largely run.
The Seahawks won 23-20. When Elway made his debut in Three Rivers Stadium against the Steelers 23 years ago, the Broncos won 14-10. This, though the winners finished with a minus 1 in net passing yards. Pittsburgh fumbled four times and had three interceptions.
Cutler, due to make his second start against the Chargers here tomorrow in a game the Broncos must win to avoid elimination in the AFC West race, accepts that the shadow Elway casts is a long one.
“It's tough,” he said. “The bar here is extremely high. They don't want you just to win, they want you to win big. They want the offense to be extremely explosive. It's something you have to deal with.”
“Welcome to the NFL,” Shanahan said. “This is reality, this is what happens in the NFL. You learn by your experiences and you go out there and you compete and that's what you do.”
Cutler cited what was the leading lesson of his first professional start. “Just to be patient,” he said. “These things will come naturally to me, but I just need to be patient, keep studying things, what I do good and what I do bad.
“I did some things out there, made some good throws, but did some stuff I wish I could have had back. But I'm learning from it and moving on.”
Elway has said Shanahan acted properly in deeding the football to the 6-foot-3, 233-pound Cutler, who is from Santa Claus, Ind. “It means a lot,” Cutler said, “but in the same breath, I have to go out and play football.”
Shanahan said he was mindful of only one factor in choosing Cutler: what would lend the Broncos the best chance of winning. When he made his decision, Shanahan said he was aware he was leaving himself open to the second guess should Cutler not perform creditably.
“That's the nature of the job,” Shanahan said. “But I think you know me well enough that I'm not going to base my decision on what is the most popular.”
How Shanahan adjudges Cutler's future: “I think he can be very good. Being fortunate enough to have been around some good quarterbacks – or some great quarterbacks – I think he has everything it takes to be a top guy in the NFL.”

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Shanahan, meantime, does not accept that because his squad is 7-5, it cannot become a playoff factor.
“I mean this when I say it: We just have to get ready for this game,” he said. “You understand that every game is the most pivotal, and if you look at things this way, then you've got a chance to do something special.”
Shanahan said he can recall instances when teams that were 7-5 with three straight defeats came on to win a Super Bowl. The Broncos have dropped three straight.
“Obviously, last year,” said Shanahan, remembering the course the Steelers took to victory in Super Bowl XL. “These things happen all the time. People forget that they happen, but they happen. What you have to do is play your best football in December and January. Regardless of what your record is, you have to be at the top of your game once the playoffs start. If you're not, you're just another team, because there is only one team that is going to be happy at the end of the season.”
So he has given the football to Jay Cutler. He wants to be a happy man