Watching the current incarnation of the Chicago Bears offense makes one long for the days of Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall. At least when those two were on the team the offense would actually move the ball and score points. That seems like such a long time ago. It’s such a shame the relationship fell apart so quickly after the two reunited back in 2012.

Even to this day people still ask questions about what went wrong. For a time even dating back to their time in Denver they seemed tight. Two guys who looked like they had a strong connection and even a friendship. Nobody could deny their ability to churn out serious numbers in yards and touchdowns.

Marshall, for his part, has a theory of why it soured.

The former wide receiver appeared on “All Things Covered with Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden” for CBS Sports to talk about his career. Inevitably the relationship with Cutler became a talking point. Marshall called their relationship “tumultuous.” It started out with loads of optimism. After catching his first touchdown, he went straight to Cutler and said they had 140 more to go. The plan was to break the NFL record set by Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison.

However, the arrival of Josh McDaniels in 2009 changed everything. Cutler was traded to Chicago and Marshall was eventually traded to Miami. Three years later though the two reunited when the Bears traded for him. Things started out really well. Then it all went wrong. To him, Cutler wasn’t quite the same guy he’d been in Denver.

“The reality is, and it’s well noted and I’ve said this several times, Jay’s a gunslinger. I don’t think he had all the tools and skills he needed to really lead a team, and when you’re in the NFL, that quarterback, you gotta be like a CEO. I think he tried to develop that over time and it just could never come around, and it got to a point in Chicago where those first couple of years he was hit so bad it just seemed like it wore on him mentally and physically and we just didn’t have enough to get it done.

So our relationship bro, there’s so many stories man, we used to yell and scream at each other and then go out there and he would still throw it to me 10-15 times.”

Brandon Marshall raises points that validate many opinions

Cutler’s leadership was always a source of discussion in Chicago. Fans and experts questioned whether he had the chops to direct a football team. Did he have the charisma and verbal skills to move men? Everything from his body language to his press conferences was dissected. Former teammates even admitted that not everybody liked him. This was a key reason to many why he never quite took off.

Then again, that’s not entirely fair. To Marshall’s other point, Cutler didn’t have a lot of help. Prior to the receiver’s arrival, the quarterback had been sacked a whopping 110 times in 41 games for the Bears. He’d endured a ton of punishment and that sort of thing inevitably can wear on the psyche of a man. Nobody ever disputed his toughness but it’s fair to wonder if all those hits impacted how he played the game.

The Bears never did figure it out.

His protection was good sometimes but not nearly often enough. To say nothing of the parade of different offensive coordinators they saddled him with. He never really got comfortable in Chicago. Yet despite all that, he finished with every passing record in franchise history. Watching the Bears quarterbacks today, people have gained a newfound respect for what he accomplished.

Brandon Marshall had serious beef with Cutler after things fell apart in 2014. He took periodic snipes at the quarterback after being traded to the Jets. It seems though that time and retirement have allowed him to reflect. He admits his career never would’ve reached the heights it did without the mercurial but talented quarterback.