page_title: Jay Cutler
section_title: 2008 season
hierarchical_section_title: Jay Cutler / Professional career / Denver Broncos / 2008 season
caption_attribution_description: English: own work, GFDL license
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: Before the 2008 regular season began, Cutler and tight end Daniel Graham were voted offensive captains by Broncos teammates.
  Cutler started the season with a 41-14 Monday Night Football victory over Oakland. He completed 16-of-24 passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns, and had the league's second-highest passer rating (137.5). The next week, Cutler and the Broncos defeated the San Diego Chargers in Denver, 39–38. Cutler went 36-of-50, with 350 yards passing and a career-best-tying four touchdowns, including one to Eddie Royal on 4th and Goal with 0:24 left, followed by a game-winning two-point conversion again to Royal. This occurred one play after Cutler fumbled, but an inadvertent whistle by referee Ed Hochuli before the Chargers recovered gave the Broncos the ball back. In Week 3, Cutler had 264 yards and two touchdowns in a 34–22 home win over New Orleans. Cutler threw two interceptions for the first time in the Broncos first defeat, 33–19 at Kansas City. Despite this, he finished September first in the AFC in completions (102), passing yards (1,275), and attempts (157), second in yards per attempt (8.12), third in passing touchdowns (9) and quarterback rating (98.6), and fifth in completion percentage (65.0%), winning AFC Offensive Player of the Month honors for the first time in his career.
  The Broncos edged Tampa Bay 16–13 behind Cutler's 23-of-34 performance with 227 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. The Broncos were 4–1 and leading AFC West. But then followed a 24–17 loss to Jacksonville Jaguars, where Cutler passed for just 192 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Next, Cutler injured his index finger on the first play of a 41-7 drubbing at New England; he ended the night with 168 yards and two interceptions. After a bye week, the Broncos suffered their third straight defeat, 26–17 to Miami, behind Cutler's 24-of-46 passing for 307 yards, two touchdowns and season-high three interceptions. During the 1-4 skid, Cutler had all seven of the Broncos touchdowns.
  In game 9, the Broncos found themselves down 23–10 at Cleveland, but in the 4th quarter Cutler threw a career-long 93-yard touchdown to Eddie Royal, followed by a touchdown passes to Daniel Graham and the game-winner to Brandon Marshall with 1:14 left. Cutler finished the game going 24-of-42 with 447 yards (career-high), three touchdowns and one interception, and received AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career. The next week, Cutler threw another late 4th quarter touchdown to Daniel Graham for a 24–20 win at Atlanta.
  In game 11, Cutler's streak of games with a touchdown ended at 11 as he went 16-of-37 for 204 yards and an interception in a 31–10 loss to Oakland. He did, however, reach 3,000 yards on the season, tying John Elway by reaching this mark in 11 games. In a windy game 12 at the New York Jets, Cutler went 27-of-43 with 357 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in the 34–17 victory. The 7-5 Broncos had a 3-game road win streak, 3 game home loss streak, and 3 game lead on San Diego (who had their own 3 game loss streak) with four games remaining.
  Cutler began December completing a season high 80% of his 40 passes for 286 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception in a 24–17 win over the Chiefs. The win came via a 95-yard drive and go-ahead touchdown pass to Brandon Marshall for Cutler's fourth rally of the season. However, Cutler was just 21-of-33 with 172 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in a 20–30 loss at Carolina, and despite 359 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns, had no passing touchdowns and one interception in a 30–23 loss to Buffalo. This set up a winner-takes-the-division season finale against the San Diego Chargers. Cutler went 33-of-49 with 316 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions, but it wasn't enough to counteract the Chargers seven touchdowns and Denver lost 52–21, failing to reach the playoffs for the third straight season.
  Cutler finished the season with career-highs in passing completions (384), passing attempts (616), passing yards (4,526), passing touchdowns (25),
caption: Cutler with the Denver Broncos in 2008
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