Former NFL QB Jay Cutler Talks Andrew Luck's Retirement, Mitchell Trubisky, Chicago Bears In 2019

There are those that think Andrew Luck’s retirement won’t last, considering the quarterback has called it quits at just 29 years old and in the prime of his career. Former NFL signal caller Jay Cutler isn’t in that group, believing Luck is done playing professional football for good.

Cutler knows a little something about coming out of retirement. Just a few months after the Chicago Bears released him and he agreed to become an analyst for FOX Sports, the quarterback signed a one-year deal with the Miami Dolphins for the 2017 season.

Cutler spoke with International Business Times to promote the Dos Equis College Football Football College, which will give fans a chance to win tickets to this year’s national championship game. The quarterback touched on the recent retirements of Luck and Rob Gronkowski, as well as what he expects out of Bears’ quarterback Mitchell Trubisky in the 2019 season.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Were you as surprised as everyone else when Andrew Luck retired?

Obviously, it was a surprise. He’s in his prime and you think there’s at least five, seven more years left. They just got a great new coach, a new GM. Things were kind of trending in the right direction. I’ve talked with Andrew before in the past and he’s a very intelligent guy. He’s got a lot of interests and hobbies outside of football. He’s injured and going through that whole cycle of rehab. It takes a toll on you. It’s just a lot you have to deal with, and to go play quarterback at a high level the way that he wanted to play, everything kind of has to be perfect. I guess he just felt like it wasn’t.

Was there ever a time earlier in your career when you seriously considering retiring?

There are definitely times when you feel the weight of the world on you and you feel like you have nothing left to give, but I don’t think I was ever as close or ready to pull the trigger like Andrew did.

A lot of people think Luck and Rob Gronkowski will play again. How difficult is it to walk away when you can still be a capable NFL starter?

It’s hard. You get to see a whole different side of life outside of football that a lot of these guys haven’t been a part of since they were eight, 10 years old. I think that takes you a long way. Being a couple years out, you start to miss it and miss some of the things that you love so much about the game. I don’t see Andrew coming back. I feel like he’s pretty set in stone with this. Gronk, you never know which direction he’s going to go. You could see him coming back and setting the NFL on fire again.

What do you think of Mitchell Trubisky ahead of what’s expected to be a big year for him and the Bears?

Everyone kind of points to this year as being a big year. We’ll see what happens. He’s got a great group of people around him. I think coach (Matt) Nagy’s gonna be there for a long time. He’s done an incredible job in just a short amount of time. He understands quarterbacks. He understands how to take the blame. He understands how to shoulder some of the responsibility, to take things off of him. I think he did an incredible job in-game calling plays and taking care of Mitch because as a young quarterback you can get yourself in trouble. You’ve gotta have a guy out there calling plays and a guy in your ear that knows what he’s doing. I think he’s done an incredible job with those first couple of years and I would expect for them together to get better.

What is the Dos Equis College Football Football College and how did you get involved?

They called up and they pitched the idea. Playing football I’ve always had a love for college football. I think the game lately has changed so much. There’s so much parity and it’s a lot of fun to watch. So they wanted to make a college and kind of inform fans about the history and give them offense and defense and trick plays. Make a little course that they could earn a degree and then get a chance to win tickets to the national championship game in New Orleans. It sounded fun, and when I was younger and watching all the commercials, the most interesting man in the world, I always liked their vibe. So it worked out.

You can get more information about the Dos Equis College Football Football College at edu.dosequis.com.