Dan Hampton was a key member of the 1985 Bears, one of the greatest teams the NFL has ever seen. According to the hall-of-fame defensive tackle, the ’80s Bears may have gone down as one the greatest dynasties the league has ever seen if they – get this – had Jay Cutler behind center.

Cutler gets a lot of crap for a supposed lack of leadership and toughness, but he would have been a perfect fit in the Bears offense, which was built around feeding Walter Payton the ball and deep play-action passes. And defenses were much more simpler back in the 1980s, so Cutler’s problems with decision-making and reading defenses quickly would have been mitigated to a certain extent. With his arm and underrated athleticism, Cutler may have been a hall-of-fame level quarterback during that era. Alas, we’ll never know.

It’s still a somewhat odd statement to hear from Hampton, considering that the quarterback position wasn’t really the reason for those Bears teams’ inability to make it back to the Super Bowl. Buddy…