Will Cutler ever be where Rodgers is?

Quarterbacks Jay Cutler and Aaron Rodgers are similar in so many ways.

Tough guys … strong arms … great mobility … inch apart in height … 8 pounds apart in weight … one year apart in NFL experience … concussion survivors this season …

Yet today Rodgers is universally praised and Cutler is one of the most polarizing athletes in the universe.

Cutler is so mysterious that few of us have any idea whether he’ll care enough to watch Rodgers perform for the Packers against the Steelers on Sunday in Super Bowl XLV.

Maybe Cutler should make a point of it. Maybe he should study Rodgers as often as possible. Maybe he should wonder why he is wherever he is and Rodgers is in Dallas.

The uncomplicated answer is that Rodgers beat Cutler in the NFC championship game because the Packers were better than the Bears at more positions than just quarterback.

But other factors might be at work here. Rodgers might study the game more than Cutler does. Cutler might not have the emotional makeup Rodgers has. Personality might matter in a quarterback.

So answer this hypothetical, everybody: Would the Packers have qualified for the Super Bowl if Cutler or anyone else were their quarterback instead of Rodgers?

“He’s what makes them go,” Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark said of Rodgers during Super Bowl media day Tuesday. “That would be a different team without Aaron Rodgers.”

Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said of Rodgers, “Quarterbacking is more than X’s and O’s … winning games, leading the offense, dealing with success. He handles that really well.”

Are those the characteristics that separate Rodgers from Cutler?

One probability for the disparity is that Rodgers took a more beneficial route through his six NFL seasons than Cutler did through his five.

Cutler did play three seasons in Denver under Mike Shanahan, a noted mentor of quarterbacks. But Shanahan was fired and Cutler traded to the Bears’ quarterback drowning pool.

Meanwhile, Rodgers sat behind Brett Favre for two seasons in Green Bay, witnessing up close how a great quarterback goes about his business.

Once Rodgers became Green Bay’s starter, he was in a stable environment with the same offensive coaches and a familiar system.

So maybe Rodgers’ career is more decorated at this point because the Packers know how to maximize a quarterback’s ability and the Bears traditionally don’t.

Whatever the reason, Cutler still looks like he’s uncomfortable trying to figure out this NFL quarterback thing and Rodgers looks like he cracked the code a couple of seasons ago.

“For five years I was never comfortable with the level of leadership (from Packers players),” McCarthy said. “We have arrived at that (comfort) level, and Aaron has a lot do with that.”

Bears head coach Lovie Smith might say that about Cutler, but many would doubt that he really believes it.

Anyway, the Bears and Cutler might want to explore why he and Rodgers are so similar in so many ways but light-years apart this week.

“With this victory,” McCarthy said optimistically, “(Rodgers) will definitely be (considered) one of the best quarterbacks in the league.”

How long will it take for the Bears to get Cutler to the Super Bowl or he to get them there?

You know, if such a thing is even possible.

mimrem@dailyherald.com