The Pro Bowl passer, who forced a blockbuster trade out of Denver last spring and became the Chicago Bears' first franchise quarterback since Sid Luckman, returned to Invesco Field on Sunday night and led his new team to a 27-17 preseason win over the Broncos.
Cutler disregarded the thousands of hecklers, including Broncos pass-rusher Elvis Dumervil, in leading Chicago on three scoring drives, capped by a 12-play, 98-yarder just before halftime that gave the Bears a 17-3 lead.
The adversary he left behind, Broncos rookie coach Josh McDaniels, had a distressing home debut, as did Denver's new quarterback, Kyle Orton, who gashed his right index finger to cut short a middling performance against his former team.
Cutler threw for 144 yards and a score in a crisp 15-for-21 performance before calling it a night at halftime and basking in the glow of his successful return to Invesco Field, where just eight months ago he was a beloved figure, a Pro Bowl passer and the heir apparent in this town to Hall of Famer John Elway.
While fans came to jeer him, they also saw why they'll miss this immensely talented young quarterback.
"I thought it was going to be like this," Cutler said. "They got good fans here. A lot of boos - they got pretty loud there at one point. It was what we kind of prepared for."
At one point on the Bears' 98-yard TD drive, the jeers turned to cheers when Dumervil blew past left tackle Orlando Pace for a third time and put a hit on Cutler after he had released the ball. The personal foul gave the Bears (2-1) a first down at the Denver 14 but the riled-up crowd didn't care.
Two plays later, Cutler feathered a 6-yard pass to running back Matt Forte in the end zone.
After his follow-through on an incomplete pass to Correll Buckhalter before halftime, Orton glanced down at his bloody finger, held it up for the sideline to see and then trotted off the field.
Although the bloody finger was captured by the NBC cameras for all to see, the Broncos announced Orton's problem in the press box only as "an upper extremity injury" and said he was questionable to return.
McDaniels told NBC that Orton's finger wasn't broken but that more tests were needed.
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