Get ready to show him the $$$

The richest quarterback in the NFL was on display Saturday at Soldier Field -- and so was Jay Cutler. Technically, the first part of that statement isn't true. New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who recently signed a six-year, $97.5 million extension, isn't the highest-paid quarterback this season. That honor belongs to the Cincinnati Bengals' Carson Palmer, who is making $16.166 million, which makes him the second-highest-paid player in the league behind Carolina Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers. You get the idea, though. Manning is one of the highest-paid players in the game, but if you were to choose between him and Cutler in the Bears' 17-3 victory Saturday, the decision would have been a no-brainer: It was Cutler with the upward spiral. A veteran NFL scout sitting in the press box left no doubt when he was asked for his choice between the two. ''Eli is what, 28?'' he said correctly. ''He might be as good as he's going to get. Cutler is a couple of years younger than that, and who knows how good he's going to be? He looked like a great one tonight.'' Playing in an offense designed to take advantage of his talent instead of the one Kyle Orton used to run, Cutler showed off his dizzying array of skills with the kind of performance Bears fans have dreamed about for generations. Tear up the record books. Rewrite that bit in the theme song about the T-formation. Prepare for a massive increase in ticket prices after a freakish freeze this season. $100 million deal The Bears are going to have to give Cutler a $100 million deal at some point within the next two years, and he looked Saturday as though he'll be worth every dollar. Of course, the Bears like to tell people not to overreact to preseason results, so maybe they will dismiss his success against the Giants as they did his slow start in the preseason opener against the Buffalo Bills. Nonetheless, it was delightful to see the way the Bears used Cutler against the Giants after stifling his ability against the Bills. Sure, Cutler can succeed as a pocket passer if the Bears insist on limiting him that way. But what a difference he can make when he's allowed to use the things that make him a unique talent. Cutler was allowed to show off a bit for the home fans -- running a couple of bootlegs, operating from a moving pocket and using the shotgun and even some no-huddle offense. The result was the second coming of Steve Young in terms of mobility and accuracy. Wondrous things will happen this season if the Bears can get Cutler operating in space. Not only can the guy throw on the run, but he can throw the length of the field on the run. On one play-action pass early in the second quarter, Cutler was on the move when he threw the ball nearly 60 yards in the air to Devin Hester. The ball fell incomplete when Hester seemed to hesitate a bit and lost track of the ball. That play will come in time, and that has to scare the hell out of opponents. Played like a great one Cutler still is working his way through the weapons at his disposal. He completed passes to Hester, Earl Bennett, Greg Olsen, Matt Forte, Devin Aromashodu and Desmond Clark. His presence opened up the running game, with Forte breaking a 32-yard scoring run for the first touchdown. All told, the Bears scored 17 points on the three drives Cutler directed. ''We wanted to come out and have a better showing than we did last week,'' said Forte, who -- along with Olsen -- didn't play against the Bills. ''It means we have improved through the last couple of practices in camp and that we got better.'' Cutler checked out of a passing play on Forte's touchdown run. Forte said defenses have to be aware of Cutler, which will translate into fewer men in the box against the running game. ''He takes advantage of it,'' Forte said. ''We were on the same page out there, and it showed.'' Cutler took a couple of hits, but he had plenty of time to throw and got rid of the ball in a hurry when pressed. He played like a great one, making an amazing jump from one game to the next. Comment at suntimes.com.