Jay Cutler

The phone rings in Brett Favre's Mississippi home. "Hello? Hello? Bears?" Favre answers, startled. "Hi, um, is this Brett?" Bears general manager Jerry Angelo asks. "Yeah, yeah, this is Brett Favre. " "Sorry, did I wake you up?" "I guess I must have just dozed off. I'd been staying up staring at the phone for the last 48 hours, but luckily I fell asleep with the phone in my hand," Favre says. "Sorry, I can call back later. " "No! I mean, that won't be necessary.

How things have changed in three years. It used to be that a Tiger Woods win on the PGA Tour was routine. But until Sunday's victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational - and since that infamous car crash - he hadn't won on the tour since September 2009. He was in a major slump off the course, but apparently he wasn't too busy to - well, we won't go there this time. Instead, we'll mark his achievement by seeing how likely it is Chicago teams will end droughts of their own this season.

Bonjour, Monsieur Trestman. That's a terrible way to greet Jay Cutler's new boss, but let's dive in with likes and dislikes about the man from Montreal. Dislike: The whole Canada thing. If he's so great, why hasn't he been in the NFL? By the way, the last coach we hired who coached in Canada? Neil Armstrong. Dislike. Dislike: This guy is being talked about like the only player he has to coach is Jay Cutler. Um, sorry. Other guys on that team could use a butt-whooping.

Ever since Kristin Cavallari told eonline.com that Jay Cutler proposed to the reality TV star via text message and later mailed her the engagement ring, we've been dying to know what those texts said. Somehow (OK, we're making it up) RedEye managed to get ahold of them. In honor of Valentine's Day, here's the greatest love story never told. Jay: sup baby. Whatcha doing? Kristin: OMG I'm at the airport headed back to Cali. U? Jay: Oh, just practicing, trying to turn Devin Hester into a real receiver.

Three linebackers, two offensive linemen and a wide receiver walk into Halas Hall … hoping to change the course of football history in Chicago. The Bears' newest draft class arrives with lofty expectations and daunting challenges at each position. It is composed of three guys (linebackers Jon Bostic, Khaseem Greene and Cornelius Washington) hoping to make fans forget about the franchise icon they're trying to replace; two (offensive linemen Kyle Long and Jordan Mills) who are hoping to prevent Kristin Cavallari from becoming a widow before her 30th birthday once she and Jay Cutler make it down the aisle; and another (wide receiver Marquess Wilson)

The Chicago Dental Society is having a meeting at McCormick Place in a couple of weeks. How do we know this? Because the organization sent out a press release with a sports angle the other day. And, no, it has nothing to do with Duncan Keith's teeth. The CDS asked 100 of its members recently which Chicago sports team "leader" had the best smile, and the results were, um, interesting. We won't reveal the results here. Instead, we'll tell you that Player A received 41 percent of the vote, followed by Player B with 22 percent, Player C at 21 percent and Player D at 5 percent.

With all the talk about Jay Cutler's emotions, I started thinking: What does a happy Cutler look like? He smiles during news conferences, but they're the kind of smiles Jack Nicholson flashed in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" when he was pretending to take his crazy pill to reassure Nurse Ratched that he was on board with ward policy. So I headed to the locker room after a news conference last week determined to learn more about Happy Jay Cutler. As it happened, I passed Cutler in the hallway.

It's the question on every Bears fan's mind. No, not "Can Jay Cutler throw with his left hand?" The real question is: Can the Bears make the playoffs? Sure they can. If they win a few more games and finish at least 10-6. Will they win a few more games? Time will tell, but a quick look at the Bears' remaining schedule can give us a hint. So, let's do that.   Sunday vs. Kansas City, noon CBS A home game probably will be a little kinder to quarterback Caleb Hanie.

Sorry, but even if the Bears still are technically in the playoff hunt, it's time to start thinking about 2012. Sunday's 38-14 loss to Seattle at Soldier Field proved that this team, missing quarterback Jay Cutler and running back Matt Forte, has played its best football of the season. "A total disappointment," coach Lovie Smith said afterward. "We had five turnovers. You can't win with five turnovers, simple as that. We never got anything going with our running game ... it's tough when you're in that position.

"If people could see him not just when the cameras are on, yeah, you'd see a different side of him. " That quote from Gabe Carimi came in late September after the loss to the Packers. I was gathering material for a column on what "Happy Jay Cutler" looked like, and Bear after Bear told me Cutler is absolutely a happy, jokey, light-hearted guy - just not always on the field, and not always with the media. Carimi's quote has been in my head for the past month, and during my time around the Bears I've begun to see Cutler's jokey side.