Rick Gosselin

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CHICAGO – Vilified one week, canonized the next.

Welcome to Chicago, Jay Cutler.

Bears fans were eager to boo Cutler in his home debut after his four-interception loss to the Green Bay Packers on the opening weekend, and they got the chance as Chicago sputtered offensively in the rain in the early going Sunday against the defending Super Bowl champions.

But Cutler led the Bears to 10 fourth-quarter points with near perfect execution to power Chicago to a 17-14 upset of Pittsburgh.

Cutler got some help. Pittsburgh kicker Jeff Reed entered the 2009 season having converted 82.7 percent of his career field goal attempts. But he missed twice in the fourth quarter – once from 38 yards, the other from 43. It marked the first time Reed had missed two field goal tries in the same game, much less the same quarter, since Sept. 26, 2004, against Miami.

After the first miss, Cutler drove the Bears 72 yards in nine plays for the tying touchdown on a 7-yard pass to rookie Johnny Knox.

After Reed's second miss, with 3:18 remaining, Cutler drove the Bears 41 yards in eight plays for decisive field goal, a 44-yarder by Robbie Gould.

"I'm here for a reason," Cutler said. "I want the ball at the end of a game for a chance to win the game. If it's three minutes or 30 seconds, you just want a shot."

The Bears shipped their incumbent starting quarterback Kyle Orton and two first-round draft picks to the Denver Broncos for the young Pro Bowler Cutler this off-season.

The Bears and their fans did not see a Pro Bowl quarterback against the Packers, but they did against the Steelers.

Cutler was 9-of-10 passing for 92 of his 236 yards in the fourth quarter with the game on the line. His one incompletion came on a throwaway when his protection broke down and his receivers couldn't get open.

"From Week 1 to Week 2 is always when you make the biggest jump," Cutler said of his two games as a Bear.

Cutler showed great patience against the NFL's best defense, a defense that does not allow you to run, does not allow you to complete deep passes and hounds quarterbacks unmercifully.

The Bears rushed for just 43 yards against the Steelers and just eight of Cutler's 27 completions went for longer than 10 yards. But he did not throw any interceptions and was sacked just once. He also engineered a 97-yard touchdown drive at the end of the second quarter to send Chicago in 7-7 at halftime.

Sunday is what all of Chicago envisioned when the Bears traded for Cutler. He's the best quarterback this franchise has had since Jim McMahon, and that gives the Bears their best chance to win a Super Bowl since McMahon.

Rick Gosselin shares his NFL analysis Wednesdays through Fridays on the NFL blog.

Rick Gosselin is the author of GoodFellows, the story of Detroit's surprisingly successful St. Ambrose football teams of the '50s and '60s.