Jay Cutler will immediately be the best quarterback the Chicago Bears have lined up under center since … Jim McMahon? Sid Luckman?

The team is unproven, at best, and more than likely more like putrid at wide receiver with Devin Hester, Rashied Davis, Earl Bennett and possibly Marty Booker competing for playing time. Cutler will make them a little better, but expecting too much from him in that regard, to borrow a bad cliche, is expecting him to put lipstick on a pig.

The Bears are also less than stellar at offensive tackle. John Tait retired. John St. Clair moved onto Cleveland as a free agent. Last year’s top pick Chris Williams will likely fill one spot. The Bears signed Frank Omiyale and Kevin Shaffer and are rumored to be interested in aging and oft-injured tackle Orlando Pace. But Williams is coming off a back injury and the other three potential options, well, nobody is going to be immortalizing them in bronze in Canton anytime soon.

Chicago certainly upgraded the quarterback position and Cutler is young enough where he is the equivalent of a first rounder – and possibly the equivalent of a first and third rounder. But wow – they gave up two firsts, a third and Kyle Orton. That’s a steep price to pay.

Then again, they were in the Super Bowl two years ago and they missed the playoffs by one game last season. In the weak NFC North, Cutler probably becomes the most talented quarterback in the division. He’ll get more out of the limited wideout potential than Orton could and he could create some opportunities for stud second-year running back Matt Forte just due to the mere threat of his arm.

Under GM Jerry Angelo, the Bears have been averse to high-profile moves. This goes against that philosophy. In the short-term, it makes them more of a threat. But there are a lot of other deficiencies that must be addressed and there are few high draft picks left with which to do that. In addition to shaky tackles and a lack of wideout presence, the defense, long the team’s strong suit, has shown signs that it might be slowing down the last two years.

For the price Chicago paid for Cutler the expectations are going to be high. Can the Bears meet them before guys like Brian Urlacher, Olin Kreutz, Lance Briggs and Tommie Harris are too broken down to matter?

They better. Because they’ve mortgaged a couple years worth of high draft picks in order to make this deal. If it doesn’t pay off early this deal has the potential to go down as a disaster.