Brian Urlacher: only thing elite about Bears quarterback Jay Cutler is his salary

Tuesday, Bears GM Phil Emery called Jay Cutler an elite quarterback.

Wednesday, future Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher said that was true — but only in a financial sense. Cutler is the highest-paid player in the NFL this season.

Urlacher said he paled in comparison to the Patriots’ Tom Brady, the Manning brothers, the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers and the Saints’ Drew Brees.

“Financially, he is one of the elite guys in the NFL … he just hasn’t produced like an elite quarterback,” the former linebacker said on 87.7 FM The Game. “You look at the Bradys, the Mannings, the Rodgers, the Brees, those guys win every year, even with no one around them.

“Rodgers has no offensive line. He wins. Brady has no receivers. He wins.

“And you look at Jay. He’s got Brandon (Marshall), Alshon (Jeffery), Matt (Forte), this great offensive line, Martellus Bennett,and they can’t seem to put it together, for some reason. I’m not sure if that’s his fault, but for some reason they just can’t figure it out.”

Urlacher said, too that, Brandon Marshall’s passionate postgame screaming wouldn’t have happened when he played — or when Lovie Smith coached.

“When I was there, we had different leaders, so that would never happen,” he said. “That situation would have never happened. Lovie would have never let it happen, first of all.”

He called the rant a “tough situation,” saying that it was better to do so in the locker room than the sideline — which, he pointed out, the Bears have done before.

“If you’re playing great and doing your job and everything, you’d probably say stuff like that,” he said. “But you better make damn sure you’re doing your job to the best of your ability if you’re gonna start talking to people like that.”