The Cutler Didn't Do It

I'm a little surprised and disappointed by all of the negative things that have been said about Jay Cutler in the wake of Sunday's devastating loss to the Packers.

The guy sprains his MCL. He tries to go back in the game, but can't plant, which, if you didn't know, is extremely important when both throwing and running. The head coach and team doctors do not let him go back on the field after that. He is shown on the sideline with the same disinterested look that is always on his face.

If you think Jay Cutler did not want to play for a chance to go to the Super Bowl, you're an absolute moron. Having never sprained my MCL, I can't tell you how painful it might feel. From what I understand, it can be very painful and very limiting. I guess I don't understand how Cutler is somehow vilified as not "tough" because his coaches and doctors told him he couldn't play. To the idiots like Deion Sanders who said that his coach would have had to drag him off the field for him not to play, that's pretty much what happened. Should the coaches and doctors have thrown caution to the wind and let a hobbled Jay Cutler play? Hell no.

And who gives a shit if he was sitting on the sideline looking dazed and disinterested? That's how he always looks. If you realized you were not going to play in the remainder of NFC Championship game, with your team down 14-0, would you be smiling? How else should he have reacted?

Maybe the outcry over this is because people would rather that the Bears won (which I completely understand), and Cutler gave the Bears the best chance. After all, no one outside of Wisconsin or the UP actually likes the Packers. But to question the man's character and toughness to the extent and with the pointedness people have been questioning him is a little ridiculous. It's no wonder the Bears haven't had a decent quarterback since Sid Luckman. Too many Bears fans (and local sports writers) jump on Bears QBs more than any other position. Who the hell would want to deal with this bullshit? Not every QB is as charismatic as Jim McMahon or as nice as Erik Kramer or Jim Miller or as close to looking like a Munster as Bill Wade. Jay Cutler owes nothing to you, other than to play hard, and he has done that.

Jay, hang in there, and next time your coaches and team doctors tell you that you can't play in a very important game, smile and whoop it up on the sideline, or at least grab some crutches, since that's apparently what America wants from you.

(By the way, Tuesday Top Ten will return next week, with a vengeance.)