Bears Blitz

Published by Derek Crouse on January 24, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

With the recent debacle against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship, Chicago Bears fans, the media and other players took shots at Jay Cutler before any real determination was made on the situation of the tear in his MCL. It’s funny how one injury takes the big chunk of headline space from papers to the web.

The reason behind it is the backstory that is Jay Cutler. From Denver to Chicago, there have been questions regarding his judgment and body language.

The social network is full of knee-jerk reactions and unbridled emotion. When the players unleash controversial posts on Twitter, it becomes a storyline. It is a new era of sports where players are posting status reports during a game and not just giving feedback at a press conference. What we have to realize is the storyline was there before the injury; some players in the league had an opinion about Cutler already.

When Jay left Denver and went to the Bears, a backstory emerged about his relationship with Josh McDaniels. While McDaniels’ fiery demeanor might have been the cause of the problems, it most likely was a clashing of both personalities. While we all think about the story as a fan, the players are seeing Jay and asking, “How come he can demand something when he hasn’t proven himself in the NFL yet?” It’s like the guy at the office who complains enough to get a corner office while another guy has been working in his little cubicle for 10 years.

Many players are in a bad deal, want an extension or just want out of a city period, but they don’t have enough clout to demand to be traded or let go. Just look at the Carson Palmer situation currently. While the players want everybody to perceive the league as totally united, the players squabble, talk to each other about other players and have more and less respect for certain players. It’s human nature.

If Peyton Manning was in the same type of situation, nobody would have pointed to his character and players wouldn’t be tweeting so freely about the situation. They knew as much about the situation as a fan. From celebrities, athletes and the media, we pounce on something before pulling the reins back and having some perspective. Before you know it, somebody’s twitter account becomes news…

Only Jay Cutler knows for sure how and why things turned out like they did Sunday afternoon. Judging an injury and judging a person’s character are two totally different issues. The players earn respect for playing hurt, getting through it and overcoming adversity. As soon as many people saw Cutler without crutches, no ice, the frowns and a couple seconds of him not looking at the sheet with Caleb Hanie; it’s all they needed to back up their opinion they had about him even though his toughness could be seen throughout the two years he has been getting manhandled behind an ineffective offensive line.

While Cutler might show bad body language, he has never publicly addressed or called out any of his teammates for the lack of protection.

While the media is jumping on the psyche of Jay Cutler, it seems like things are never going to change when it comes to his personality. It creates a buzz when a player doesn’t fit the cookie-cutter image of an NFL quarterback. Jay Cutler isn’t a “rah-rah” guy. Jay Cutler isn’t going to go give somebody a pep talk on a regular basis and he will be frowning when he isn’t playing well. He just isn’t like that and we will have to get used to that because the personality is there to stay.

The worst part about it is it leaves a bad taste in the mouths of Bears fans. In a game with so much importance, the losing team usually has a goat. Jay Cutler is a very easy target because of his demeanor on the field and the sideline. If Jay changed his personality to fit what people want, that isn’t going make him any better on third down or in the red zone. Polarizing people bring out everybody’s opinion.

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