Jay Cutler and His Knee Injury: How He Can Change a Negative into a Positive
Published by Kelly Scaletta on January 25, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
The all-knowing-sit-in-the-recliner American audience has rendered it’s verdict: Jay Cutler should have played.
In Chicago, the anger and bitterness over Cutler’s “knee injury” have gone beyond the pale. Using rumors and tweets as evidence, they have blasted Cutler for not playing in the second half in spite of a sprained MCL. That’s the American sports fan for you.
Before the first game of the season, the prevailing sentiment was that the Bears wouldn’t make the playoffs. Many even predicted an 0-3 start.
The opposite happened.
After the 3-0 start, they started to swing in the other direction, reminiscing 2006 and 1985. Then the massacre happened. Cutler was pummeled by the New York Giants defense. It seemed almost impossible for him to drop back without getting pounded.
Bears fans were apoplectic, calling into radio shows and decreeing that Cutler was essential to the team and that it was a good thing he was so tough. But how long could he take the pounding, they queried? How many sacks could he take?
More importantly, how many games would he need to miss because of the concussion?
The next several games were a stream of disaster after disaster. Chicagoland was beside itself. Fire Martz! Get rid of Lovie! Why do they insist on seven step drops!? Jay needed protection! Where was the running game? Jay can’t do it alone!
Then came the bye week and the turnaround. Somewhere over the next eight weeks, the Chicago fans forgot the utter and complete beating Jay Cutler took. Suddenly he was a “wuss” and bowed out when he should have been playing.
If anyone had earned credit for playing after taking a beating, it should have been him. However, players around the league and fans watching at home somehow had an insight into the injury that was better than Cutler’s and better than the Bears medical staff’s. They knew the true severity, or lack of severity, of Cutler’s injury.
If you aren’t a team physician, if you haven’t personally examined the injury, then frankly, you just aren’t qualified to form an opinion on the severity of the injury, point blank. I don’t care what Philip Rivers said, what any player tweeted or what any other doctors said.
Armchair quarterbacking is bad enough, armchair diagnosing of quarterbacks is just gibberish.
So that’s where I stand on that, but the thing is that Cutler could actually turn this into a benefit. The Bears had a much better season than almost anyone thought they would. They won some very big games and some because of, not in spite of, Cutler’s play.
Having said that, don’t think that I don’t have any issues with Cutler.
My problems with Cutler aren’t about his heart being in the game when he is on the field. It’s whether it’s there when he’s not on the field. This is a chance for him to do some soul searching. He needs to take this to heart and make some fundamental decisions about his future.
His teammates stood behind him. His coaches stood behind him. Now the question is whether he’ll stand up for them. Will he commit to doing what it takes to get better? Will he use the offseason to work on his footwork? Will he watch game film? Will he study his playbook?
That’s where he’s failed to show heart in the past. It’s where he can show heart now to change people’s minds.
Truthfully, the Bears lost to a better team on Sunday and the biggest difference was at quarterback. Aaron Rodgers is just a much better quarterback than Jay Cutler right now. Having said that, I’ve never seen Aaron Rodgers throw a pass that Jay Cutler couldn’t throw.
I’ve seen a number of passes by Cutler than Rodgers wouldn’t throw though. And therein is the difference.
Cutler has every bit the ability that Rodgers has, but he doesn’t have the heart where he needs to have the heart the most—in determining to get better. When you look at the great quarterbacks of this age, the Peyton Mannings and Tom Bradys, it’s not their talent that makes them great, it’s their grasp of the game.
Michael Vick’s turnaround didn’t come out of ability, it came out of learning to be a better player.
If Cutler was truly hurt by the criticism that came out and I believe he was, then the thing he can do to silence his critics is commit himself. It’s the one thing he’s failed to do in the course of his career so far.
It’s the one thing he can do now to get Chicago behind him again.
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