Bears Blitz

Published by Zack Pearson on January 25, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler received some undeserved criticism and bashing after the Bears’ loss in the NFC Championship to the Green Bay Packers. In fact, everyone who offered their own criticisms should be ashamed of themselves and their actions.

It all started during the game, when Cutler appeared to hurt his knee and never returned. On Monday, it was revealed that Cutler had a second degree sprained MCL, which is still a tear.

During the game, many NFL players chimed in on the Cutler situation. Many of them bashed Cutler and said he was being a wimp, others criticized Cutler and said he quit on his team.

Whatever happened to the NFL’s “all for one” campaign, where players fighting the labor agreement are “all for one?” You know, the campaign that took a five minute presentation before the Vikings-Saints game in September? So much for that, huh?

The one tweet that stands out to me is from Jacksonville running back Maurice Jones-Drew, who tweeted “All I’m saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee… I played the whole season on one…”. Oh really MJD? You really played the whole season hurt? I mean, didn’t you miss the final two games of the season when your team was battling for a playoff spot?

It’s funny that all the NFL players that tweeted about Cutler are in fact are all doing the same thing: watching the game from home. None of them were in the playoffs obviously, so it’s easy to talk about someone when your sitting at home.

Cutler has already received a lot of criticism, and will it will continue to happen for a while, even after it has been revealed that he suffered a tear to his MCL.

Now let’s be logical and look at the facts of what happened, so we can try and finally solve this.

Cutler left the game after the first series in the third quarter. He went to the sideline, and the Bears inserted Todd Collins as their quarterback.

Now, many people say Cutler wasn’t hurt and he showed no signs of being hurt on the sidelines. How do we know? I mean we only seen to shots of him of five seconds from FOX.  The national audience used this as fuel, and were eventually proved to be wrong.

Caleb Hanie said after the game that Cutler provided him with advice and knowledge to help him succeed. There were also images of Cutler talking to the trainers.

That brings me to my next point.

Per Bears officials, Cutler pleaded to come back into game, but the trainers and Lovie Smith wouldn’t let him. Typically, once a trainer rules you out for the game, it’s because your injury is too severe and too big of a chance to risk for the future.

The Bears wouldn’t throw away their franchise quarterback who they gave up a lot for if he couldn’t play. To think he faked an injury is stupid.

Many people argue that Cutler could have played because Phillip Rivers played through a tear during the 2008 AFC Championship game.

However, many people forget to take into consideration the use of cortisone shots. Many athletes take a cortisone shot to help heal an injury, and to be able to play with that injury, much like Phillip Rivers did. People are quick to forget that Cutler is a diabetic, and taking a cortisone shot for a diabetic is like pretty much asking for a death bed.

The bottom line is that all the criticism towards Cutler is undeserved. The guy is a tough player, we all know that. He has been sacked a league-high 52 times this season and has gotten right back up and played. He took a beating from the Giants and finished the half with a concussion. By no means is Cutler not a tough guy.

It’s a disgrace to see the fans of the Bears burning Cutler jerseys and tarnishing his name. It’s just ridiculous that fans would do that.

Cutler is the Bears quarterback and will be the quarterback of the future whether you like it or not. Now just leave the unwanted criticism to yourself.

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