Bears Blitz

Published by Mike Reiter on January 24, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

For the media, other players, and fans to question the toughness of Jay Cutler is just absolutely ridiculous.

Jay Cutler is an NFL quarterback, he plays football in the National Football League. Who in their right mind can criticize a player who doesn’t play because he is injured.

I don’t care what it looked like on the sideline, I don’t care if he acted like nothing was wrong. The point is Jay Cutler was injured, he couldn’t play, and that is why he went to the sidelines.

He wanted to win, he wanted to have the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl, but he had to rely on the back-up quarterbacks to step in once he went down. And that is what Lovie Smith said after the game.

“He hurt his knee and he was out, all right?” Smith said. “There’s nothing else for me to tell you on that. I don’t know exactly when it happened, he couldn’t go and that was that.”

Multiple NFL players tweeted in regards to Jay Cutler sitting out, the first one being from Jaguars running back, Maurice Jones Drew:

“Hey I think the Urban Meyer rule is in effect right now … When the going gets tough … QUIT … All I’m saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee … I played the whole season on one.”

You’re right, Maurice Jones-Drew, all knee injuries are the same. Regardless of whether they happen to you or someone else, everyone has the same type injuries if it happens in the same area.

This statement has no merit, and to call out Urban Meyer is just wrong. But like Brian Urlacher said in the postgame, those were comments made by “jealous people watching at home.”

Then came the comment from Seahawks defensive end Raheem Brock:

“Cutler… wut a sissy! This is the NFC Championship game! Guaranteed if it was Brett Farve… he would still be in the game! Cutler u little sissy… how does it feel that ur back up’s backup is the only 1that can put pts on the board! I bet cutler comes back now!”

To even make an educated attempt to argue with this point would take a second-grade education level. Calling a player and a quarterback a “sissy” is just wrong. And I forgot the fact that this “sissy” just knocked you out of the playoffs.

Urlacher said it best, these are “jealous people watching at home.” Those players wish they were playing on Championship Sunday in stead of sitting on their couch watching other teams play for the chance to go to the Super Bowl.

Another tweet was made by Darnell Dockett, the Cardinals defensive tackle, who is a “jealous person watching at home.”

“If I’m on chicago team jay cutler has to wait till me and the team shower get dressed and leave before he comes in the locker room! #FACT”

Jay Cutler went out in the second half for one series, but was pulled because he was unable to plant or throw. It had nothing to do with his toughness, and everything to do with his ability.

When you suffer a knee injury, or an injury of any sort, certainly you can still play. But if other players are going to be more effective, then you put that player in.

What is being lost in all of this is the success that Caleb Hanie made in the fourth quarter. He brought the Bears back into this game. Jay Cutler wasn’t able to do anything in the first half. To say Jay Cutler is better at 70 percent than Todd Collins or Hanie is just unfounded and wrong.

An injured Jay Cutler would not have been able to make the throws that Hanie made in the fourth quarter. A healthy quarterback was able to make those throws.

Cutler was 6-14 and threw for 80 yards and one interception while he was out there. Hanie went 13-20, 150 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Tell me what quarterback you would rather have? I would go with a healthy Hanie, because he was better than the healthy Cutler on January 23, 2011.

To question the toughness of an NFL player is just wrong to begin with. And to do it to a player that is in a playoff game is just wrong. If there is one thing never to do to an NFL player, it is attempting to question his toughness.

UPDATE: According to the Chicago Sun Times, Jay Cutler suffered a torn MCL in the game against the Packers.

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