Jay Cutler. A quitter, or a QB that couldn't play?

With that said, I fully expect Jay Cutler will lead the Bears to the playoffs next season. You can put that in the bank. But I really think it was bad judgment for the Bears to have him walking on the field like that and riding the bike if he truly couldn’t play. They should have predicted something like this would happen.

So Cutler should have risked blowing out his knee for that one game? He didn’t know how bad his knee was, just that it was damaged…I have a hard time calling a QB that’s played this long in the NFL as ‘soft’. Nothing soft about taking all the hits he has and is still out there starting in the NFC Championship game. I think he’s being wrongly vilified in my view.

He was throwing some wobbly ducks near the end of the first half (when the knee troubles started), and is not a terribly mobile guy to begin with; Just because guys have played with it before doesn’t make it the right move…I can guarantee he would’ve not only put up a couple of picks with the way he was throwing (with the MCL banged up), but his knee would probably be dangling by a thread right now from the combined beating of packers defenders and an ice cold turf.

Jay may not be personally likable, but the dude has played through some shit in his career and playing through the bum knee yesterday would’ve done nothing to help him or his team…

that Tampa staff should’ve been fired right then and there for letting him play through that shit…nobody should be that close to FUCKING DEATH while playing a god damn FOOTBALL GAME!!

contrary to popular belief, there are in fact more important things than the NFL

…if you’re going to recap some historical game and try to compare it to another game, at least get the basic facts right.

Bruce Gradkowski. Not Brad.

The two draft picks paid for Gruden had long been spent (and wasted by Oakland). Gruden had already led the team to a Super Bowl victory four years earlier, and was entering his “QB of the week” phase. Regardless, Gruden’s coaching was not any sort of “leap” that the team needed to take some mythical “next step”.

And there’s a big difference between being able to play through pain and internal bleeding vs. not being able to plant or throw with a torn MCL. A better comparison would be a lower leg injury, and you’ll notice that when Chris Gamble tore Daunte Culpepper’s knee ligaments, he did not return to the game. In fact, his career was basically finished.

Knee ligaments are nothing to mess around with. Even my man Rivers (Go State!) left a playoff game when he damaged his knee. He returned, after surgery and consultation with his doctors, to play with a torn ligament the following week. But when the injury occurred, he was out for the rest of the game.

And none of that even touches on the differences between a Grade I, II or III tear, some of which you can play with, some you can’t.

Anyway, I agree with Jaxon on this. He’s being vilified for no good reason.

I feel that Chris Simms would be more of an exception than the rule

I"m just glad Chicago lost as I don’t like their team.

Rivers played the AFC Championship on a torn ACL. Much much worse than a MCL.

Well, I thought it was a good write up Rev. I have never cared for cutler; he has always seemed to me a whiny bitch with a major attitude issue. He carries him self with this aura of being an amazing QB, yet he has done less than squat on the field. This cop-out of the NFC Championship is just more proof of that. Hell, even Brady was playing on a broken foot in the AFC Divisional game last week.

Some man up cutler, before you find yourself on one of those man-eating Coors Light ads.

Raises hand

Almost 10 years ago I sustained a Level III tear to my MCL in my right knee while playing rugby in high school… basically the ligament was hanging on by a thread and I was told if I wanted to avoid completely tearing it and possibly having life long problems I had to wear an air cast and put absolutely ZERO weight on that knee. It was six weeks of crutches and about two weeks of rehab every single day and I was lucky enough to avoid surgery.

However, despite being lucky in this regard the inside of my knee aches like no other when the weather is changing or there is a severe drop in pressure… it’s funny like that. If I work the knee too hard I’m prepared for 6 days of bad pain. Now, while it’s said Cutler’s is a level II tear I can’t even imagine playing football minutes after the tear… no way, no how. I don’t care how doped up you are on painkillers, there is some pain that can’t be numbed.

Jay Cutler is a horse’s ass… and I can’t stand him, but to label him as a ‘quitter’ is grossly unfair. I think Cutler is suffering for severe character assassination based solely on the fact that he’s been difficult and intractable with the media in the past so many are loving to get their pot shots back at him now… meanwhile jealous players who were watching the game from home all have their two cents because they couldn’t do enough to be where the Bears were on Sunday.

He played at Vanderbilt and got his ass kicked plenty in the SEC. If he was a Manning or a Brady they wouldn’t have put him back in to further injure that knee. Instead of standing around he should have been helping the other QBs on the sideline.

Jay Cutler got hurt. He tore an MCL. It’s a serious injury. Do you think the Bears would have been even close to making a comeback had he played instead of Hanie? As Panthers fans, I say we tend to our own burning house before worrying about someone else’s. The guy has guts to play behind that awful offensive line, add to that the fact that he’s been sacked 52 times and seemingly got up and played without even complaining about his line like Manning once did, why is it so hard to believe he was truly hurt? He’s playing in the NFC championship game, with a chance to upstage his good friend Aaron Rodgers, I hardly doubt he would be on the bench if there was anything he could’ve contributed.

I think people are jealous of his mental and emotional fortitude. Cutler has a wall that most want to break down, but he stays stoic and puts up numbers. I think that bothers people and they want that to translate to a negative quality on the field. Unfortunately for those foolish doubters, you don’t make it to the NFC championship game against the likes of Clay Matthews, Ndamukong Suh and Jarred Allen without having some big balls!

I can’t imagine him not playing if there was any way he was able to get back out there. To me, Jay Cutler may be a lot of things (douchebag, prick, etc.), but quitter doesn’t appear to be one of them.

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2011/1/24/1952992/jay-cutler-injury-nfl-soap-opera

But his demeanor on the sideline. I know – Cutler looks dour pretty much 24/7. But if I were a Bears fan, and I saw my QB chilling out on the bench, rarely even looking out on the field to see what was going on, I’d be irate. I perceived, by his demeanor, that he had mentally and emotionally checked out. If one of our QBs gave that impression if they were in Cutler’s position, I would be more than upset. I’d probably wish his name were no longer on the Panthers roster. Keep your head and your heart in the game – whether you can play or not.

A lot of people – fans, fellow NFL players, sports analysts, and sports writers – have unfairly vilified him from the injury aspect. But is it really unfair to criticize a QB when it appears that he doesn’t give a rat’s ass if his team wins the NFC Championship or not once he’s not in the game anymore?

Maybe, in reality, he still did care after he was out of the game. His teammates coming to his defense indicates their respect for him. But, to me, it looked like he’d rather be chilling out on his couch at home instead of checking to see if his team was going to the Super Bowl or not.

It’s not a huge deal to me either way when it comes to Cutler specifically. It’s just that, as a fan of football, it bothers me to see an injured QB give the appearance that he doesn’t particularly care what happens if he’s not in the game. It’s not questioning Cutler’s toughness in this particular case – it’s questioning his love of the game when he’s no longer physically in the game.

He sat on the sideline with his helmet on a couple of years ago due to a knee injury. It was unfair to him and it’s unfair to Cuttler. It’s really easy to criticize a player while we sit on our sofa’s with a beer in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other.

I’m glad I’m not a Bears Fan. Cutler’s ‘I don’t give a s#$t’ attitude pisses me off and I’m not even a fan. I noticed when he did play in the game, he wasn’t looking at defenses with any of his coordinators or coaches. he was just sitting there at the end of the bench!
But Chicago mortgaged their franchise for him so they’re stuck for a very long time.

This has gone from a molehill to a mountain on the wings and prayers of the Chicago Bears fan. Ultimately, the Bears overachieved this season, and had a fortunate matchup in the playoffs to even get to where they were. Bears fans knew their hopes to win relied on Jay Cutler, and therefore them not winning automatically gets Jay Cutler fingered as the villain.

The reality, is that Cutler has been getting his arse kicked all season long. Mike Martz’s offense quite often puts the QB in danger because of his elaborate routes and timing based passing game. Cutler was sacked 52 times this season in 15 games, and hit far more often then that. He finally gets hit with a bad enough injury and has to come out of the game, and who do the Bears replace him with? Todd Collins? Caleb Hanie? Bears fans should be angry that their offensive system is one that puts the QB in danger AND that they don’t have a real backup plan for when Cutler has to ultimately come out due to injury.

It’s a tough town in Chicago, and Bears fans would never admit that their team was just not that good, so you end up blaming the QB that you put all your money on because he got injured. I don’t like Cutler, I think I made that clear above, but I’m also not searching for reasons not to like him.

He got hurt. When you get hurt, you come out of the game. The Bears had no legitimate replacement for him on the bench. Therefore, the questions should be pointed at why the Bears were not prepared for his injury instead of why Cutler didn’t try to play through the injury.

I find it ironic that current players are calling him yet at the same time they don’t want an 18 game schedule because of risk of injury.

LOL – I liked Urlacher’s reaction when asked if he thought Cutler quit. I bet that reporter peed in his pants. If you really think Cutler quit, I would recommend you mention that to Urlacher. In person. And for convenience’s sake, I would bring your own body bag.

Seriously though, I really don’t see how this makes him a quitter. He hurt his knee and the Doc’s said he’s done. It didn’t look good to most people, but to me, him being on the bike says he was trying to convince them to let him back in the game. But that’s just me.