In Defense of Jay Cutler?

There has been lots of speculation in the last 24 hours regarding the health of Jay Cutler's left knee.  Today, an MRI revealed that Cutler does in fact have an MCL sprain.  The reason this is newsworth is because of when Cutler was pulled out of the NFC Championship game against Green Bay...trailing 14-0 after the first possession of the third quarter.  I had noted during my blog session yesterday that if Cutler had been playing like he did against Seattle, there was no way that he would have been pulled.  The knee injury was an excuse, and I (as well as others) felt vindicated when we saw Cutler laughing on the sideline, without a noticable limp, at least from the untrained eye.  Caleb Hanie nearly was able to bring the Bears back as Green Bay could not finish off the Bears despite their obvious superiority in a number of areas. 

Today's MRI perhaps ought to quiet some of Cutler's critics, but that does not all of a sudden mean we should have a wave of sympathy for him.  There have been plenty of opinions on whether or not Cutler should have toughed it out anyway, since it was the conference championship game.  Several players noted (either live or via the now ubiquitous Twitter) that a simple sore knee would not have kept them out of the game.  However, Cutler's Bears teammates were much more willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, claiming Cutler was tough enough.  It had to be a serious injury to force him out of the game.  Other outside the Bears were not so forgiving.  Darnell Dockett and Maurice Jones Drew essentiall said (via Twitter of course) that they would have toughed it out.  Jerry Angleo (Bears owner) took somewhat of a pot shot at the union because of these comments.  Angelo said to ESPN (see link above), "I think it's crap.  I thought they were a union. If that's the way they unionize themselves, they got bigger issues than the one that they have with the owners. I'm very disappointed. That, to me, is dirty poor."  This certainly is something to follow as the CBA talks come to a head in February. 

Here are the facts.  Jay Cutler did not play well yesterday.  He was not going to give the Bears the best chance to win, plain and simple.  It's a pretty safe assumption that his knee might have had something to do with it.  I'm not questioning his toughness, but in the NFL, your reputation precedes you.  Cutler throughout the years has been one of the least likable characters in the league.  He essentially forced his way out of Denver after the Broncos hired Josh McDaniels (perhaps he knew something at the time we didn't) and didn't exactly hide his emotions about it.  Had he been a little more magnanimous in his handling of those kinds of situations (a la Donovan McNabb), perhaps he would have received a little easier treatment from the media over the last 24 hours.  I'm not fan of the media, but I don't feel like a mea culpa is in order here.  Cutler did this to himself because of his past attitudes.  Lovie Smith has every right to defend him (as well he should), and I am willing to concede that Cutler was genuinely hurt and could not continue in the game against the Packers, but if he (or the Bears) are supposed to think that everyone should start feeling sorry for him, they got another thought coming.  I'm not condoning comments like those from Dockett or Jones-Drew, but I get the sense that the Bears and Cutler are looking for an apology, and I don't feel like they really deserve one.

Michael Wilbon writes an excellent piece on the Cutler issue today.  He does not doubt for one second that Cutler was legitimately injured, but when your past (and present) clearly shows a lack of heart, you're not going to get any sympathy from many people.  He even notes that Cutler did not appear to be counseling Todd Collins or Caleb Hanie after they had entered the game.  That does not look good. 

On the other side of the coin, you look at Aaron Rodgers, who went from projected #1 overall pick to just being lucky to get out of the green room in the first round.  He was the consummate teammate, paitently waiting his turn behind a Brett Favre who just wouldn't go away.  When he finally got his shot, he delivered, with a playoff berth in only his second season, and now a trip to the Super Bowl in his third.  Jay Cutler is still young, he is a very good quarterback.  He has all the physical tools: arm strength, accuracy, and decision making, but if he wants to elevate his game to the elite status that Aaron Rodgers has in just 3 years, he need just watch some film of Brett Favre's faithful former understudy.