The Case Against Cutler - Perception is Real

By now, everyone from Mike Ditka to Charles Barkley has weighed in on Jay Cutler sitting out the second half of Sunday's NFC Championship.  In fact, we've reached the point where the critics are being criticized.

(Side note: I love Twitter for reasons like this.  In the old days, Babe Ruth would show up to the park piss drunk, hit a home run and then get ejected for punching an umpire.  But in recent years, athletes have been well-coached by their PR men to say little beyond "I'd like to thank my teammates" and "we're taking it one game at a time."  Thanks to the invention of smart phones and Twitter, the doors have been blown off again.  Now LeBron James can be swigging tequila in the VIP room and fire off an insult to the entire city of Cleveland before his publicist can stop him.)

So what are my two cents on the Cutler situation?  He's in the wrong.

If you look at the tape on Cutler's last play of the game (a short incompletion to Matt Forte), he  isn't moving noticeably worse than he was in the first quarter.  Even though he was subsequently diagnosed with a sprained MCL (an injury with a 3-4 week recovery timetable), many are pointing out that Philip Rivers played the 2007 AFC Championship game with a torn ACL.  So should Cutler be criticized?

Many fans are quick to ask their players to "suck it up and play."  But that's easy to say when it's not your body on the line.  The Bears fans were screaming for Cutler to stay in with his injury.  But if he went out there and tore his MCL, none of those fans would be there to watch the doctors repair his ligaments, or cheer him in the weight room during his rehab sessions.  Too many athletes play with no regard for the long-term health of their bodies, and by the time they are walking with a cane at the age of 45 the fans have moved on to the next first round draft pick.  So no, I do not fault Jay Cutler for leaving the game.  But he still deserves the criticism he is getting.

Instead of Rivers, Sunday brought another 2007 AFC Championship participant to mind.  This player was also injured that day and tried to play, but ultimately decided to sit the rest of the game out.  I'm referring to future Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson.  Suffering from a knee injury, LDT played in the first two drives but soon realized that he could not perform and gave way to Michael Turner for the rest of the game.  I lost a lot of respect for Tomlinson that day.  Not for choosing to sit out, but for his attitude afterwards.

While the Chargers stayed within one score of the 17-0 Patriots early into the 4th quarter, LDT could be seen sitting alone on the bench, shielded from everyone around him by a parka and his helmet visor.  He wasn't giving veteran advice to Turner and Darren Sproles.  He wasn't cheering on his teammates as they tried to mount a historic upset.  One of the greatest running backs in the history of the game, with eight stellar years and dozens of records under his belt, had reduced himself to a three-hour nationally-televised display of self-pity.  That's why I was quick to criticize him then, and that's why I'm quick to criticize Cutler now.

They might tell you differently, but I don't think Bears fans were burning Cutler's jersey in the Soldier Field parking lot because he didn't play through the injury.  They were burning his jersey because of how he didn't play through the injury.  You didn't see him with a headset on, trying to coach his backup to an upset (as his counterpart across the field, Aaron Rodgers, did with Matt Flynn against New England only 5 weeks earlier).  You didn't see him cheering his teammates as they tried to mount a game-winning drive for a trip to the Super Bowl.  Instead, he decided to sit there in his parka, looking like The Situation after Snooki denied him a threesome.  At the time, I tweeted "Why do I get the feeling that Cutler doesn't even want his 3rd string backup to win this game?"  It seemed that if he wasn't leading the team to victory, then he didn't care if they won.  I can't blame Chicago fans for thinking the same.

In an interview with Bears safety Chris Harris, a Sirius NFL Radio host brought up the Cutler backlash.  Harris pointed the finger at the media, saying Cutler gets a bad rap because he "doesn't show the emotion you want to see....But perception is real."  Right on both counts.

Images found here and here.