Was Cutler crushed by the Green Bay D or by the weight of Championship expectations? Only Jay knows for sure...
- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
When the Fox network’s cameras panned to the Chicago Bears sideline to show an ‘injured’ Jay Cutler casually pushing an exercise bike, America saw him at his most arrogant.
The Bears were fighting for their playoff life, pitted against their oldest rival – the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay led 14-0 midway through the 3rd quarter of the NFC Conference Championship Game, and backup Bears quarterback Todd Collins had also been vanquished by the aggressive Packers defense.
Cutler reportedly injured his knee following a mad 40-yard heave to the goal line on 1st & 10 with 0:49 left in the second quarter. The pass was picked.  Off went Jay limping to the locker room as Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers took a knee to end the half.
What might have been a gutsy, triumphant return for another quarterback in the 3rd quarter was a 3 ‘n out for Jay.  On this final drive, Cutler missed a basic toss to the right flat for Matt Forte on 3rd & 4. Forte, who was a beast for Chicago all game, gained six tough yards on two runs to start the drive. Cutler walked off the field 6/14 for 80 yards and his lofty INT.
The next Chicago possession saw Collins take the reins. Todd was good for four incompletions on two four-play drives (counting punts) before his legs folded from underneath him and he joined Cutler on the sidelines.
Right here, Jay Cutler needs to come back into the game. No doubt. He has to try.
A Fox announcer calls out, “Cutler trying to loosen up his knee†as Jay glumly pushes his excercycle. Cutler looks unconcerned. He would say after the game that it was “a lonely feeling†coming this far and having to sit out with a bum knee. Jay does not take another snap. He had been defeated.
Chicago coach Lovie Smith would later say that it was his decision to keep Cutler out of the game. Even though the entry of third-string quarterback Caleb Hanie meant the end, by league rule, of Jay’s day.
And either by the punishing Green Bay defense… or by a coach’s certain doubts… or by his own weak-hearted self… Jay Cutler was defeated on Sunday afternoon at the worst possible time. In a league full of historic, memorable, thrilling “bangâ€, Cutler went out with a whimper.
With his Bears’ season on the line and his teammates on both sides of the ball attacking a worthy enemy heart and soul, Jay Cutler peddled a stationary bike and gazed off at the field of battle.
He did not challenge himself or his coach for just one last shot at playing in the biggest game of his football life. Jay failed to so much as strap on a headset, much less attempt to lead his team from the sideline or coach up younger QB’s. Jay just quit.
Former Bronco Mark Schlereth, thrice a Super Bowl Champion and now an ESPN sportscaster, tweeted in the third quarter, “As a guy [who] had 20 knee surgeries you’d have to drag me out on a stretcher to Leave a championship game!â€
Cutler spent the rest of the game standing, passively watching Caleb Hanie very nearly steal the game from Green Bay with two superb fourth quarter TD drives. Hanie, a CSU product, was the best quarterback on the day for the Bears. Played with more heart than the depth chart above him. Played every down like it might be the last snap of his big league career.
In the locker room after Chicago’s 14-21 defeat at the hands of nemesis Green Bay, Cutler was asked what he thought about the esteemed list of current and former players that were now questioning his toughness and heart.
Jay shook his head, lips pursed, eyes lilting and looking bored, “No comment on that.â€
It was a telling day in Jay Cutler’s life and in his football career.
Faced with the chance to prove himself worthy in front of a sea of spectators who have doubted his character as an NFL player for five years, Jay proved his doubters right. And his trademark look of superstar self-elevation stuck out like a sore thumb on a Bears sideline packed endzone-to-endzone with gritty men who fought tooth and nail right to the end.
Cutler will get an MRI later this week. He had better hope that knee requires serious surgery. Otherwise Jay Cutler will forever be cast as the big bad engine that couldn’t.
