Cutler Debate Heats Up, Boils Over

January 25, 2011 3:49 PM

Jay Cutler (Photo Credit: Getty Images, By: Jonathan Daniel)

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Bears, Heard on 670 The Score, Sports

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Bears, injury, Jason Whitlock, Jay Cutler

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The debate over Jay Cutler’s injury has been constant and heated since he was removed during the third quarter of the Chicago Bears’ loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Immediately following Cutler’s removal from the game, current and former NFL players, along with fans questioned Cutler’s toughness and commitment. A response that didn’t sit well with Bears’ players, coaches and front office personnel.

When the MRI results came back on Cutler’s knee indicating that he had suffered a Grade II sprain of his medial collateral ligament, some of the critical players and fans reversed their stances. Maurice Jones-Drew, of the Jacksonville Jaguars even said that he was joking when he tweeted “Hey I think the urban meyer rule is effect right now… When the going gets tough……..QUIT.”

The circumstances of Cutler’s injury, the way it was handled and Cutler’s post-injury “activity” on the sideline have all been discussed at great length over the last two days.

Jason Whitlock, of FOX Sports, wrote one of the most scathing columns regarding the situation. In it, Whitlock made reference to Cutler quitting on the Bears and the city of Chicago. “Hiding behind a knee injury, he tapped out in much the same way LeBron James tapped out with an elbow injury against the Celtics during last year’s playoffs,” Whitlock said in his column.

While some reversed their opinion of Cutler after the MRI, Whitlock made it clear that he would not be among them when he wrote: “I’m sorry. I don’t need an MRI to confirm King Cutler quit.”

Whitlock dug himself even deeper on one side of this issue when he joined the Boers and Bernstein Show to defend his column. Claiming that he wasn’t questioning Cutler’s toughness, but his passion for the game, Whitlock told Boers and Bernstein that “[Cutler] didn’t have the right mental attitude from kickoff on.”

Throughout his career, Cutler’s leadership have been questioned.

“You play the quarterback position, it’s a leadership position,” Whitlock said. “Your body language, your mental approach, all of that is very important. Jay Cutler doesn’t have the mental makeup. He doesn’t carry himself in a way that’s appropriate for an NFL quarterback…What happened on Sunday is another symptom of what people have been saying.”

Whitlock went on to say that if Cutler really had a passion for football he would have found a way to get back on the field. What fight Cutler did put up with trainers and coaches on Sunday, according to Whitlock, wasn’t enough.

The conversation that followed, covered virtually every angle of the issues revolving around the injury, and from two opposing sides.

Click HERE To Listen To Jason Whitlock On The Boers And Bernstein Show

Meatless Meatball

This would be great if the auto-refresh could be disabled. It makes listening to this very, very difficult. Way to fail, CBS.

#1qb#2qb#3qb

not sure but I know the auto refresh does not work with the google browser. I have no problem with the auto refresh listening with the Firefox browser.

Meatless Meatball 2

I second that.
ATC

Mr. Whitlock apparently knows all there is to know about football, quarterbacks, and winning. Maybe he should be applying for jobs as a GM of a football team. Always love hearing the media scrutinize with such certainty when they do not have to answer for it. In a day or two, Whitlock will return to his obscurity, writing whatever he wants with no repercussions, but at the end of the day, Jay Cutler will still be an NFL quarterback, which puts him in an extremely elite class of workers, and Whitlock and many other media member may not be able to handle the fact that they, and their opinions, are not elite, noteworthy, or will leave an indelible mark on anything

Meatless Meatball

I don’t think that’s completely fair. I mean, yeah, Whitlock is a clown for what he said, and personally, I disagree with Dan — Whitlock has lost me as a fan of his work for refusing to admit that yes, he overreacted, and yes, it was wrong of him to claim that the results of an MRI mean nothing. But he’s not really “obscure.” I mean, the guy works for Fox Sports; he’s less obscure than our B&B heroes.

Besides, the problem isn’t that his opinion isn’t elite or noteworthy; it’s that he doesn’t get to have an opinion AT ALL on whether or not Cutler was injured. It’s one thing not to trust everything the Bears say; no one should. But as Dan rightfully pointed out, the changing HIPAA regulations, along with just general understanding about the human body, should lead Whitlock to understand that there was an injury, and that it wasn’t Cutler’s call to either continue playing or not continue playing. He was told no. End of story.

mark, sterling

Ummm, I’ve never heard of him before this….except for when Boers and Bernsie mention him…

KE

Well said

JBlaze

Whitlock claims to know what Cutlers mental makeup is AND how his knee feels?? Hey Jason, what are tomorrows lottery numbers? This guy should lose his job for even thinking such things, let alone vandalizing our paper with them.
Whitlcoks double chin

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/nyc.podcast.play.it/media/d0/d0/d0/dW/dN/dG/dD/WNGD_3.MP3
BEARS 1

What a joke thi is!!! CUTLER is a good QB.

Meatless Meatball

He is a good, if inconsistent, QB. What’s so frustrating is the constant conflation of his bad game with the idea that he quit. He had a bad first half. He might have had a second half that was better OR worse; we’ll never know. What we DO know is that he was injured and couldn’t get on the field for the second half after a single play. For Whitlock, or any other meathead, to try to claim the contrary merely proves ignorance.

BEARS 1

CUTLER is a good QB and he’s good for the bears and it’s fans. As far as those palyers who have alot to say about Jay, who are you? You guys sat home watching, go rag on your QB and your team cause you guys could not make it to the championship game!! SO who’s the p_ _ _ _? The bears will be back again same time next year in the superbowl!! Whitlock who? Find a new job buddy!!

Michael Che

Well said!
All this noise will eventually go away. And Jay is here to stay, whether they like it or not, lol. Maybe he’s right to not react to the buzz. He’ll prove them all wrong once the next season starts, and he will do that by playing not babbling.
Go Jay, Go Bears!

(& the auto-refresh is awfully irritating, yeah)

BEARS 1

CUTLER is a good QB and he’s good for the bears and it’s fans. As far as those palyers who have alot to say about Jay, who are you? You guys sat home watching, go rag on your QB and your team cause you guys could not make it to the championship game!! SO who’s the p_ _ _ _? The bears will be back again same time next year in the superbowl!!
Bob Hamilton

There is a reason that some great players can go their entire careers without missing a game and others are always on the injured list. It has a lot to do with attitude. Opposing players were out to sideline Brett Farve on almost every play of his career, but they couldn’t. Walter Payton’s knees were a target of every opposing player in the league. Injuries are preventable. The only way I know how to coach that philosophy to my children when they were in sports was to explain to them that they have to make a decision in advance that injuries were out of the question and then play without that fear. It works unless the player does not accept the plan. Art Williams used a similar version of that to win High School Coach of the Year, Twice!, in Georgia.

Rick Williams

Yeah, and then Walter Payton died of Liver cancer. Should he have just decided he shouldn’t die and he would live forever? Dude are you serious?

limp

people say a few bad things about QB,waht about our WR?are they so good..so why they cant make separatoin, specially Knox he was intersepted few times in this season coz he dont play physical football?they quick but they dont play like big 6’5WR thats different..
Rick Williams

ALL – You can disable the auto-refresh by diabling it on your browser, just Google it for instructions or follow this: top menu, Tools->Internet Options, security tab->custom level button, scroll down to miscellaneous and look for META REFRESH, NOW disable that. Done!
Milwaukee Dan

Spin it how ever you want. On his last play Cutler backpedaled fine and ran for his life. He then walked off the field under his own power. Was he hurt? Sure. At this point in the season, pretty much everybody is hurt. He never came back. According to this station, this was the biggest game in Chicago history. He never came back. Actions always speak louder than words. I hope you keep him too. He’s perfect for Chicago.

Why are fans so dumb?

Watch the game again idiot. He dropped back three steps and couldn’t plant enough to throw the ball 15 feet. That guy has been tough as nails for the Bears all year.

I wish I knew

Right. He dropped back, ran for his life and threw an incompletion off of his back foot. That never happened all year until he got hurt. If you can do that, then you can play. A one legged Jay Culter gives the team a better chance to win then Collins. All the sacks he took showed that he can take a punch. Playing through an injury is not the same thing.
You should know, you’re one of them

Dan, you’re failing to recognize a key point in that interception. He UNDERTHREW his receiver. How many times has Cutler thrown picks by underthrowing a receiver? It’s always him overthrowing his receivers or trying to smoke a ball into a window that doesn’t exist. The guy has all the arm strength in the world and does not underthrow his receivers.

Keep your ignorance north of the border.
Reply to you should know, you’re one of them

Not sure why I can’t reply to “you should know, you’re one of them” so I’ll reply here. He didn’t throw a pick in his last play. The key point is that we’re not talking about the same play Einstein. Your point about arm strength is a great retort to your fellow fan above who said he couldn’t throw the ball 15 feet because he couldn’t plant. All I’m saying is the way he moved around on his last series, one who is not stupid, would think he was coming back. When you were watching the game, did you think Cutler was done? Nobody did. Ask yourself why you were surprised that he didn’t come back and you’ll see the point I’m making. What you saw in the game and what you heard after do not jive; it’s pretty obvious.

Aaron

The issue was we were not informed. It looked like Cutler just didn’t want to play because we had no explanation that he had a severe injured. The issue is why did the coaching staff not recognize Todd Collins couldn’t lead a horse to water at the beach after the Carolina game. If Hanie had the second string QB snaps from that point on maybe we see less mistakes…and a different outcome. I’m not an NFL coach but even I knew that we were hosed if Cutler got hurt. I can’t blame Hanie for the interceptions because he never got the practice he deserved.
Mike

Cutler’s tough! If he couldn’t go he couldn’t go. Where was our backup plan? Collins? Really? 5 interceptions in his 1st attempt backing up cutler? Is that not a hint that he buh-lows? The blame needs to go to the coaches and GM for not having a reliable backup plan in place.
Jim

Not a good two days for B & B.. they’ve embarrassed themselves badly… they talked over and argued with Whitlock (like they do with anyone else).. because they don’t agree with him. Dan takes the old reliable position of “you know, if you were just much smarter, you’d agree with ME!”.. and Boers is no better .. mocking, making fun of, and down playing Whitlock’s views AFTER the interview is over and he’s not on air to respond anymore… vintage COWARDLY Boers behavior. These two discount the x-player opinion factor.. but in the next breath plug segments with Miller, Buffone, Hampton.. etc.. pointing out the ‘X player views’.. sorrly clowns , can’t have that both ways. Just one more thing.. Dan Bernstein says he had a serious knee injury,.. I bet he knows EXACTLY when it happened.. and if it were a televised event with dozens of network cameras, mly bet is ONE of them would of captured the exact moment and you would be able to see the knee bend in an unnatural way. I don’t know how many times B and B have complained that the bears are not truthful, or outright lie about information they release. Whi is it this time the Bears word is gospel?

Antwain

What other conspiracy theories do you and Whitlock believe? Did we not land on the moon, is Obama not a citizen, was there a second shooter on the grassy knoll? Do teams play with the injury report yes but they always down play the injury.not over exaggerate it which is what you and Whitlock accuse the Bears of doing. The players on the Score acted like analysts and talked about how Cutler played on field not about superfluous facial expressions and body language. That will be left up to Mr. Whitlock with his dimestore psychology degree.

Klem

We lost because of Lovie’s bad decisions.

jm

You’re a Moron….. Go find another team you fair weather fan

Spoon

Honestly, this is at least a fair crticism.

Philip J. Wayne

Leave the guy alone…..he is a human being, he did his best on Sunday….time to move on fans…football is only a game.Game over.
Clark W. Griswold

This link came to me this morning and I couldn’t believe some random beer drinking fan is smarter then 99.9% of the media.
Fox sucks

I am not defending all of Cutler’s actions. Yes it would be nice if the guy was a little better personality wise but that has no effect on how he plays quarter back, The fact is, the producer of that broadcast ahd a story to tell an used every caera angle and quick shot of Culter to tell it. You didn;t see the times he was helping Heine because that would have ruined his story and the t.v. audience bought it. Including the brilliant Jason Whitlock. The days of the media deciding what the story is for us need to end. Just give us the images and the facts and quit making up my mind for me.
sigma_man

Clark Griswold. Thank you for that link. We need that beer drinking guy on tv. That was one of the best breakdowns of tape I’ve ever seen
Spoon

It’s really sad, when this caps locked babble makes more sense and has a better grasp of the situation than most of the Bears fans have displayed in the last couple days.
Spoon

lol.. post i was responding to got deleted as i was responding
debbie forney

I don’t like this guy I feel sorry for him!!!!!!! go away and leave our quarterback alone he didn’t quit he was hurt you don’t know if he was coached to not let greenbay know in case he was gonna be able to come back !!!!!!!!!!!
debbie forney

I CAN’T STAND THIS GUY AND II HOPE THAT SO MANY PEOPLE HEAR WHAT AN IDIOT HE IS ALL OF THE BEARS SAY CUTLER IS A GREAT LEADER TALK TO THE PLAYERS AND COACHES THIS GUY NEEDS TO GET A LIFE
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