The Chicago Bears lost the NFC championship game Sunday to the Green Bay Packers. Bears’ quarterback Jay Cutler left the game in the second quarter with a knee injury only to come back in the third to test the knee out, but left the game for good pretty soon after. Backup quarterbacks Todd Collins and Caleb Hanie finished the game, while cameras showed frequent glimpses of the lonesome Cutler on the sideline.
ESPN analyst and Super Bowl winning quarterback Trent Dilfer said after the game ended: “You can play this position hurt. Some of us have.” Bears’ legendary former coach Mike Ditka said on Mike & Mike In The Morning on ESPN Radio: “I don’t know if anybody can play the game when they’re not 100 percent or not well. I can’t speak for Jay Cutler. I can’t speak for anybody. Myself, I would have had to have been paralyzed to come out of the game. I don’t want to say that word. I would have had to be completely knocked out to come out of that football game.”
Other NFL players have said via Twitter that Cutler had let his teammates down. Here are some of the Tweets:
- Jaguars’ running back Maurice Jones-Drew: “Hey I think the urban meyer rule is effect right now… When the going gets tough……..QUIT.. … All I’m saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee… I played the whole season on one…”
- Jaguars linebacker Kirk Morrison: “If my knee was hurt or acl/mcl/pcl sprain, I would not be standing on the sideline.”
- Raiders quarterback Bruce Gradkowski: “Is cutler still ur starter next year? Did the players give up on him?”
- Cardinals’ defensive tackle Darnell Dockett: “If I’m on chicago team jay cutler has to wait till me and the team shower get dressed and leave before he comes in the locker room!”
Despite the echoed criticism, reports since the game point to Cutler’s injury being legitimate. Bears’ coach Lovie Smith labeled Cutler’s injury an “MCL sprain,” which means some sort of tear. The Bears did not disclose the severity of the injury after Cutler underwent an MRI Monday morning, but teammate Brian Urlacher has come to Jay’s defense amid others’ criticisms: “Jay was hurt. I don’t question his toughness. He’s one of the toughest guys on our team. He’s tough as hell. He doesn’t bitch, he doesn’t complain when he gets hit, he goes out there and plays his ass off every Sunday, practices every day. So, no, we don’t question his toughness.”
fastest recover ever.
Just to set the record straight: no other Chicago Bear player has suggested Jay’s injury wasn’t real. It’s other NFL players from other teams that have posted snarky tweets about this (before the results of Jay’s test revealed his legit ligament tear). The Bears have defended him.
Also, I think there’s a difference between walking around on a sprained knee and trying to plant and throw a football (while 300-pound guys are charging you).