Cutler's Criticism.

[Cookie Icer]

Everyone who watched the NFC championship game all witnessed how Jay Cutler left the game due to an injury and didn't return to play in the second half of the game. During the broadcast all we knew was that it was a knee injury that was keeping him out. After the game and going through three total QB's the Bears lost a heartbreaker to the Packers 21-14.

After the game many current and former NFL players questioned Cutler's toughness, calling him soft and saying that he should have returned. Others compared him to Tom Brady saying that if Brady could play with a stress fracture in his foot then Cutler could play with his injury.

Monday it was released that Cutler suffered a sprained/torn MCL in his knee during the game. Members of the Bears team including Coach Lovie Smith defended Cutler saying that he actually wanted to go back out there but was denied by the coaching staff.

But despite the reports of the MCL injury many players are still calling Cutlers toughness out and calling him too soft for sitting out what has been to date his most important game of his career.

To note Cutler has also been sacked and hit more this season than any other QB. Taking a league high 59 sacks (A set back to the Mike Martz system) So it might not have been just the injury on Sunday that sidelined him, but an entire season of being the most physically abused QB in the league could have mounted up to a point where he couldn't have returned.

So what do you think? Justifiable that Cutler missed the second half of the game? He's too soft and should have gone back out there anyways? Or as Jackie McMullen from Boston Globe said, "Not his pain threshold we should be questioning, but his heart and passion to play the game."

So what do you think?  

[Nyuupyon]

Urlacher, one of the toughest linebackers, does not question Cutler's toughness.

Kruetz said Cutler's legs were like jelly. Kruetz said he didn't even think Cutler would make it through the half.

You don't question Cutler's toughness. You think he, who plays behind one of the worst offensive lines, who got sacked the most in the league, just all of a sudden went... "Oh, I can't play in this game, one game before the Superbowl, because I got hurt."
Not to mention, he pricks himself with needles throughout the game to measure his blood sugar because he has diabetes.

There's a difference between playing hurt and playing injured. There's a point where you can't help you team. If you can't move with a hurt knee, if you can't plant with a hurt knee, you're not going to be an effective quarterback.

I don't question Cutler's toughness. I think he would have went out if he could.

Most importantly, it was probably the doctors who took Cutler out of the game.
I think about that game Gore got injured, and he was standing around the sidelines with a broken hip. He looked like he can play, but he had a broken hip. The doctors pulled him out.


So no. I don't question Cutler's toughness.
Haters gonna hate.  

[Spirit Tamer of Wind]

Jay Cutler is probably the most scrutinized quarterbacks in the league for a good reason:

There is a lot of character and maturity issues, he's an INT waiting to happen, forces too many bad throws, but I'm going to give him a pass on this one and say that his toughness should not be questioned.

The contrasts to him and Tom Brady on the toughness scale is vastly overrated. 90% of all QBs in the league would have had the same problems Cutler's had this season with an offensive line as bad as the Bears'. Why glorifying Brady's toughness when he has an elite offensive line and just had two O-linemen named NFL All-Pro team earlier today. I'm sure Cutler would have as much success with Brady's offensive line as Brady had the last several years.  

[KTS]

Spirit Tamer of Wind

Why glorifying Brady's toughness when he has an elite offensive line and just had two O-linemen named NFL All-Pro team earlier today. I'm sure Cutler would have as much success with Brady's offensive line as Brady had the last several years.

Not really, considering that Brady got hurt too.

Anyways I don't question whether or not Cutler was tough. He chokes a lot. My Dad likes him though. He is a better QB than some of the QB's out there but he has a lot to worry about. His Interceptions are higher than his Touchdowns. Also Cutler is a QB that many may still speculate is a middle QuarterBack. You didn't know which Jay you would be seeing.  

[Rioque]

Well, if you really look at it, everyone is criticizing cutler because he didn't play because he was injured? Everyone expected him to still play even with the injury. WTF people, to Cutler's defense, if he continued playing, the ACL might of gotten worse. He missed one game in his career and got sacked a record high 59 times. He also has type 1 diabetes. People and analyst talked about his 'body language' but it clearly shows in the x-rays he was injured. Injured enough to be out for weeks. He's just getting a lot of BS from people who doesn't know  

[Cookie Icer]

More to add on the matter.

Drew Brees spoke out in Cutlers defense today, he stated that even though he had the same injury Cutler sustained in the NFC championship game and played through the injury where Cutler missed the second half of the game, Drew said he knows the pain Cutler is going through and that he doesn't blame the Bears QB at all for sitting out.

To add to how severe the injury is to help hush the critics, Doctors spoke out saying that even if the Bears won the game and go to the Superbowl, his status from the injury would leave him questionable for the game.  

[Noo Ho]

I think he was injured and in an immense amount of pain because if you're going to the SuperBowl and you say you're hurt, you're going to be hurt. I know some players do over dramatize the matter and make it more than it is but I don't believe he wouldn't play if he was truly injured. That's just my thought on the subject.