Jay Cutler

Yesterday and today have been fascinating and eye-opening days for me. It started off with innocent intentions and transformed into something incredible. I, like a lot of other football fans, got up on Sunday to see which teams would make it to the Super Bowl. I am a huge Bears fan, so I had a lot riding on the Bears-Packers match-up in the afternoon. And what a game it was.

At first the game was quite depressing, with Green Bay taking an early lead and the Bears' offense virtually non-existent. At half time the score was 14-0, though it felt closer to 49-0 when you consider how well the Packers were playing and how poorly the Bears were. At the start of the second half I got past the point of utter hopelessness and just gave up. And that felt great.

I get way to emotionally involved in sports for no good, logical reason. Watching the Bears play just ignites some insane passion in my heart for the team and the city of Chicago. I go completely nuts. I swear, throw things, punch things, bitch, moan, fight back tears and contemplate why I let myself suffer like this pretty much on a weekly basis, unless it is baseball season and I subject myself to this daily (I should note that I only act this way when in private; when in the presence of others I remain calm so not to come off as completely psychotic).

Anyway, at halftime I just surrendered. At the start of the third quarter it became apparent Jay Cutler was injured and would be out for the rest of the game. And Todd Collins would be replacing him. Todd Collins. I am a better quarterback than Todd Collins. Sid Luckman's corpse is a better quarterback than Todd Collins. So I just surrendered.

And you know what? It was fantastic. No more worrying, no heartache, no pain. Just extreme cynicism and apathy towards whatever happens. In other words, a veteran Cubs fan. I could look at the game through a new lens, one where I could enjoy it with a sick sense of pleasure derived from the misery of watching your favorite team play at an awful level. No more expectations, no need to feel disappointed that the Bears would not be going to the Super bowl.

And then when Caleb Hanie came in and nearly led the Bears to a comeback, I did not have to feel let down when it ultimately failed. The whole notion that a 3rd string quarterback would lead your team to the Super Bowl was so farcical I thrived on the utter ridiculousness of it all. But we did not win, and the almost legend of Caleb Hanie nearly saving the Bears' season is not the real story of the game.

The real story revolved around Jay Cutler. At some point during the second quarter Cutler injured his knee and had to come out of the game at the beginning of the third quarter. Very little information was given by the Bears as to what the injury was or the severity of the injury. All that fans watching the game could tell was that Jay Cutler could still walk around, was not in any noticeable pain, did not have any trainers working on him, or looked as if he cared at all about getting back in the game and trying to win.

People on Twitter began to rip Cutler. From fans to current and retired football players to commentators and columnists, everyone began eviscerating Cutler for seemingly having quit on his team with a phantom injury. As it turns out (from what coach Lovie Smith said at his press conference TODAY), Cutler suffered a torn MCL in his knee and was prevented from returning by the coaches. Had Cutler gotten his way, he would have been out there, trying to gut his way through a painful knee injury against a blitz-happy defense.

So yes. Jay Cutler is a quitter. He is a pussy. He is a weak, pathetic, gutless, heartless, sissy. Because he has a serious knee injury. And because the coaches made the decision, not him. And because he has played behind terrible offensive lines throughout his college and professional career. And because he was sacked over 50 times this season. And because he never complained about it. And because he suffered the same injury that sidelined Troy Polamalu, one of the toughest players in the game, for several weeks without a single question about his toughness being levied at him.

And because he tried to play through it. And because he did not walk around with crutches, pretending to act more injured than necessary. And because he did not act like Paul Pierce, a basketball player who feigned a serious knee injury in the NBA Finals only to reenter the game a few minutes later without so much as a limp. And because he cannot take cortisone shots due to his diabetes. And because nobody outside Chicago likes him, so therefore the injury must not be that bad.

This is what I found so fascinating and eye-opening: how quickly opinions are made and spread through social media such as Twitter. The vast majority of tweeted opinions I saw were quick to judge Cutler's integrity and desire without any concern for finding out the severity of the injury or what the decision-making process was behind sitting Cutler. Almost everyone assumed that the injury was not that severe and that Cutler had quit.

Today we learned that he suffered a torn MCL in his knee and that it was a coach's decision as to why he was not put back in the game. But yesterday afternoon it was all Jay Cutler's fault. Bears fans burned his jerseys. Commentators and analysts on television saw this as a golden opportunity to attack Cutler simply because he is one of the least popular quarterbacks in football.

Overnight he has become the polarizing figure in the NFL. And that it tremendously unfair. He should not have to be this position. Love him or hate him, there is no place in professional sports for painting a target on a guy's back and kicking him while he is down. And that is what happened Sunday night through Monday morning. Want to know about Cutler's toughness? Ask Brian Urlacher. He knows a little something about toughness.