Leave Cutler Alone

Last week, the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers punched their tickets to the big stage, Super Bowl XLV, but what everyone is still talking about is Jay Cutler and his leg.

Why, you ask? Because Cutler, who left last week’s NFC Championship game with an apparent injury to his leg, was seen riding a mechanical bike and standing on sidelines with a dumbfounded look on his face. Football analysts and fellow players in the NFL were blowing up Twitter, calling him a quitter. They were saying, for example, as former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Derrick Brooks put it, “Hey, there is no medicine for a guy with no guts and heart.”

No heart, no guts, why? Because he hurt his leg and the medical staff told him he wasn’t allowed to go back in after he tried to go back on the field. Or is it because Cutler doesn’t show any emotion whatsoever? So what? He doesn’t frown or throw a fit when things don’t go his way or he doesn’t look like a fool celebrating a touchdown like it was his first touchdown pass ever like some other players in the NFL, cough, cough, Chad Ochocinco and his partner in crime Terrell Owens.

Cutler plays the game of football, it’s that simple. He is just seen as a bad guy for no reason. After throwing four interceptions, all to Washington Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall, Cutler was quoted after the game saying if they played them again the next week he would throw to Hall’s side again. If Tom Brady, Drew Brees or Peyton Manning had said that, everyone would say that they’re gamers and they have no fear. But because it was Cutler, everyone said he was dumb and should just admit he didn’t play well.

Cutler has always stayed out of the spotlight. He’s not a spokesmen for UGGS, like Brady, or on an assortment of commercials like both Manning brothers. He went to a low-key football program at Vanderbilt University and he was the third quarterback taken in the 2006 draft behind Vince Young and Matt Leinart.

I don’t understand why Bears fans and other fans just don’t leave the guy alone. He is a very good NFL quarterback. He has thrown for over 20 touchdowns and over 3,000 yards in every season as a starter. He also just led his team to the NFC Championship game and lost to a better team. What more do you want from him? A lot of NFL franchises would pay a hefty price for Cutler. But the way the public views him makes him out as a bad guy.

ESPN recently did a poll of the most hated quarterbacks in the NFL, and Cutler won ahead of bad guys like Ben Roethlisberger and Michael Vick with all of their legal issues. Does that make sense? Leave the man be, he hasn’t done anything wrong.