Jay Quitler?

So, is this man happy, sad, in pain, winning, losing, about to cry or about to celebrate?

The answer to each of those is both “yes” and “no.”

That is Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler and that is how he ALWAYS looks. Like a whiney, spoiled little crybaby. It doesn't matter if he's up by 50 or down by 50 Cutler always looks the same way. He can't help it. It's just who he is. He's laid back and aloof. Which is why when he's standing on the sideline during the NFC Championship game, out with a “knee injury of some kind” he's gonna be vilified.

But, the problem with Cutler on Sunday wasn't that he had a “boo-boo” and couldn't or wouldn't go out there and “gut it out.” The problem was with Cutler's history, attitude and his behavior both before and during Sunday's game.

Cutler is known as a selfish guy. He's known as someone who doesn't like to put in the time and effort. He's known as a guy ho will do what he wants and isn't receptive to coaching. And on Sunday, after he left with game with what we now know is an MCL sprain, he stood around on the sideline as if he was bored or just waiting for the game to be over so he could leave. Worse, he acted like he was wallowing in self-pity and didn't seem to be engaged with his teammates or mentally in the game. He wasn't cheering his teammates on and wasn't trying to keep guys fired up.

Of course most of the criticism Cutler took was from people on Twitter. This is why I love Twitter. It's real, it's raw and it's immediate. People say what they are thinking in the heat of the moment. Sometimes they go back and wish they hadn't said all the things they said. Some people are incapable of ever admitting they were wrong or got carried away, but whatever. I still like the immediate, emotional response to things from people. It's interesting to me.

Don't confuse this with things people say while drunk. Most people want to give drunk people a pass by saying “Oh he/she was drunk and didn't mean what he/she said.” I say bullshit to that one. People (like Mel Gibson for instance) generally say what they really believe when they're drunk. It's because they're drunk that they don't have the self-control to stop themselves from saying what they really believe.

Oh, but I do take exception to one person. Jacksonville Jaguars' RB Maurice Jones Drew tweeted that Jay Cutler “quit” on his team. The reason I take exception to MJD's tweet is because MJD missed his team's final two games of the season. Two games that the Jag's needed to win to not only make the playoffs, but possibly win their division. Now, I'm not doubting that MJD was hurt, I'm just fascinated that he would question another player's heart after he took a pass on his own team's most important games.

So, basically I think what we've learned here is that if a football player, especially a player like Jay Cutler who already isn't well liked, gets hurt, he shouldn't just walk off the field and then stand around watching the game. He should get carried off the field and then have his knee wrapped up with a big ice bag on it and use crutches for the rest of the game.

Unless these guys are the one's who would be carrying you off the field. Then you might just crawl....