In the wake of the Chicago Bears loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Jay Cutler has been heavily criticized by media as well as past and present players for quitting on his team. The Bears quarterback suffered a knee injury in the first half which eventually lead to him being pulled in the third quarter of Sunday’s NFC championship game by head coach Lovie Smith.
After Cutler’s first series in the third quarter it was pretty apparent that he had a significant injury that limited his accuracy and mobility. Cutler did not look sharp prior to his injury, completing 6 passes for 80 yards. Cutler’s benching and demeanor on the sidelines lead to several players questioning Cutler’s toughness via Twitter. Maurice Jones-Drew, running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars was one of the more vocal players criticizing Cutler on Sunday. Jones-Drew tweeted “"Hey I think the Urban Meyer rule is effect right now... When the going gets tough........QUIT." He later went on to tweet “"finish the game on a hurt knee... I played the whole season on one." For those who don’t remember Jones-Drew missed the final two games this season with a knee injury as his team was fighting for a playoff birth.
I understand that most players will never get the opportunity to play in a championship game so if given the chance they would do whatever it took to stay on the field. Ronnie Lott, former safety and Hall of Famer for the San Francisco 49’ers once had part of a broken finger amputated so he could finish a game. Now some would consider this both tough and crazy. But Football requires toughness; it’s one of the most physically demanding sports on your body. Every player has to be both mentally and physically tough to make it to this level.
It’s important to remember that football is a team sport and if you’re physically unable to perform at the high level the NFL demands because of injury then you’re doing more harm than good to your team as well as yourself. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion but to question a person’s toughness is unjust. Every person’s threshold for pain is different; something that is bearable to one person might be extremely uncomfortable for another person. Therefore a person’s toughness is a difficult thing to measure.
The Chicago Bear’s training staff reported on Monday that Cutler has a grade two MCL sprain and would be questionable for the Super Bowl even if the Bears advanced. Although this diagnosis provides proof that Cutler did suffer a significant injury on Sunday there are still many critics who will forever question Jay Cutler’s toughness for not finishing Sunday’s game.
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