Jay Cutler: Critics and Critics of Critics

The Jay Cutler story will not die.

An explosion of criticism about Cutler's retreat from the NFC Championship game began on the Internet before any facts about his injury were known.

Current and former NFL players blasted him on Twitter.

Deion Sanders and others rushed to judgment and harshly criticized Cutler during the game.

Cutler's teammates came to his defense immediately while speaking to the press following the Bears' defeat. (GO PACK!)

If anything, the Cutler story has been growing in intensity as time passes rather than subsiding.

New reports about Cutler's physical condition continue to emerge.

From the Bleacher Report, Ryan Neiman writes:

In what is already a public relations nightmare, Jay Cutler's image continues to be tarnished.

Instantly after Cutler was removed from Sunday's NFC Championship game against the Packers, the Internet exploded from fans to athletes, claiming Cutler does not possess any physical toughness. Criticism mounted questioning if Cutler had any passion for the game he plays.

On Monday, we all learned Cutler suffered from a grade II tear in his knee, which means it would be very difficult to stabilize his knee, plant his foot and he would not be mobile during a football game.

However, the controversy surrounding Cutler grew full steam today.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting Cutler was dining at Mastro's Steakhouse in Chicago after the game, where he was spotted walking up a flight of stairs. The article goes on to say Cutler was not in crutches, but he "limped a little bit."

The injured Cutler walked up a flight of stairs - proof he's a quitter.

Not necessarily, according to others.

From the Bleacher Report, Ryan Rudnansky writes:

The report has re-ignited a litter of Twitter rumblings ranging from NFL players to fans to the media, apparently reinforcing the notion in their minds that Cutler is the wimp of a quarterback he's been made out to be.

I'm here to say that is flat out wrong.

First of all, Cutler sustained a second-degree sprain of his MCL, an injury that can be extremely limiting out on the field.

Second, walking while limping "a tiny bit" is completely different than planting your foot every time you drop back to throw, not to mention running away from a ferocious Packers' pass rush.

Third, and most important, no one but Cutler knows how that knee feels, and anyone that criticizes him based on an assumption is wrong to do so.

Now a backlash against Cutler's critics appears to be growing.

Charles Barkley and Boomer Esiason are among those defending Cutler.

The critics of Cutler's critics are questioning the manhood of his critics.

Kevin Blackistone writes:

"You're not any less of a man if you don't pull the trigger, you're not necessarily a man if you do." -- A Tribe Called Quest.

Jay Cutler didn't pull the trigger on Sunday, and that doesn't, as some of his brethren charged, make him any less of a real man, whatever our mythology has come to say manliness is.

But the same can't be said for many of Cutler's accusers, those who couldn't muster the chutzpah to say they were wrong, let alone sorry, for summarily dismissing the Bears' quarterback after learning by Monday that there was real reason for Cutler's reticence: a torn knee ligament.

The story about Cutler in the NFC Championship game, in which his Bears fell to the Packers, didn't reveal so much about Cutler. He suffered an injury. He couldn't go any longer, or at least his coach decided he couldn't. We've seen it with plenty of players before.

Instead, the story about Cutler revealed more how confused some athletes are about what it is they do for a living and how that defines their masculinity.

Suddenly we have a national debate about manhood because Cutler left the game.

When Bears fan Obama was asked to give his take on the controversy, he refused. Robert Gibbs, Obama's press secretary, said simply, "I don't want to get into that."

If Obama did weigh in, he might say something stupid. Then, there might have to be another Beer Summit.

Yeah, it's all getting pretty weird.

What's nice from my position is none of it matters. My world isn't shaken because Cutler was spotted walking a flight of stairs.

Of course, I don't want to see anyone unfairly crucified in the media.

I don't know who's right, but I do know Cutler sustained an injury.

I also know Cutler wasn't exactly acting like a leader from the sidelines during the second half. He was oddly detached during a huge game.

But it really doesn't matter to me. I'm enjoying not being in this debate.

Cutler is the Bears' problem.

Just like when the sexual harassment scandal involving the disgraced Vikings quarterback Brett Favre blew up, it didn't impact my team. Favre is the Vikings' problem and the Jets' problem. The Packers are free of Favre. He's history.

So let the Vikings implode. Let the Bears implode.

Whatever. Their seasons are over.

The Packers are going to Super Bowl XLV! SUPER BOWL XLV!