Quick Point – The Question of Calm

Jay Cutler gets it. From the Chicago Tribune:

“They’re going to be as calm as I am and I try to stay relatively calm out there, especially in the fourth quarter.”

I wouldn’t necessarily say that “calm” is necessary in these situations. I believe what made the difference here might be better described as “confidence”.

Cutler isn’t necessarily using the right words but there’s a recognition in his statement that the team goes as he goes in these situations. No matter what he’s feeling inside, outwardly the one thing that you can’t show is that you lack faith in your teammates or the team’s ability to perform as needed. This is what’s known as “bad body language” and Cutler hasn’t shown it yet this year. It’s going to be fascinating to see if it rears up at any point. But the one thing that we can plainly see is that he understands the problem. That’s a great start.

Quick Point – Well said

Rick Morrissey at the Chicago Sun-Times puts yesterday’s game agains the Vikings in perspective:

“Football purists might have cringed at all the messiness of this game, but there was a terrible beauty to it.”

Indeed there was. Both sides overcame adversity with wonderful, uplifting play intermixed with plenty of flaws. It was human.