Dan Pompei at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:
“I wanted to ask you if you thought it was fair of the media, current and past NFL players bashing Jay Cutler during the NFC Championship Game? How can anyone question this guy’s toughness when he battles with diabetes every single day? How about all those hits and sacks he has endured since coming to Chicago? I find it hard to believe Jay would tap out a game that significant. Michael Shahbaz, San Diego
“I thought some of the criticism of Cutler was uncalled for. It’s really difficult for me to ever question whether a player is hurt, because I’m not in his body. I don’t think it has anything to do with Cutler being a diabetic, but he has proven he is a very tough quarterback who can take a hit. It’s interesting that we’re still discussing this four months after the fact. I wonder how long this will continue to be an issue.”
Unless Cutler wins a Super Bowl, this will be an issue for as long as he plays.
Some believe, as Michael does above, that this is simply an issue of Cutler’s physical toughness. Its not. This story has legs in part because its got so many facets. Why did so many players savage Cutler when they would hesitate to do so with most of their other peers? Were they really questioning his physical toughness or was it the mental toughness, reflected in Cutler’s awful body language and poor leadership skills, that had them wondering? And most important of all, let’s not forget that in the first half of possibly the most important game of his life, Cutler fell apart and played terribly.
Some people say that when considering the significance of an issue, you should think about whether it would be mentioned in a person’s obituary. Right now, this one would be the lead in Cutler’s.