In defense of Jay Cutler

I have been a Bear fan for a looong time. "Quarterback poor" would be a generous assessment of Chicago Bear fandom in the post-Luckman years/decades. The bright spots for me...

• Bobby Douglas - ran for 1,000 yards, passed for significantly less, and actually spent some time in the White Sox farm system
  
  
• Bouncing Bob Avellini - A lumbering mass of a QB, drop back challenged, and half of the Avellini-Latta combo that terrorized defensive secondaries (about 3 times)
  
  
• Jim McMahon - played hard / partied hard, smartass, and a wannabe offensive lineman. Jim actually made the Pro Bowl. A Bear's QB in the PRO BOWL! My head almost exploded. Best I can tell, he showed up drunk to that game
  

And then came Jay Cutler. The savior from Denver. The man that would wash the visions of Henry Burris away FOREVER.

Wellll... that has not quite happened yet. Turns out Jay is not "Mr. Instant Offense" or "Mr. Personality" either.

It is not Jay's fault that his default facial expression is best described as "laconic mopery". It is his fault that he won't even cast a glance at fans trying to high five him from the end zone seats after he runs it in for a TD at home.

And then came the NFC championship game.

He didn't spark the offense. He painted the sidelines with his grimstorm of body english. Then he left EARLY for the locker room after another hope crushing INT. THEN according to Twitter, he quit.

In fact, one wiseguy fan trotted out this little tweet-o-venom...

Rodney Dangerfield's "oh my arm, oh my arm" in Caddyshack was more believable than Cutler's knee injury #bears

Yes, that was me, @kellythul on Twitter (follow me for more treasures like the item above)

We all had a story line and refined it real time via Twitter. Twitter, our friend, our enemy. Twitter, where speed and rush to judgment can too easily trump gathering actual facts.

Best I can tell, leveraging these pesky "fact" things, it appears Jay actually WAS injured in the 1st half. Stayed in the game and tried. In pain. Came out the second half and tried. In pain.

I didn't tweet about that. Didn't lend itself to 140 characters of snarky.

So, I apologize to Jay (knowing full well he would be indifferent). I hold out hope that he will emerge as a leader and the kind of QB you are so glad you have when your team is down 7 with 1:40 to go in the game. A QB that gives you hope.

All that being said, props to Caleb Hanie for making a painful game interesting for a bit. But seriously... if your name is "Caleb Hanie", how is sporting a trailer park mustache a good idea?

Guess it is better than Kyle Orton's neck beard.