The Knee Injury Heard 'Round The World

So how many people were coming out and attacking Jay Cutler during Sunday's game? Simple, a lot. Former players, current players, sportswriters, casual fans, everyone had their own opinion, and many were not in favor of Cutler. He was certainly trending on Twitter.

There were a lot of things being said: 'He is not that hurt, why is he still on the sideline,' 'He has been standing the whole time, how hurt can he be?' 'he has no heart, he is just scared to play out there,' 'he is a wimp, how can he not go back in now, he can't be hurt that bad, he just can't take it,' and finally 'if I was on the Bears I would not be able to stand it, he better not come in the locker room. I would be playing no matter what.'

Maybe some of those are fair to say, maybe not, but the way it was a storm of criticism it was certainly as much the talk of the two teams making it to the Super Bowl. So, with Monday came the MRI that everyone was waiting for, and the results...a sprained MCL (which can also be referred to as a torn MCL, not everyone understands that and has jumped on his back that much more with the word sprain being used).

Now I am a Cutler fan, and I for one was not thrilled with everyone calling him out and jumping on his back having no facts of which to back what they were saying up with. What I will say about Cutler is that he has gotten abused in his football career, and always stood back up and been in that huddle the next play. At Vanderbilt, in the vaunted SEC, they had by far the worst team most of his career, and he got manhandled. He won SEC player of the year as a senior and he never just sat out against teams like Florida, let alone in the NFC Championship game. Last year and this year with the Bears, he was getting clobbered, sacked a record amount of times early on, but he was still getting up and competing, in games that were not the NFC Championship game.

So why would he then say I can't do this anymore, knowing the storm that he was walking into? He had to truly have something wrong, and then we also find out that doctor's and coaches are making these decisions. Then on Monday the reports that he has a torn MCL and it is a grade II, which typically lends itself to a three to four week minimum recovery time. So to call him out I think is unfair, and unprofessional.

The worst part in all of this, the Bears defense is getting no credit for keeping that team in the game with shutting down the new quarterback darling and hottest player/offense in the NFL.

Lastly, I love all of those who had comments, for the most part, now taking steps back and trying to change their words and what they said, or how they were aimed. I wish that people would now take the criticism that they deserve, rather than say they never questioned the injury, but how he was acting. The fact that they try to insult the intelligence of people is almost a joke, because those who have seen and read those comments know exactly what was being said. To step back now and try and say otherwise is a joke, and they look like cowards and fools. You said it, accept it and say you were wrong and should not have jumped the gun. This is the beauty of a network like Twitter, people can give knee jerk reactions, and now they should feel the effects of doing the wrong thing, not try and lie their way out of it. Sad really.