Jay Cutler is notorious for the zombie like demeanor he displays most of the time. You can’t tell from looking at Cutler’s body language if the Chicago Bears are a.) up 50 points or b.) like yesterday at New England getting destroyed.
Only Jay Cutler knows for sure how much he really cares or doesn’t truly care on the inside. His nonverbal communication though, almost always conveys apathy.
And the NFL Sunday morning pundits had a lot of fun at Cutler’s expense. They all had hot takes pertaining to “Cutler face.” And as the season goes from tragedy to comedy for the Chicago Bears, it’s time to embrace “just bad” becoming “so bad it’s now liberating.”
Four-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Terry Bradshaw had a message for Cutler on FOX NFL Sunday:
“Jay, honest to God. Life is good, brother. You’re making a great living, having fun and playing the game you’ve looked forward to playing since you were a little kid. Act like you enjoy it, man! Put a smile on your face for once in your life.”
Yes, Cutler is making well over $22m this season. He’s the highest paid player in the NFL. He’s married to a woman that most men would find to be very attractive. Sure, the Bears got pasted today and the season does indeed seem lost at this point, but Bradshaw is right.
From ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown
Keyshawn Johnson: “Lovie Smith in my opinion is not the Chicago Bears head coach today because of that quarterback.”
Tom Jackson: “Let me give him [Cutler] a solution rather than the blame.”
“You cannot be aloof. You cannot be isolated. You cannot be distant from the football team when you are the quarterback.”
“They’re looking to have you lead the football team and I believe everything that we saw in the last week – you know, from Brandon Marshall speaking up because he feels like he’s filling a void – you know, I think that can all be improved upon if Jay Cutler actually takes the lead with this football team and gives them some direction as the face of the franchise.”
As articulated here back in the summer– Brandon Marshall is the face of the franchise, because Jay Cutler doesn’t have the personality for it. And just last week we followed up by writing again that B Marsh is indeed stepping up to be that vocal leader. Partly because Cutler doesn’t have the personality for it, and never will.
Interesting take by Keyshawn there too. He’s probably correct.
And NFL Network’s NFL Gameday Morning got in on it too:
Sterling Sharpe: “Jay Cutler is being paid like one of our elite players in our game…Jay Cutler is supposed to be an elite player. The Chicago Bears have made that commitment. It’s time for Jay Cutler to play like an elite player.”
Michael Irvin: “If that had been Jay Cutler, and Jay Cutler comes in after they played poorly and made those kind of comments and said ‘We have to do better, this is unacceptable’, we would have been giving him all kind of praise for being the leader in that locker room…Brandon [Marshall] is that leader for that football team and obviously the things that he said were correct. They should be better than they are playing and everyone should feel that what they’re doing is unacceptable.”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and very often writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2