COUNTER CULTURE
Contrary C to popular perception, Cutler, who’s done for year, is great teammate
Minutes after coach John Fox announced that Jay Cutler would have surgery Saturday to repair the torn labrum in his right shoulder and be out for the rest of the season, Bears players found out slowly — some of them from reporters.
Outside linebacker Pernell McPhee paused before speaking.
“That’s our quarterback,” he said. “That’s our leader on offense.”
McPhee, who yelled at Cutler on national TV after an interception in Week 2 but later called him his brother, was saddened.
“I wish him the best of luck,” McPhee said. “He’s been a great teammate. He’s a tough guy.”
To hear his teammates tell it, Cutler — who appeared in only five games and might have played his last with the Bears — was more than that. His personality ran counter to the aloof and uncaring perception from outside.
“He leads us in his own way,” running back Jeremy Langford said. “Especially a guy that’s been in the league as long as he has, he definitely was a leader. Not like everybody else wanted him to be. For us, he was.”
Backup quarterback David Fales called him “one of the more influential people in my career,” which is in its third season beside Cutler.
“People talk who aren’t in the building and don’t know him — don’t really know him — and aren’t around him and aren’t in the room with him and aren’t hearing the things he says and does,” Fales said. “I don’t think people who talk about him sometimes really know him.”
Wide receiver Cam Meredith said “everybody’s not going to be right about who somebody is” and said it was good to have Cutler in the locker room.
Ask offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains how the outside image compares to reality, and he points out that Cutler is an elected captain who helped Brian Hoyer, then Matt Barkley prepare. Ask him what he learned about Cutler since arriving before the 2015 season, and he makes a list.
“How tough he is,” Loggains said. “How much he cares. How much the team means to him. That’s been incredible to watch. There’s a perception, and there’s a reality of that. It’s been really fun the last two years getting to coach him. And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
Cutler only has a .500 record during his time with the Bears — a tenure that might be over if the team decides to cut him after the season. His last pass, skeptics will note, was an interception. But, even more telling, it was thrown with a torn labrum.
“You would never know [ injuries were] bothering him because he’s going out there every day working,” Meredith said. “It’s good to have a guy like that, who’s tough, who’s a leader and sets an example like that.”
Fox told reporters only eight days earlier that Cutler’s injury wasn’t season- ending. On Thursday, he said Cutler wanted to return and attempted different treatments while trying to rehab the shoulder he hurt Nov. 20 against the Giants. After speaking to doctors, he opted for surgery. He’ll go on injured reserve soon.
“Definitely in the last two years, he’s taken a lot of hits and gotten through a lot of injuries that sometimes you don’t even hear about,” Fales said. “And he’s playing through it.”
Bears coaches have praised Cutler’s assistance while hurt, first after he sprained ligaments in his right thumb Week 2, then Sunday against the Titans.
Fox joked that, knowing Cutler, he wouldn’t be surprised if he helped out on the sideline Sunday, a day after surgery. Not that he expects him to. “He’s been a big help for whatever quarterback has been in,” Fox said. “So he’s been tremendous just in regard to being hurt.”