Everyone Is A Tough Guy From Their Couch

On Sunday, in the NFC Championship game Jay Cutler hurt his knee. He tried playing on his bum knee immediately after his injury leading up to halftime and in the Bears' first possession of the second half. He came out because the doctors advised him to do, earlier when he first hurt the knee and again after that first possession of the second half. Cutler clearly couldn't plant on his left leg which affected him throwing the ball.

But when Cutler didn't come back what happened next was just spineless and cowardly. Many NFL players, current and former, took shots at Cutler from their Twitter account. Maurice Jones-Drew, Darnell Dockett, Kerry Rhodes, Deion Sanders and Mark Schlereth were a few. And while MJD has issued an apology for a "joke gone wrong" it is sad that all these guys jump the gun like this because Cutler wasn't being carted off the field, wasn't crying in pain, wasn't limping enough or wasn't that upset on the sideline.

The cameras weren't always on Cutler so no one other than the people in attendance can actually say how Cutler appeared the whole time. And for those who did question him and want to question Jay Cutler's toughness you may want to hear this. Cutler took 52 sacks this season which led the league. You can easily double if not triple that number for the amount of hits he took. And when Cutler scrambles he usually absorbs the hit from the defender instead of sliding and giving up a few extra yards. Earlier in the season Cutler was sacked nine times in the first half of a week 4 game against the New York Giants. The ninth sack sidelined him for the rest of the game and the following week as the Bears took on the Carolina Panthers.

But Cutler never complained. He never chewed out teammates to the public. He simply took his lickings and continued to get up and dust himself off. And maybe just maybe that's why Cutler's teammates had his back after the game last night and today. When Brian Urlacher vouches for your toughness by saying, “Jay was hurt,” Urlacher said. “I don’t question his toughness. He’s one of the toughest guys on our — he’s tough as hell. He’s one of the toughest guys on our football team. He doesn’t bitch, he doesn’t complain when he gets hit, he goes out there and plays his ass off every Sunday, practices every day. So, no, we don’t question his toughness.” Hell when Urlacher vouches for any one's toughness I'll trust his opinion.

Urlacher also said "Nothing like jealous people who are sitting home watching. Players around the league you said, right? Yeah, love jealous people when they're watching our game on TV while their season is over." Urlacher was right, that jealousy spewing all over Twitter reminded me of something you'd see in middle school. He and all of his teammate have a legitimate reason to be upset as these people cowardly attacked their quarterback who led this team to a 12 win season and a 2 seed in the NFC.

By all means, everyone is entitled to their own opinion but remember it's always easy to be the tough guy when you're hiding behind your Twitter or Facebook account.