Jay Cutler Sitting Out: Why He Did and Didn't Make The Right Decision

Jay Cutler has been called a lot of things in the last few years by a lot of people. Ask around the city of Denver and it's hard to get a response that doesn't involve a line of diapers included with it. 

Last season, with his parade of interceptions, it seemed as though Jay Cutler was going to receive a similar kind of treatment from the fans in Chicago, but things turned around.

After a rocky start to the season, Jay Cutler and the Bears rolled to an NFC North Division title, a first round bye in the playoffs and even managed a home game in the NFC Championship game. 

All seemed to be looking good for Cutler in the Second City. 

Then, just after the start of the second half of the NFC title game, Jay Cutler seemingly pulled himself out of the game. The announcers on Fox definitely made it sound like it was Cutler's call when he didn't come back out on the field. 

Almost immediately, Twitter lit up with tweets about how Cutler was quitting on his team, how he wasn't tough enough and how he was clearly not the leader of that team if he pulled himself out of the NFC championship game. 

Now, make no bones about it, I am NOT a Jay Cutler apologist—quite the opposite, as a matter of fact. 

Nonetheless, let's try and look at his decision from both points of view here.

Point 1: He was wrong to pull himself out of the game.

One of the arguments that has been seen a lot, both from players and fans, since the incident is that no player or true leader would ever pull himself out of the NFC Championship Game unless he were physically incapable of getting to the huddle—and even then, you should be being held back by the coaching staff as you attempt to crawl onto the field. 

This is the second biggest game of the season! Win it and go to the Super Bowl. Who would quit during that? Plus, even if you do hurt yourself and you lose the game, you've got until August to get back up to speed again. 

Both the players and fans have been taking shots at Cutler on Twitter and several other outlets.

Second, Cutler was seen walking up and down the sideline after having pulled himself from the game. Not something that the teammates or fans would want to see when the player has an apparent knee injury. 

Fans think that he's being a sissy and players might think that he's quitting on them; that's definitely not the type of message that you want the "leader" of your team to be sending.

Third, this sure doesn't help his image. Jay Cutler has a bit of a label as a quarterback who is capable of putting up numbers, but has a tendency to choke in big games and big moments within big games. 

Being a Denver fan, it's easy to recall several times where he would throw interceptions just when they were about to score some really big points. Now, not only did he not help his team, he literally walked away from the biggest game in his career to this point! 

This label won't be going away any time soon.

Point 2: He was right to pull himself out of the game.

Here's an interesting stat: Jay Cutler had a lower passer rating in the game than Todd Collins, his back up, who did not complete a pass. 

Collins went 0-4, nearly threw two picks, and had a passer rating of 39.6.

Cutler was 6-14 for 80 yards, was sacked twice and threw one interception. He had a passer rating of 31.8. 

With that as his production to that point, it would have been more devastating to the Bears if he had come back. 

Cutler knew he was hurting his team and sitting out was the right decision.

Knee injuries are tricky, especially for quarterbacks. If his knee was hurting to the point where it was impossible for him to really plant his feet and drive through his passing motion, then sitting out is absolutely the right decision to make. 

A third stringer who provides some unpredictability for the defense is better than a gimpy first stringer who can't get all the oomph behind his passes and is already somewhat turnover prone.

Self-preservation is the name of the game in the NFL. He'd been sacked twice at this point, and knocked down several times. If he kept getting hit, there's no saying Cutler couldn't have gotten even more seriously injured and then the team doesn't even have him for the next year. 

Live to fight another day. 

Also, knee injuries can be made worse if you don't give them any type of mobility. Cutler may have been advised by team doctors to do some walking to make certain that he didn't allow his knee to lock up.

Lastly, Brian Urlacher doesn't have a problem with it, why should we? If the other leader of that team is willing to put himself on the line for Cutler after the game, then why shouldn't we, as fans of the game, believe him?

In the end, the only person who really knows how badly he was hurt is Jay Cutler. It's an argument where you can really see both side of things. 

If I were a Bears fan, I would be livid, too! 

Yet, I also understand the former players who come to his defense, as Boomer Esiason did during half time of the AFC Championship game later in the day.

Unfortunately for Cutler, it is something that is going to hit his image. In the end, he made both the right and wrong decision by pulling himself out of the game.