Jay Cutler has been the butt of jokes throughout his career, but his harshest critics may want to take a step back.
According to a report from Adam Jahns in the Chicago Sun-Times, Cutler has been playing with a torn ligament in his thumb on his throwing hand since injuring it against the Houston Texans in Week 1 of the NFL season:
According to multiple team sources, Cutler suffered his injury in the season opener against the Texans. One source said it’s an injury that typically results in a three- to four-week absence.
Cutler played through the injury during the Eagles game, but aggravated the issue and was taken out in the third quarter.
And today’s news isn’t good:
The #Bears are preparing for a lengthy absence for QB Jay Cutler, source said. Now it's a matter of how to fix (surgery or not) his thumb.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 20, 2016
Even the likes of Arizona Cardinals DB Tyrann Mathieu took to Twitter to take a shot at Cutler. We’re guessing he’d like that criticism back now.
Ironically, not before fellow injured Bears teammate Pernell McPhee laced into Cutler following an interception. That lacing into also included an obscenity tossed his way about waking up…according to CSN Chicago’s Ryan McGuffey:
Pernell McPhee went ONTO field to tell Jay Cutler to 'wake the $)%# up' after INT…guy on PUP list calls him out!?! do not agree. #Bears
— Ryan McGuffey (@RyanMcGuffey) September 20, 2016
Cutler did admit that the injury was bothering him before he was being taken out.
Cutler said he wasn't able to grip the ball the way he normally does. That may have been an issue on the costly pick.
— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) September 20, 2016
If he was able to practice, then it’s understandable that he would want to play through it; and early on, he didn’t look too bothered, especially on a perfectly thrown deep strike to Alshon Jeffery that set up the Bears only offensive touchdown. But once it was aggravated, it was more apparent that he wasn’t going to make it to the end, and the pick six was the final nail in the coffin.
We’ll now likely see the criticism of Cutler (because that’s a constant presence, much like the sun and the stars) pivot from “Can’t believe he took himself out of the game!” to “Can’t believe he played through an injury and cost his team!”
Thus demonstrating that no matter what Cutler does (including dropping back to pass), he’s going to get killed.
