After watching a race between horses, dogs or Pinewood Derby cars, spectators don’t ascribe the outcome to the superior character of the winner or the personal failings of the losers.
But sports involving human beings are often interpreted as morality tales. Winners prevail because they are more determined. Losers fall because they lack the true stuff of heroes.
Some of those watching the NFC championship game were quick to blame Jay Cutler for the Bears’ defeat and questioned his physical toughness and courage. They surmised that he wasn’t really hurt but simply couldn’t cope with the pressure. A group of Chicago fans burned his jersey afterward, and some NFL players chimed in, with Seattle defensive end Raheem Brock calling Cutler a “sissy.”
Maybe Monday’s MRI, which revealed a torn medial collateral ligament, will quiet the critics. Head coach Lovie Smith said Cutler showed toughness in trying to play on the bad knee and that it was his decision to take him out.
As for the sniping from other players, it’s not exactly news when a defensive end suggests that a quarterback should be wearing a skirt. Brock, for his part, may still be smarting from the Bears’ previous game, against Seattle, when Cutler threw for two touchdowns and ran for another two in a decisive win.
But there are no sissy quarterbacks in the NFL, any more than there are 130-pound defensive ends. The demands of the job weed out such specimens long before they appear in a game.
Cutler, for the record, endured 57 sacks this season, many of them the equivalent of a car wreck. He suffered a concussion in a brutal loss to the Giants but missed only one game. Brian Urlacher says he’s “tough as hell.”
The simple lesson of Sunday’s game is that the Packers played a better game on both sides of the ball. That doesn’t mean they have a better team or even better players — after all, they lost to the Bears in September.
But for some fans, it’s too much to grant the cheeseheads their due. Easier to surmise that someone on the Bears sideline let us down. That way, it’s under our control, which is somehow comforting.
Of course, Cutler can easily silence the complainers. All he has to do is lead the Bears to a Super Bowl title next season. In that case, we suspect some of the fans who cheered the torching of that No. 6 jersey will be standing in line to buy one.
