Bears' Jay Cutler likes being an edgy QB, and proves it

It’s not easy being Jay Cutler.

The Bears quarterback struggles with the attention he gets. Cutler generally doesn’t like speaking publicly, bristles at tired subjects and abhors questions about his demeanor, criticism of his demeanor or anything that dares him to reveal what it is that makes him tick.

The perfect storm ensued before a full house at the Halas Hall media room Thursday in anticipation of a Monday Night Football game against the division rival Detroit Lions. It didn’t take long for Cutler to reach his limit. And, truth be told, he wasn’t alone.

Reporter: ”Do you care about people psycho-analyzing you, are you tired of it?”

Cutler: ”Like who?”

Reporter: ”Like Phil Simms said you’re mean.”

Cutler: ”He said more than that. You take things out of context. That’s the problem.”

Reporter: ”But do you like what Simms said, that being angry is a big part of being a quarterback in the NFL?”

Cutler: ”I think you have to have a certain edge

out there as quarterback. I’m not going to take that away from what he said. Everyone has got an opinion. It is what it is. That’s the world we live in. That’s why you guys are all in the this room. That’s why you guys get paid to do your job, is to have opinions. And they are opinions. They’re not facts.”

Reporter: But were some of Terry Bradshaw’s [more critical] comments over the line?

Cutler: “Some are personal. Some aren’t. Like I said, everyone is going to have opinions. I can’t internally process each and every one of them. I’ve got to worry about trying to win games on Sunday and the guys in my locker room.

Reporter: But you said [in the Sun-Times earlier this week] that Bradshaw’s comments kind of hurt…”

Cutler: ”I’m not going to get into this. It’s not going to happen. So anything else about Detroit? No. All right.”

And with that, yet another Cutler press conference ended on an awkward note. No harm, no foul on this one. That’s Jay being Jay. And the media being the media. The Bears haven’t played in nearly two weeks. We need a game as badly as he does.