Solid postseason debut for Cutler
As NFL postseason debuts go, Jay Cutler's was pretty impressive.
His 111.3 passer rating was the third highest in franchise history, and capped off an interesting week in which he was vilified by ESPN.com's Rick Reilly for his personality.
“I saw a lot of it; they showed me a few things,” Cutler said. “Mr. Reilly wasn't very happy with me, and I saw that. It is what it is. Like I said, ‘Nothing outside (Halas Hall) is going to affect me, or hopefully anybody on our team.' There are a lot of distractions, especially in the situation we're in now (with the Packers coming to town), and we just have to focus and do our jobs.”
Cutler was then jokingly asked if he was going to be warmer and kinder to the media.
“I'm trying,” he said, smiling and drawing laughter. “Can you tell?”
Cutler also had his biggest day ever as a ball carrier, rushing for 2 touchdowns and picking up a career-best 43 yards on 8 carries that included 3 kneel-downs, each of which lost a yard.
His first TD on the ground came on a 6-yard quarterback draw. He broke attempted tackles by Seahawks strong safety Jordan Babineaux and free safety Earl Thomas before diving across the goalline. The second TD was a 9-yard rollout.
“The first one was called,” he said. “The second one was (supposed to be) a shovel pass, and the guy collapsed, so I had to run.”
Cutler also had a 21-yard scramble on which he declined to save himself by sliding, instead going head-first for extra yardage.
“When it's there, we'll take it,” he said. “I'm not afraid to do that.”
Sack is back:
Defensive tackle Tommie Harris, who had a half-sack in the first 15 regular-season games, had 2 against the Seahawks after getting 1 in the regular-season finale.
“Tommie has worked hard each week, but we haven't gotten the production that we've wanted, or he's wanted,” coach Lovie Smith said. “But all you can do is just look at how he's practicing. He's been on top of everything.
“We have no complaints about his preparation at all. Normally, if you just keep working hard, things start falling your way a little bit. Hopefully it will keep going.”
He's just fine:
Late in the first quarter linebacker Brian Urlacher was taken to the locker room with what appeared to be a hip injury. He returned without missing a snap, but wouldn't divulge the nature of his injury.
“I had to go check on something in the locker room,” he said. “Things were good though, thanks. I don't think I missed any plays.”
Injury report:
Safety Chris Harris left in the second quarter with a hip injury and did not return. Rookie Major Wright replaced him, and veteran Josh Bullocks also got some snaps.
For the first time in seven weeks Pisa Tinoisamoa returned to his starting spot at strong-side linebacker. After arthroscopic knee surgery, he missed three games and then played limited snaps in the final two regular-season games. Nick Roach, who had 2 special-teams tackles Sunday, started all five of those games.