Angelo, Smith have let Cutler down

Jay Cutler was injured Sunday.

Period.

The evidence was there for anyone willing to accept it.

The question is, why did so many rush to judge and refuse to accept?

The answer begins at the top, with Bears GM Jerry Angelo and head coach Lovie Smith.

It started when Angelo rescued Cutler from Denver, where the QB threw a fit worthy of a 2-year-old.

In Cutler's mind, Josh McDaniels had done the unthinkable when he wondered upon arriving in Denver if he could find himself a better QB.

That, by the way, is his job. McDaniels was supposed to consider all options, and since Cutler already had a murky reputation and hadn't proven to be a winner, McDaniels took a look around.

When Cutler heard about it, rather than take up the challenge and prove McDaniels wrong, he couldn't believe anyone would dare question his ability and forced a trade out of town.

The Bears knew all this, and while smart to get Cutler, they've done him a disservice by doing nothing since acquiring him to improve his work habits, mechanics, image as a teammate and demeanor, which leads many to think ill of him.

Instead of Angelo letting Cutler know when he landed in Chicago that he needed to change all of the above, the Bears have only spoiled him, publicly condemning any questions about him, while Smith enables bratty behavior by encouraging the incorrigible.

They quickly extended his contract, fired offensive coaches he wouldn't speak to, and two years later Cutler is the same quarterback while possessing the same image, and that makes him an easy target to be called soft by those who dislike him.

That's because he and the Bears have banked no usable public-relations capital.

Smith's arrogance implies the record of a man who makes the playoffs every year and competes for the Super Bowl, but his approach to the public belies his three postseason appearances in seven years, a 3-3 playoff record and precisely zero Super Bowl victories.

Yet, Smith has as much use for his media appearances as you would the crud you scrape off your shoe in a dog run.

And you don't think his players learn from that and take their cues from his attitude?

It's relevant because in the closely controlled NFL world, there are precious few chances to project an image to the fans, and Smith and Cutler only bruise theirs each time they act like children in front of the cameras.

Smith did it again Monday with his stubborn and insane explanation of why Todd Collins was No. 2, and why he still thinks that was the right choice.

His anger toward being questioned is a perfect example. How dare you not trust him, or question someone who has won as many Super Bowls as Smith, right?

If the head coach behaves in such a manner, why wouldn't Cutler?

No, the Bears haven't helped Cutler, just as they failed to manage the situation Sunday.

Do the Bears realize there are TV cameras in NFL stadiums, not to mention reporters and fans with binoculars?

Cutler alternated between looking disinterested and looking completely healthy.

He mostly sat on the bench when he should have been on crutches or in the locker room.

Even in defending him Monday the Bears failed to properly quantify the MCL sprain by refusing to call it a tear, when any time that ligament is stretched — by definition — there is some tearing of fibers.

Now, are some of these things stupid? Absolutely. But they also are tangible and relevant because they further perceptions or change them.

“We're in the perception business,” Angelo told the media Monday, before doing a 180. “We don't create perception. You create perceptions.”

No, Jerry, you do. Lovie does. Jay does. The Bears do.

“I think Jay,” Angelo said, “handles what comes with the territory very well.”

No, Jerry, he doesn't, because you haven't forced him to or given him the tools to do it.

The Bears have never weighed such issues during the Angelo/Smith era, and they've done Cutler no favors by ignoring the problem, something we fully expect to continue.

Again, what happened to Cutler on Sunday was patently unfair. It's the worst kind of indictment. It was cruel and highly unusual.

I've seen few NFL QBs take the beating Cutler took in 2010 and stay upright long enough to play into the postseason.

To question his toughness or the severity of his injury is beyond idiocy. It's illogical in the face of so much evidence to the contrary, after a season in which he got his clocked cleaned scores of times.

But maybe the verbal beating he took Sunday wouldn't have happened had the Bears managed Cutler's image better the last couple of years.

Maybe players around the league wouldn't dislike the Bears QB so much, maybe fans wouldn't be so quick to disdain, and maybe people wouldn't have been lying in the weeds waiting for the first chance to call out someone who so clearly induces irritation around the NFL and around the country.

The point the Bears have missed, and Smith admitted surprise Monday, is how many people don't like Cutler and couldn't wait to pound on him.

It's probably too much to hope now that they know about it that they'll do something about it.

brozner@dailyherald.com