Rozner: Another look at Brady does Cutler no favors

Most football fans have a favorite Tom Brady memory - unless their team has lost a Super Bowl to him.

For everyone else, maybe it's one of those three rings. Perhaps, it's one of the five conference championships he's won with the Patriots. Maybe it's one of the eight appearances in the AFC title game.

Just say that out loud and think about it for a moment. Eight conference championship games in 12 years, excluding the season he missed with a knee injury.

Maybe it's a certain play among his 51,000 yards passing, or a particular touchdown pass among his 377.

There is a more subtle memory that sums up pretty much everything about one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history and one of the greatest leaders the league has ever known.

It's from a December 2010 game at Soldier Field between the 9-3 Bears and the 10-2 Pats.

In a blizzard, Jay Cutler threw for 152 yards and 2 interceptions with a 32.9 QB rating. Brady threw for 369 yards and 2 touchdowns with a 113.4 QB rating.

Same blizzard.

After every possession, Cutler went to the sideline and grabbed a parka, ski hat and snow mittens. He looked like he'd rather be anywhere but on a football field.

Brady never took off his helmet and never put on a coat. He simply sat on the bench with his teammates and discussed the next possession.

"We're very comfortable in whatever conditions we have to play in because we practice in it every day," Brady said. "If it snows, we practice in it. If it's windy, we practice. If it rains, we practice.

"They don't cancel football games very often. This isn't baseball. You're out there in the elements and you've got to be mentally tough enough to play in them."

Occasionally, Brady would pick up a ball and play catch, keeping his arm warm and his body ready. Cutler sat in front of a heater.

"It's one of those days that people would rather be cozied up near the fireplace, drinking hot chocolate," Brady said. "But we work on Sundays and all of us are pretty committed to coming out here and trying to execute in tough conditions."

Maybe body language doesn't impact every player, but there are leaders and there are followers, and those that need to be led look to those leading the charge for direction and confidence.

Some guys inspire. Others don't. This is a fact.

"You don't see behind closed doors what he does," defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said in 2013. "You don't see what he does with film study, with how he takes younger guys aside, or how he takes a group of guys, showing them how they want to do things a certain way.

"I mean, he's still working on his footwork and all types of stuff. It's just little things. He is always going that extra mile to make sure he is in the best shape and putting his teammates in the best situation that can give us a chance to win."

Four years later, Brady is still Brady and Cutler is still Cutler.

When receiver Brandon LaFell signed as free agent with New England last off-season, Brady had LaFell lockered next to him. Cutler lockers next to his caddie.

When Brady left the stadium Sunday night after a blowout win, he brought home a bag of tapes on Denver, the Pats' next opponent.

During a news conference Monday designed to calm the masses - which served mostly to remind fans that Phil Emery and Marc Trestman sound delusional when discussing their players' talent and performance - Trestman said the bye week would not be a vacation.

Perhaps Cutler brought home a bag of DVDs on Green Bay, though that has not generally been his style, and therein rests another huge difference.

So Brady seeks to become the first quarterback to start six Super Bowls, a record he currently shares at five with John Elway, while Cutler has played a grand total of six quarters in the postseason.

It is obviously not all on Cutler, not this year or any year. He hasn't played on one team yet as good as any of Brady's five Super Bowl teams and he hasn't had the same level of coaching, not by any stretch.

But when you watch Brady work and play, you see a remarkable contrast.

If the comparison to a Hall of Famer is unfair, Cutler is at least being paid as one of the elite quarterbacks in the game and there's nothing about him that appears elite, with the exception of the great physical gifts he was given.

With virtually none of the same athleticism, Brady was a sixth-round pick and 199th overall in 2000. Cutler was the 11th pick of the first round in 2006.

That seems like such a long time ago now, and having taken very different paths the two remain worlds apart.

• Hear Barry Rozner on WSCR 670-AM and follow him at @BarryRozner on Twitter.