Who is Jay Cutler? Good question
Getting to know Jay Cutler appears to be the goal this week, at least for some out-of-towners who have strained the capacity of the pressroom at Halas Hall. (Think bigger than a breadbox but not big enough to swing a cat.)
Getting up close and personal with Cutler won't be an easy job.
He's playing in his first postseason game since high school, having taken an “oh-fer” at Vanderbilt and missed out in his first four seasons in the NFL. He was asked if leading a team to the playoffs would change the way he was viewed by fans.
“I don't know,” Cutler said. “I don't worry about that.”
Later he was asked how many people in the overcrowded room “really” knew him.
“Um, I don't know,” he said. “You would have to poll these guys, I guess.”
After two media representatives, playing along, raised their hands, Cutler cracked, “Right there. There's one. Two.”
Cutler was asked how he knew that.
“Because they raised their hands,” he said, drawing laughs, and then explaining, “I don't hang out with anybody in this room on a regular basis except for Wednesday press conferences. So I'm sure it's kind of hard to get to know somebody within a 10-minute weekly press conference.”
Cutler was asked if his public image was true to who he really is.
“I don't worry about that,” he said. “I don't know what my public image is.”
Striking out with the quarterback, the search for the real Jay Cutler continued with his teammates.
“I probably know him better than y'all do,” running back Matt Forte said. “He's probably the opposite of what you guys portray him to be. I think Jay's a good guy. He comes to work every day to work hard. A lot of guys get this perception of Jay as arrogant or whatever. But I think he's the opposite of that.”
Tight end Greg Olsen is tight with Cutler, so he was a natural target.
Before he grew exasperated by the line of questioning, Olsen said: “I think people will form their opinions on other people based off a lot of misinformation and whatnot. But no one on this team, including Jay, is really too concerned with that. He's our guy, he's our quarterback, we all believe in him, he's our leader, and he's a great teammate. All that (other) stuff is not even a question around here with the players.”
Time well spent:
In the first meeting between the Bears and Seahawks, the Seahawks had the advantage of an extra week's worth of preparation, since they were coming off their bye. This time the Bears get an extra week.
Offensive players are confident that coordinator Mike Martz will put the extra time to good use.
“He gets a better feel for what they're going to do in certain situations, which in turn gives him an advantage in calling plays,” said quarterback Jay Cutler. “In third down and red zone, or second-and-long, he can see things, and he can dial some stuff up that he might be hesitant to call if he doesn't see enough film on them.”
Martz also has a much better feel for his own personnel than he did three months ago in the first meeting.
“Coach Martz is one of the best in the world at what he does,” center Olin Kreutz said. “If you give him an extra week to prepare for somebody, it's going to show.”
Shaky finish:
The Seahawks lost seven of nine games before defeating the Rams 16-6 in Week 17 to sneak into the playoffs as the NFC West champions. Of those final seven losses, three were to playoff teams (Saints, Chiefs and Falcons) and two others were to the Giants and Bucs, both of whom finished 10-6 and narrowly missed the postseason. But the one common denominator that stands out in all seven losses is that every one of them was by at least 15 points. Two of the losses were by 30 points or more.
Health beat:
Cornerback Charles Tillman was the only player the Bears listed on the injury report. He did not participate in Wednesday's practice inside the Walter Payton Center because of an illness but is expected back today and to start Sunday's game.
For the Seahawks, middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu was held out because of a concussion suffered last week, but he is expected to play Sunday.