Hanie now controls how we will value Cutler’s importance

Caleb Hanie’s primary assignment the next several weeks is to keep Jay Cutler from seeming to be the best quarterback in NFL history.

Isn’t that often what happens when an athlete is injured? Doesn’t the perception of him depend on how his team plays without him?

If Hanie flushes the Bears down the toilet, Cutler will look like an MVP candidate. If Hanie continues the Bears’ roll, Cutler will look expendable even though he isn’t.

Maybe both those scenarios are extreme, but Cutler’s popularity does figure to grow or slow while his injured throwing thumb heals.

It’s a function of the age-old question, “How can we miss you if you never go away?” Cutler is gone, figures to be missed, but how much depends on Hanie.

Cutler’s status already was rising as he grew as a quarterback this season.

But Cutler will be appreciated more than ever if the Bears struggle without him.

Judging by the accolades already being directed at Cutler, he’ll rank with John Elway, Brett Favre and Joe Montana as the NFL’s best quarterbacks of the past half-century.

“He’s everything people think he’s not,” teammate Brian Urlacher said Monday.

This is a good time to ponder what people have thought of Cutler since the Bears acquired him in 2009.

Off the field: Gloomy rather than happy, insufferable rather than personable, humorless rather than fun-loving. On the field: Erratic rather than consistent, inaccurate rather than accurate, bad fit rather than fitting in.

“He gets a bad rap for no reason,” Urlacher said.

This season Cutler’s play won over most of his critics. Before being injured he was on the way toward winning over the rest.

“Jay has been having an outstanding year,” Bears head coach Lovie Smith noted at his weekly media briefing.

The biggest change of all was the general recognition that Cutler is the leader of the Bears’ offense, if not of the entire team.

When veteran center Olin Kreutz left via free agency, the Bears’ leadership role shifted to where it rests on most teams: the quarterback. Despite how outsiders viewed Cutler, Bears players tried even before this year to tell people that Cutler was a leader.

Urlacher shouts it now, and the point likely will be reiterated during the weeks that Coach Cutler — as Smith describes him in his current role — mentors Hanie in team meetings, the locker room and games.

“People underestimate what a big leader he is,” Urlacher said. “He does a great job. He says things (that need to be said). He’s going to be missed however long he’s going to be out.”

Oh, yeah, then there’s the toughness issue that stalked Cutler after he left last season’s NFC championship game with a bum knee.

Due to the dubious perception of Cutler throughout the league, he was an easy target for players on other teams to portray as soft.

It was false then and should be more clearly false now after Cutler continued to play against the Chargers with a broken thumb.

In reality, Cutler probably resides somewhere between what his detractors say and what his supporters say.

Now it’s up to Hanie to play well enough for the “Cutler for Sainthood” campaign from gathering momentum.

The Bears’ playoff hopes depend on whether Hanie aces this assignment.