Thread: Cutler suffers Concussion

Time's up for Cutler, Bears QBs

By Mike Imrem |



was only a matter of time, and Jay Cutler's time was up Sunday night.The Bears' quarterback couldn't make it out of the locker room for the second half at New Meadowlands Stadium.
The Giants' offense was almost as futile as the Bears' was in this ugly game but it was more than enough for a 17-3 victory.

Cutler's diagnosis was a concussion. It could have been a knee. Or a shoulder. Or an internal organ.
Most of all it could have been all of the above.

"You can only take so much," Bears head coach Lovie Smith said, "and tonight was a little too much for him."
At least Bears fans didn't have to witness Cutler stumbling around disoriented, falling to the ground and having to be steered to the sideline. He just couldn't answer roll call after intermission.

Meanwhile, Todd Collins, Cutler's replacement, was hammered to the ground in the second half and had to be attended to before walking off into the night. Overall the Bears' protection clearly was hazardous to a quarterback's health on this night.

Cutler was out of sight and maybe out of mind his when the announcement came that he was finished for the evening.

What a loss this was. Even Bears defensive stars like Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs had started referring to Cutler as the face of the franchise.

If the face of the quarterback must be Collins for a while, well, he isn't likely to survive a game if the younger, more mobile, previously more durable Cutler couldn't survive this one.

Anyway, the question isn't how this happened to Cutler. The question is what took so long for it to happen. How did he survive all of last season, his first with the Bears, and the first three games of this season?

Then came the knockout blow: The Giants sacked Cutler nine times in the first half and hit him eight more times. The Giants' pass rush poured through Bears' tight ends, through backs, through the interior of the offensive line, through here, through there, through everywhere.

To be fair, only sometimes was the blocking at fault. Sometimes the Giants' coverage was and sometimes Cutler was for holding the ball too long.

The hope was it would take more than three full games and half of another to experience the flip side of Mike Martz. The genius offensive coordinator is known for treating sacks like they are minor inconvenience rather than harmful to quarterbacks.

Could Martz be blamed for this onslaught? Who knows? Perhaps no coordinator could have protected this quarterback from that attack.

However, the combination was risky from the start: An offensive coordinator who often leaves his quarterback exposed and an offensive line not adequate enough to compensate.

So Cutler wound up with a concussion. Maybe it isn't as serious as it sounds. Maybe the Bears will have their starting quarterback back sooner than later.

"If he's healthy and ready to go, he'll be out there like all our guys," Smith said.
But if Cutler is lost for long and one concussion often leads to another and another the Bears' encouraging 3-1 record will be moot.

Have a seat, Jay

After nine sacks and a concussion, Cutler needs more than one week to recover


EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- If Jay Cutler plays next week in Carolina, it won't be a victory.

Forget the final score, it'll be a loss for him and a loss for football players everywhere.

The Bears lost to the Giants 17-3 on Sunday, but the more important score is 9-1. That's nine sacks taken and one concussion for Cutler.


Nine sacks in one half, seven coming in the second quarter alone. You had to see it to believe it. Cutler only attempted 11 passes in the half. Of his seven second-quarter sacks, he fumbled three times, losing one

The Bears couldn't be sure what sack resulted in the injury. And that's the saddest indictment of a bad offensive line and an offense still finding its way, despite what the two first games showed us. When you have to watch film to see which sack ended your star quarterback's night, because there's so much to choose from, you better make some changes.


Maybe it was one of Osi Umenyiora's three sacks. Maybe it was one of Justin Tuck's three. Aaron Ross' corner blitz was the last one Cutler endured and he seemed slow to get up after it.


Thankfully, the NFL and its rabid fanbases are more educated than ever on concussions, and after the beating Cutler took at the New Meadowlands Stadium, even the most diehard Grawboski should want to give the quarterback an extra week of rest. If not more.


Cutler is tough, but he's human. And after all the harping on how his porous line was going to get him killed, it would be nice to be wrong on that one.


Details were sparse after the game, as they usually are. Cutler didn't meet with the media. Thanks to recent reforms, he will have to pass a battery of tests, and meet with an independent doctor, to earn the right to play.

I saw general manager Jerry Angelo walking late in the night in the lower confines of the stadium and as I sidled up to him, he said curtly, "I'm not in the mood to talk, partner."


Bears coach Lovie Smith wouldn't rule Cutler out of next week's game against the Panthers, but I'm going to guess Cutler sits for at least a game, especially after the recent precedent set when they benched linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer after suffering a concussion in the preseason.

If he plays, it's a shame.

We'll see," Smith said. "Jay didn't finish the game, that's all we know. We know what type of competitor he is. If he's healthy and ready to go, of course he'll be back out there, like all of them will."


Healthy has a different meaning in the NFL. But there's no way to gloss over the way Cutler was abused by the Giants' ravenous pass rush.


"It's tough to see anyone get hit like that, especially our quarterback," Brian Urlacher said. "He didn't go back in, so it's probably not good."


The Bears' 3-0 start was earned, but was also the result of making the most out of some fortune. Their luck ran out Sunday night, and it was an ugly reversal, like watching a formerly hot gambler throw craps for three straight hours.

This week, there were no arcane rules to rely on, no sloppy teams willing to give away a game with dumb penalties. The Bears were beaten up on offense and worn down on defense by a desperate New York team playing before its "Ring of Honor" initiates.

The NFL is a humbling business," center Olin Kreutz said. "Those guys are great players across the way, but sometimes you get your [butt] kicked. We did tonight."


On Cutler's last dropback just before the half ended, he was nailed by Ross, hardly the biggest hitter on the team. Cutler's toughness is well-known, but he had trouble getting up after that hit, squirming on his back before a final handoff.


You have to wonder why he was passing at all, given the Bears were on their own 19-yard line with less than a minute to play. Those previous eight sacks weren't incidental. Maybe if the Bears had a better backup than a 38-year-old they signed off his couch, Cutler would've been pulled earlier.


Mike Martz's coaching calls should get the talk radio treatment this week. There were seemingly no adjustments as Cutler continued to drop back time and time again, looking discombobulated and uncomfortable. The Bears chipped and brought in extra tight ends, to no avail. Sometimes you just have to judge the players' performances, not the coaches.


"We did make adjustments," Smith said. "Sometimes they just don't work."

For all the criticism the offensive line has gotten the past two seasons, Cutler shares in the blame, even if he has to take the brunt of the pain. He showed an alarming lack of pocket awareness, even when scrambling for his life.

That's how it goes for Cutler. When he's good, he's great, and when he's bad, he's consistently awful. Last year, he was sacked 35 times, and again, you can't blame it all on the line.


"It's hard to say [it was Cutler's fault]," Smith said. "You saw the pressure he was under. When you get a sack, it's a combination of a lot of things. Tonight before we evaluate the video, we're going to say it's all of the above. You've got to get rid of the ball quicker, we've got to block better, put them in better situations. None of us did a good enough job to win the football game."


The Bears' defense broke down late, but it kept them in the game, holding the Giants to a 3-0 lead at the half. They forced seven three-and-out drives and forced two fumbles and recovered another. Smith said he would've liked to have seen more takeaways. While the Bears gave up Ahmad Bradshaw's 129 rushing yards, only 47 came in the first half.


With Todd Collins in for Cutler in the third, the Bears' defense would've had to play above 2006 standards for this team to win.


The sky hasn't fallen on the Bears, who are, of course, 3-1. But the Bears had won their first three in spite of recurring problems, and those flaws came back to haunt them in the swamp.


The non-existent running game, the bad line play, the defense's inability to get consistent pressure on the quarterback. All played part in the loss.

Martz's offense, despite putting up great numbers in the first two games, has yet to yield a consistent rushing effort, thus negating the play-action, and forcing an all-or-nothing passing scheme.


"In the NFL, you get humbled like this," Kreutz said. "If you're good team, you bounce back. If you can't, you go into a spiral."


Last year, the Bears went into a spiral after a 3-1 start. Will this year's team be able to bounce back?


I'm willing to throw away next week's game in Carolina for Cutler's health. But when Cutler comes back, assuming he does this season, we're going to have to see some changes offensively for this team to succeed. This game's complete offensive collapse (110 yards, 0 for 13 on third downs) proved that the offense is a work in progress. It's going to be a long week in Lake Forest, and I'm curious to see what happens next.


Jon Greenberg is a columnist for ESPNChicago.com.

he plays, it's a shame.

We'll see," Smith said. "Jay didn't finish the game, that's all we know. We know what type of competitor he is. If he's healthy and ready to go, of course he'll be back out there, like all of them will."

think *anyone* making conclusions NOW is plain silly.

We don't even know if its really a concussion or if serious( granted when his head hit the turf on that play at end of 1/2 makes sense), and to already be talking like anyone knows or has a medical opinion about it, just being ill informed. Jay the franchise Qb, and erroring on the side of caution last night makes total sense after that beating- but if no lingering affects during the week( or if just plain beat up and being cauctious last night), See no reason to not Start him against the Panthers

Originally Posted by draw2anderson35

Could it have been some diabetic issue? He seemed off from the beginning of the game.

Always hate bringing that up- but it has to always be a concern unfort... esp as he does seem to be "off" on many night games.. there may be 'some" bio-metric issues there

Originally Posted by loki520

Hate to tell 'em, but there is NO SUCH THING as a concussion that "isn't as serious as it sounds". They often have cumulative effects.

"Maybe" this is what happens when you expect the cheap combo lock to protect your Rolex.

and this is why we have one of the shittiest gms in football. His lackluster drafting of olinemen has sunk us the past three seasons. He usually depends on other teams left overs in FA but with that dried up we have undrafted and 7th round practice squad players on the oline. In the meantime every DT he has drafted and wasted picks on suck.