LAKE FOREST | It's as imminent as Julius Peppers smothering a quarterback on blown coverage.
You just know someone in the TV broadcast booth will take a jab at Jay Cutler when his Bears are playing in prime time. And Monday night's game with Detroit is no exception.
CBS analyst Phil Simms recently was asked who'd he'd prefer to be his starting quarterback: Cutler or the Lions' Matthew Stafford.
"I mean this as a compliment but (Cutler is) mean. He’s an angry guy. And I think angry is a big part of being a quarterback in the NFL,” Simms said.
Fox pre-game panelist Terry Bradshaw made it personal before the Jacksonville game by looking straight into the studio cameras and delivering a curt message to Cutler.
"You know you've got millions of people watching. If I were you, I would learn how to be a little bit nicer. I'd like to like you, but right now I don't like you," Bradshaw said.
"Grow up, young man."
Cutler's weekly press conference Thursday was shortened when media began dwelling on his critics and not the Bears' NFC North showdown with the Lions.
"It is what it is. I'm gonna play my brand of football and let the cards fall where they may," Cutler said.
Did he mind Simms' comments?
"(Anger) gives you a certain edge out there as quarterback and I'm not gonna take that away from what he said," Cutler added. "Everyone's got an opinion. That's the world we live in.
"That's why you guys are all in this room. That's why you get paid to do your job -- it's to have opinions. But they are opinions. They're not facts."
Were Bradshaw's comments hurtful?
"Some are personal. Some are over the line," Cutler said, his patience being tested. "Like I said, everyone's gonna have opinions. I can't internally process each and every one of 'em.
"I've got to worry about winning games on Sunday and the guys in the locker room."
When a writer attempted to expand on the Simms-Bradshaw comments, Cutler ended his media session and walked away.
Wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who has a positive history with Cutler, quickly came to his defense.
"There's so many different news outlets today to sell papers or have better ratings that sometimes you have to get the juicy stories and negative stuff," Marshall said.
"Jay is guarded because he plays with his emotions on his sleeve. I think he's misunderstood and I love it because the bigger the light, the bigger impact you can make."
Marshall believes Cutler will have the last laugh.
"I just can't wait to see, when it's all said and done, the legacy he leaves behind and how the stories are gonna be written differently," Marshall said.
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