Former Bears Teammate Has Two Words for Jay Cutler

Jay Cutler was probably the most polarizing Chicago Bears player in the past 30 years. That's not an exaggeration. The former quarterback had people who loved him and people who hated him. It was the same down the line from the coaching staff, to the locker room, to the fans. There was never a middle ground with him.

That played out his entire career. Just look at the record. He was 51-51 in the regular season as a starter. He was 1-1 in the playoffs as a starter. His career passer rating in Chicago was 85.2, which was right around the league average of that time period. Cutler wasn't an easy guy to like but it was also difficult to hate him entirely. He was that frustrating.

Perhaps no man put it in context better than Sherrick McManis. The Bears cornerback was there for the entire second half of Cutler's career in Chicago from 2012 to 2016. So he got a good feel for who the man was as a player, person, and teammate. His description to Adam Jahns of The Athletic? Pretty dead on.

Jay Cutler: “Patience and heart.”

Patience? Please explain.

“You’ve got to be patient with Jay,” McManis said. “Or I would say, a book. He’s like a book. The cover, you see it, but the more you open up and read him, the better it is with Jay.”

Or he’s like an onion.

“There’s many layers to him,” McManis added.

Jay Cutler was moody and erratic but also courageous

It is hard to top that. Such a simple explanation but also 100% correct. Cutler wasn't easy to get along with. It took effort. Something a lot of people felt they shouldn't have to give him since he was supposed to be the leader of the team. Yet the guy was who he was. He was a unique personality who had his moods and could be hard to predict, both on and off the field.

Yet this is also the guy who put his body on the line in countless situations, taking tons of hits and sacks every week behind some awful offensive lines and never complaining. Cutler was a warrior. If shows like Game of Thrones teach anything, it's that warriors can be loved and hated at the same time. That is the nature of their existence.