Monday, Jan. 24, 2011
Posted 10:42 a.m.Updated 2:24 p.m.
By John Mullin
CSNChicago.com
The injury to Jay Cutlers left knee, coach Lovie Smith said Monday, is a sprained medial collateral ligament, suffered late in the first half of the Bears 21-14 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game Sunday.
It is an injury that can take as little as two weeks to recover from, or as long as six and does not automatically require surgery in every individual. Cutler is not expected to have surgery but a full determination will be made based on an MRI exam done Monday.
Cutler left the locker room Sunday night as a firestorm grew around whether or not he should have or could have played through the injury. His coach wasnt having any of it.
READ: Can Cutler fully recover from 'quitting' perception?
Jay didnt take himself out of the game so if you want to attack somebody, you should be attacking me as the head football coach, and our medical staff, Smith said. Were the ones. He wanted to go back in. He was injured and went back in in the second half so I see it the complete opposite of how its being portrayed right now.
NFL
Cutler left the sideline earlier than the rest of the team just before the end of the half and was taken to the locker room. One source told CSNChicago.com that Cutler took medication for pain and received treatment but the coaches and medical staff initially said he was not going to play in the second half.
Cutler convinced coaches to let him start the second half. But the first series produced nothing and Cutler was removed for the remainder of the game.
We all made the decision then that he couldnt go, Smith said. We took him in at the half to try to work on him, which we did. We got the treatment at halftime, didnt know for sure if he would be able to go.
WATCH: Urlacher sounds off
Jay wanted to go and tried to go the second half as he went back in that first series. You never want a player to be out on the football field if he cant protect himself and cant perform his duties during the game.
Back off
The spate of Twitter posts from NFL players criticizing or questioning Cutler surprised Smith. And it bothered him.
I havent seen it before, Smith said. Seems like if you were in that fraternity you would be stepping up for you fellow man, especially when you dont know whats going on.
For guys to take a shot, who were there, to look at his body language and figure out whether he was hurt because he was on the sideline or what I would do in that situation, you dont know what you would do in that situation. The guys who know what he was going through were the guys on the sideline. Go to our players and you can see exactly what went on. So I have no questions about any of that, or our football team."
Longer contract?
Smith has one year remaining on the contract extension he signed in 2007 in the wake of the teams Super Bowl run. The 5.5 million salary places him among the higher-paid head coaches in the league at a time when salaries are beginning to nose down along with the experience levels of new hires this offseason.
The collective bargaining situation between the league and the players association has not improved publicly, with the current pact set to expire Mar. 4. Teams, including the Bears, have been reluctant to make major financial moves with the uncertainty and Smith is not expected to get an extension beyond possibly a year or two added at relatively the same money.
Not a problem for Smith at this point.
WATCH: Lovie Smith irritated with Cutler doubters
I love being the head football coach of the Chicago Bears every day I've been here and hope to be there for many years to come, was all he would say on the subject of his contract.
His staff could undergo some changes as new head coaches hire staffs. Smith is unlikely to stand in the way of staff members winning promotions even if it means leaving Chicago.
I think when you have a successful year, you do some good things, people look at your staff, Smith said. I wouldn't be surprised at some changes. I'm hoping that we'll be able to keep our same staff in place, but it seems like that never happens. But again I'm hopeful well be able to keep everyone around.
John "Moon" Mullin is CSNChicago.com's Bears Insider, and appears regularly on Bears Postgame Live and Chicago Tribune Live. Follow Moon on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Bears information.