Jay Cutler Should Be Fined for His Disappearing Act

Watching professional football with my family is a ritual as it is for millions across the nation. What I saw yesterday during the Chicago Bears game, however, almost made me rethink my football fandom and how my family spends its Sunday afternoons. Again… almost.

Jay Cutler threw an interception, got stiff armed into the turf on the return for a touchdown and then, simply, disappeared. The upside of this is that it offered me an opportunity to provide a most valuable lesson to my two young boys.

That lesson is this: things may not always work out in your favor but you never, ever, up and abandon your team. There will be moments in your life when you fail (or others fail you) but you don’t give up — you don’t simply don’t hide in the locker room, or in a bar, or anywhere else where you might be unavailable to the people who need you the most and, more importantly, when they need you the most.

Everyone has a bad day from time to time, but the fact that Cutler failed to return to the sideline after his injury was the worst kind of example to set; not just for the kids who are football fans, but everyone. Could Jimmy Clausen have benefited from Cutler’s presence? Yes. How about the receivers? Yes. How about the fans? Again… yes.

What’s most disconcerting is that Cutler’s professional colleague Tony Romo fractured his collarbone in the Dallas game and still managed to return to the field. That’s the example that should have been set by Cutler and it’s what I used as an example of what should happen when things don’t turn out the way you want.

I ask that coach John Fox, GM Ryan Pace, and the McCaskey family serious consider fining Jay Cutler the equivalent of one game’s pay and that whatever amount that is be donated to some charity.

Cutler is a captain of the Chicago Bears and he needs to start acting like one — if that is not obvious to him or he can’t muster the enthusiasm to do that on his own, it’s time to force him and the best way to do that is to make him give up part of the salary that represents the Chicago Bears commitment to him.