You think Jay Cutler quit on his team? I think you quit on the notion of not being an idiot.

As I'm writing this, it is being reported that Bears quarterback Jay Cutler likely tore his MCL in Chicago's loss to the Green Bay Packers in today's NFC Championship game and it's going to get the exact opposite reaction than the one it should. Here's what people are going to say: "Phew, that let's Cutler off the hook for not playing the second half of the game." But in actuality, the fact this his injury turned out to be serious is going to end up letting the idiots off the hook who immediately chastised Cutler as they saw him watching the game from the sidelines and called him a quitter. People like Maurice Jones-Drew and Darnell Dockett and the countless other morons who called Cutler soft are going to be forgiven because they'll get to apologize for "jumping to conclusions."

But the truth is, if you assumed for even a second that Cutler wasn't doing everything in his power to convince Bears management and the Bears medical staff to let him get back into the game, then you don't deserve to be let off the hook. When you look at what he's gone through this past season, you could easily make the argument that he's one of the toughest players in the NFL. You try playing behind that offensive line in Mike Martz's offense where five-step drops are commonplace. You try taking as many sacks and hits and knock-downs as Cutler did and still come out every game and just keep letting it happen over and over again. Hell, Cutler is probably too selfless to a fault. Back in Week 5, Cutler sustained a concussion against the onslaught of the New York Giants pass rush and still kept playing even though it was clearly affecting his judgment and decision-making. If anything, Cutler hurt his team because he cared too much about helping them.

Today's incident wasn't much different. Severals Bears players and coaches have come forward to defend Cutler and said he begged to be let back into the game after the first series of the second half proved that he wasn't physically able to plant his back foot securely enough to be effective. Even with his pretty poor pre-injury first half performance, it sure as hell wasn't going to get any better for a guy who basically was going to be forced to eliminate all lateral movement. (And for those who say that if he was able to put weight on the knee on the sideline, he should have been able to play in the game, well, that's just stupid. I've never torn a ligament, but I'm pretty sure it's a very different ball of wax playing an intensely fast-paced sport on an injured knee than it is standing motionless.)

The one argument a lot of people keep coming back to is to point out that Philip Rivers once played on a torn ACL, but those people seem to forget that Rivers was horrendous in that game, going 19 of 37 with no touchdowns and two picks. It was a dumb decision on the part of the Chargers coaching staff to let Rivers play and they deserved the outcome they received. You have to give Lovie Smith credit today: he chose to act in what he thought was the best interest of his team and not the best interest of the potential hit his actions might have on a player's reputation. (Now if you want to argue about some of Smith's other decision-making today, have at it.)

And that's really where all of this "media frenzy" about today's game starts: Cutler's reputation. He is hated by everyone. And I can understand why, even if I don't think the reason is very logical. He's not a very media-friendly player even though he plays at a position where most guys are. This leads to two major scenarios. First, you get reporters and columnists feeling slighted by Cutler's indifference and react by writing unfavorable articles and columns about him (see Rick Reilly's poorly-written and -researched recent expose on the man). Second, you get the average fan buying into these unwarranted criticisms and thus a bad reputation is born.

But if you're a real football fan and you care more about whether your quarterback is likable than if he's a good player, then guess what? You've been living a lie because you aren't a real football fan; you're a soap opera viewer.

You know why I like Jay Cutler? It's because if he's not the very best quarterback the Chicago Bears have ever had, he's undoubtedly in the top three. And for all of the Sid Luckmans and George Blandas of the world who were well before my time, Cutler is easily the best QB I've had the pleasure to watch play in my lifetime. And yet, the hatred for him runs through even some of the most die-hard Bears fans.

Is Jay Cutler perfect? No. Is he an elite, top-tier quarterback. Not at all. Is he very good, nonetheless? Absolutely. I don't really understand how a real Bears fan can dislike Cutler after living with specimen like Jonathan Quinn and Craig Krenzel and Kordell Stewart and Shane Matthews and Rick Mirer behind the center. Even the QBs who had shown moderate success like Jim Miller, Rex Grossman, and Kyle Orton all paled in comparison to the talent that Cutler displays every Sunday. I choose to value actual concrete, tangible skills and athleticism over opinion-based critiques like attitude and leadership. Sure, it wouldn't hurt if Cutler improved in those areas, but it would hurt if we returned to the Henry Burris "glory" days of no-talent signal-callers.

And, Jesus, even if you put all the stock in the world into those intangible elements like grit, heart, and go-getterness, it's pretty disgusting that a guy like Cutler is labeled a pariah for at worst being kind of a jerk when an alleged rapist like Ben Roethlisberger is heralded as a leader.

In general, though, it's fairly easy to ignore the flack Cutler receives for his less-than-genial demeanor because why should I hold stock in another fan's opinion of a player quality or attribute that I hold little stock in to begin with. But, even though I want to also ignore the vile attacks set upon Cutler after he was forced to leave today's game against his will, when I read through my Facebook and Twitter feeds I get angry all the same.

This Bears team that most had pegged as a .500 team at best just made it the NFC Championship game and one of the main reason that came to be was because Jay Cutler toughed out getting his body pulverized by defenses each and every week and still put up excellent numbers. I for one don't want to take for granted the effort and skills our quarterback puts forth for this team, and it saddens me to see so many other supposed Bears fans all to willing to do that.