The Jay Cutler leadership argument is something Chicago Bears fans had to endure for almost a decade. Nobody could be entirely sure whether this guy was the real deal. Did he have the charisma and psychological understanding to get other football players to follow him? Some teammates have sworn people misjudge him. That he’s a great person to have in the huddle.
If this were true then why did so many others take the opportunity to slam him the moment they left Chicago? Brandon Marshall, Martellus Bennett and Antrel Rolle among others didn’t hold back in their criticisms. There’s just a lot of inconsistency there. Some claim he’s a good leader. Others basically fall one step short of calling him every name in the naughty book.
Jay Cutler leadership came down to treatment
It wasn’t until Cutler decided to hang up his cleats that some clarification came out. Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune spoke with a former teammate of Cutler’s. His statement was short, but more than a little enlightening.
Had a teammate who genuinely liked Jay tell me this once, "He thinks everybody else is an idiot. That's the baseline he works off."
— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) May 5, 2017
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That felt like an accurate judgment. It will be interesting to see how Cutler's TV persona comes across and evolves.
— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) May 5, 2017
This is in fact a perfect explanation as to why Cutler is so divisive. Some people have thick skin. They probably can tell Jay isn’t that bad a person even when he treats them like they’re dumb. Others? Not so much. They want their leader to be encouraging, to lift them up. Treating them like some meathead who never read a book in his life isn’t exactly the best path to such things.
Then again charisma and camaraderie were not two words ever associated with Jay. He had his clique of friends, his inner circle of guys he’d roll with. Greg Olsen and Kyle Long being two notables. Outside of them? It can be easy finding many former teammates who didn’t care for him. Not just in Chicago but all the way back to his days in Denver.
A common theme with human beings this day and age is they don’t like being treated stupid. It seems Cutler ignored that warning sign just like he ignored a lot of keys to playing the quarterback position at a high level.
