Jay Cutler returned last week amidst a cauldron of questions over whether or not he should have regained the Chicago Bears' starting quarterback job from Josh McCown.
Cutler admitted that he felt pressure to perform well in his Week 15 start against the Cleveland Browns.
"Everyone's human in this building," Cutler said Thursday, per the Chicago Sun-Times. "Another reason to acknowledge it is the guys did such a great job of handling it. Another reason you want to acknowledge it is we were able to hear it, deal with it in our own certain way and move on and get the job done on Sunday."
The pressure partially explains the wobbly start to Cutler's day, in which he threw two first-halfinterceptions. Still, he was able to rally in the second half, making throws down the stretch that notched the victory.
"Last week was a tough week with everything surrounding it, the implications of the game, if we did lose the game, having to walk into the media room and deal with you guys if we did lose," he told the media. "All those things weigh on you. So being able to move on from that, I think this week is a tougher week game plan-wise for us, but we should be up for the challenge Sunday."
The win over the Browns vaulted the Bears into the NFC North lead. They now control their own playoff probabilities in the final two weeks of the season. Cutler said that he's not feeling the same type of pressure this week despite the higher stakes.
Sunday night's matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles provides a stauncher matchup, however. Chip Kelly's offense is primed to take advantage of the Bears' porous run defense.
Cutler likely will find himself in a shootout Sunday, and he will have to prove that he's the quarterback of the present and future.
We examine coaches on the hot seat and chat with Packers guard Josh Sitton on the latest "Around The League Podcast."
