After the beating he's absorbed behind Chicago's suspect offensive line -- an outrageous 105 sacks in two-plus seasons -- Bears quarterback Jay Cutler's a little antsy, a little agitated.
Can you blame him?
"Physically, it's not that big of a deal. Mentally, it just speeds up my clock. It just makes me uneasy in the pocket," Cutler told the Chicago Sun-Times.
"You take your eyes from downfield and you kind of check to see what's going on in front of you, so (it's more) psychologically and mentally (challenging) than anything. I don't want to take the sack. I'm just trying to get rid of the ball as fast as possible."
Not a promising mental state for an NFL quarterback.
Cutler, labeled by his critics as a guy who can't take the pain, has already been dropped 18 times this season. He hinted Wednesday that he's spoken with offensive coordinator Mike Martz about designing plays that will allow for a quicker release of the ball. It's uncertain what changes will be made beyond stressing the running game, but tinkering along the line continues.
Cutler-flavored criticism isn't about to disappear -- he's the quarterback, he'll be blamed for the team's woes no matter what. But until this franchise builds a competent wall up front, we'll never see the Cutler this team hoped for when it made the trade with Denver.
