Smith: Cutler has sprained MCL

Lake Forest, IL (Sports Network) – Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith said Monday that quarterback Jay Cutler suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament during Sunday’s game against Green Bay.It was initially reported by the Chicago Sun-Times that Cutler suffered a torn MCL. A sprain, though, is considered a slight tear.Cutler departed the Bears’ 21-14 loss to the rival Packers in the second quarter with the injury, and tested the stability of the knee during the first series of the third quarter.Smith, as he first stated on Sunday, said Monday during his press conference that Cutler wanted to continue and the medical staff told him to shut it down.”Our quarterback is a tough guy, wanted to win the game as much as anyone,” Smith said Monday. “We took him in at the half to try to work on him, which we did. He wanted to go and tried to go the second half.”Smith added that Cutler would have been listed as questionable for the Super Bowl had the Bears advanced.Cutler finished 6-of-14 for 80 yards with an interception in Sunday’s loss.Todd Collins replaced him under center, but was totally ineffective, failing to complete any of his four pass attempts. Caleb Hanie finished the game by going 13-of-20 for 153 yards with one touchdown and two picks.Cutler’s toughness was questioned by numerous players around the league in tweets during and after the game.”I haven’t seen it before,” Smith said about the comments. “Seems like if you were in that fraternity, you’d be stepping up for your fellow man, especially when you don’t know what was going on. Jay didn’t take himself out of the game. He wanted to go back in.”Teammates, including Hanie and star linebacker Brian Urlacher also came to his defense.”It just frustrates you to hear that stuff from anybody, yet alone other players,” Hanie said Monday. “One thing I know about Jay Cutler is he’s tough. He didn’t want to let his teammates down. If he could’ve been on the field and been productive… he would have done it.”There was speculation that Cutler didn’t help Hanie on the sideline, but the young signal-caller said Monday that wasn’t the case.”To hear that criticism of him that he doesn’t care about the game, he’s out of the game, is very aggravating,” Hanie added. “I can tell you first-hand, he was very encouraging to me and helped me out tremendously during the game.”01/24 15:42:43 ET 

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