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Jay Cutler is an a--hole. He doesn't care. He sucks. He isn't tough. He's actually the worst quarterback in the league. And he definitely doesn't throw the ball to one specific talented tight end when he's open. Instead, he prefers chucking the football into double coverage.

Meet Jay Cutler:


From the time Cutler entered the league in 2006 with his Fall Out Boy haircut, his moody stares, his petulant attitude, his rocket arm, and his untimely interceptions, that's been Cutler's perception. And on Wednesday, the hate arguably reached its peak when Michael and Martellus Bennett teamed up to call Cutler the worst quarterback in the league and a quarterback who'd rather throw the ball into double coverage instead of hitting his wide-open tight end.

Thankfully, the resistance movement began Thursday morning, a day after Cutler refused to take the bait. Once again, when an ex-teammate decked him with a headline-worthy diss, Cutler took the high road. But Sports Illustrated's Ben Baskin, who wrote a story on Bears receiver Kevin White's recovery from a stress fracture, saw the Bennett brothers' comments. So, he decided to post some additional material from his interview with White, in which White passionately defends Cutler against his detractors.

Keep in mind, White made these statements long before the Bennett brothers spoke up. They weren't said in response to the Bennetts.

But here's what White said: He said that when he joined the Bears last season, everyone told him Cutler was "an a--hole." But Cutler isn't an a--hole, according to White. He said Cutler "has a bad rep for no reason." He said, "We need to clean Jay's name up."

White eventually ended up comparing Cutler to "the pretty girl that doesn't wear makeup."

"Jay Cutler is a good person. He wants to win. He's a good teammate and he cares a lot. He is not selfish at all. Any selfish quarterback would have told me to come back and play [at the end of the season], even at 75 percent. He's just a great guy. We need to clean Jay's name up. He has a bad rep for no reason and I don't like it. I came in and everyone was telling me, Jay's an a--hole, you're going to hate Cutler. I was like, I want to get to know this dude first. And it's just not true at all. None of it. Jay is like the pretty girl that doesn't wear makeup and doesn't go out, so nobody really knows that she's pretty."

And before you even ask, no, White wasn't led into that answer by a question that begged for a response like that. White, himself, felt it was an important issue to address.

White also told a story about the time Cutler invited his teammates to his Nashville home. It involves something called a "puzzle room," which Cutler set up.

Meet the real Jay Cutler, who -- yes -- actually does smile, a lot:

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Proof that Jay Cutler does, in fact, have a soul. USATSI

All of this is important because it paints a more accurate portrait of a misunderstood quarterback who refuses to fight back against his unfair perception. Jay Cutler isn't an a--hole, he's the guy who runs his foundation away from the lurking eyes of reporters. He doesn't care -- not about his national perception, which doesn't affect his football career in the slightest.

If those who say Cutler is an a--hole actually tuned into his Chicago radio appearances or listened to what his teammates have to say, they'd see that he's actually a funny, personable, and a decent human being. He isn't a wimp, he might be the toughest quarterback in the league who, once upon a time, tore up his knee in the NFC Championship Game.

Cutler isn't the worst quarterback the league, he actually posted pretty much the exact same passer rating as Aaron Rodgers last year. And no, he didn't pass up chances to throw the ball to Martellus Bennett, despite Bennett's claims.

From 2013-2015 (Bennett's Bears career), he received 302 targets, which ranked sixth among all tight ends and second among all Bears players. The only Bears player who acquired more targets in that time span was Alshon Jeffery. And if Cutler was passing up Bennett (who, by the way, once compared Cutler to Jesus) in favor of throwing up jump balls to Alshon Jeffery, well, that's not a bad call.


Kevin White is right. It's time to clear Cutler's name. Cutler would do it himself, but ... he just doesn't care.