Jay Cutler calls the Bears 'a dumb team' after repeated training camp fights
Bears already lost a key player to injury, so fighting probably isn't the smartest idea
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The Bears are dumb. Not because of their coaching staff or their collective football IQ. They're dumb because of their tendency to fight during training camp.
That's not coming from me. That's coming from the Bears' own quarterback, Jay Cutler.
"Now we're getting to the point where we're just kind of being a dumb team," Cutler said, per CBS Chicago. "So we've got to find that fine line of when we're being tough and when we're being dumb. I think we're right there on that edge, so now we kind have to start dialing it back and getting ready for games."
According to CBS Chicago, offensive lineman Ted Larsen has been involved in four fights this offseason. At Solider Field during Bears Family Fest on Saturday, the offense and defense were involved in an ugly altercation that looked like this, as CBS Chicago's Chris Emma reported:
Bears offensive lineman Ted Larsen grabbed linebacker Lamin Barrow and threw him down. Dozens of players in navy or white jerseys jumped into the scrums. Kyle Long even sprinted from the opposite side of the field to dive into the pile.
That's probably the last thing Cutler and his coaches wanted to see. The Bears are already down center Hroniss Grasu, who tore his ACL last week, so they can't really afford to lose any more offensive linemen -- much less, their best one -- before the season starts.
"He's got to be smarter than that," Cutler said of Long. "We've talked to him. He's better than that. He's smarter than that. He has come a long way in his years here. I know he's protecting his teammates and doing everything possible, but some things we just can't do."
Of course, the issue isn't really limited to the Bears. Laremy Tunsil kicked off his first Dolphins training camp by getting mixed up with one of his teammates. Pete Carroll threw Michael Bennett out of practice for going after the offensive line. A Jets player literally carried Brandon Marshall off the field after he swung at Darrelle Revis.
With that being said, the Bears have had issues in the past. In 2014, Martellus Bennett slammed Kyle Fuller to the ground. A year ago, Jeremiah Ratliff "couldn't be restrained from offensive lineman Will Montgomery in a scene that lasted for 40 minutes and forced an early end to practice," Emma wrote. Forty minutes!
So, there seems to be two ways to view the topic. The first says we -- fans and the media -- tend to take practice fights, a natural part of the game, too seriously. The second says they're a sign of turmoil which lead to bad habits. Carroll even cited the second line of thinking when he tossed Bennett out of practice, saying the Seahawks "can't play like that" because "it's translating into sometimes we lose a little bit of the poise that we need."
I tend to side with the first view -- or in the words of Cutler, "Don't care" -- but that changes the moment a player suffers an injury as a result of a post-play altercation. And when a team's starting quarterback speaks out against the issue with reporters, well, it's probably time to stop diving into dog piles.
