Emery: No Dissension In Bears' Locker Room
(WSCR) A weekend report from FOX Sports' Jay Glazer insinuated that many inside the Bears' locker room were unhappy with the decision to start Jay Cutler over Josh McCown in Sunday's win.
Glazer said he spoke with "several people on several levels" and "not one of them agreed with the decision" to start Cutler.
Bears general manager Phil Emery joined 670 The Score on Monday night and quelled any rumors that Bears players were unhappy with Cutler under center.
"The thing that I observed (on Sunday) was that locker room after that victory. It was a tremendous feeling," Emery said. "I saw players - offense, defense and special teams - come together, hug one another and celebrate a team win. They're really supportive of one another and they've really bought into our couching staff and our head football coach."
The stellar play of McCown during his time as a starter has further ignited the discussion on what to do with Cutler after this season. Though Emery downplayed the franchise tag option earlier in the season, he said it's not completely off the table.
"I would say 'disregard completely' is an oversimplification of what the franchise tag is in relation to contracts and caps and player contracts overall," Emery said. "What I had said before was that just make sure when you look at the franchise tag (you know) what that means from a quarterback's contract perspective and the amount of room and space that it eats up. It's not necessarily a solution. It's not the first thing we would think about. The first think we'd think about if we wanted to sign a player is a long-term contract. That fits better in our cap situation."
Emery also discussed the Bears' must-win game against the Eagles on Sunday night, where his bottom-ranked run defense will take on the top rushing team in the league.
"We're going to have to bring our best," Emery said. "Obviously, we're a team with a lot of young defensive players, or inexperienced defensive players. But we have taken some steps in these last couple of weeks to come together and to gel. The last two weeks we've had a number of key stops. That's awfully encouraging."
