Harris: Cutler Not Preparing Bears For Tough Conditions
By Adam Harris--
TCF Bank Stadium is not meant to be played in during the winter, and Bears' Quarterback Jay Cutler knows this.
"That field isn't heated," Cutler said today at his weekly press conference. "They can heat it up all they want, but we are going to be out there for three hours in zero degree weather so it's going to be a hard surface. I think that's probably the main concern with the guys in the locker-room."
The potential hardness of the playing surface has Cutler concerned for his teammates and his own well being.
"Yeah, receivers and running backs and anyone who's getting tackled [can get hurt more easily]," Cutler said. "Look at Aaron [Rodgers] last week on that surface in Detroit. He banged his head, and I've done it on grass and stuff. It's definitely a concern and that's why the guys are really concerned about that."
Cutler kept saying that the guys in the locker-room are concerned about the playing surface, which I'm sure is true, but I feel that Cutler is the most concerned, and that is a problem. Part of being a quarterback in the National Football League is showing no fear of anything, so his team can follow in that mentality. In announcing his fear of the playing surface on Monday night, Cutler is doing a bad job leading his team.
Not taking control of his team is what Cutler is most criticized for in this city. A leader and quarterback of an NFL team should dismiss the playing surface problems throughout the week with the media, so his team can begin to dismiss them also. Cutler did not do that today.
"We don't wanna go out there and play on a concrete type surface," Cutler said of TCF Bank Stadium.
I am not dismissing the fact that playing on this field on Monday night is very dangerous, but I am saying that the quarterback of the team needs to limit the amount of times his teammates think about this surface.
After last weeks game against the Bears, New England Quarterback Tom Brady addressed the cold and frigid conditions in Chicago. He had his team mentally prepared.
"They don't cancel football games very often, you know it's not like baseball," Brady said. "We don't play out there in San Diego all the time, so you are out in the cold weather and whatever the elements are we have to be mentally tough enough to play in them."
So far this week I feel that the quarterback for the Chicago Bears is not becoming mentally tough enough to play outdoors in Minnesota on Monday night, and worst of all he is not helping prepare his team to be mentally tough enough either.
