Monday, April 11, 2011
Posted: 11:31 a.m.
By John Mullin
CSNChicago.com
Jim McMahon rarely shrank from voicing sharp criticism of the Bears organization when he was its quarterback and that hasnt changed, as Mad Mac took the team to task for its handling of Jay Cutlers knee injury.
In a report by Michael David Smith on ProFootballTalk.com, McMahon was blunt:
I think they just handled it poorly, McMahon said in an ESPN interview. Somebody should have come out and said, hey, he hurt his knee. But nobody said anything. I think if they handled it better, people would have realized what was going on.
This is a dicey one. Lovie Smith defended his player resolutely and has attacked detractors pretty regularly this offseason. The problem, though, is that Smith is not forthcoming with injury details as a matter of policy, which players should and do appreciate. In this situation the devil truly was in the details, although the fact that Cutler went in to start the second half has been too often ignored by his critics.
For what its worth, Cutler is ahead of McMahon on the winning curve.
McMahon had the Bears in an NFC Championship game in his third Chicago season (the 23-0 loss to San Francisco in 1984). The Bears were in the Super Bowl semifinal in 2010, Cutlers second Chicago season. And considering that McMahon was part of one of the most talent-rich teams in franchise history, Cutlers results stack up pretty well.
NFL
Now, the year after that NFC Championship loss, McMahon got to the next level. Cutler, your turn.
John "Moon" Mullin is CSNChicago.com's Bears Insider, and appears regularly on Bears Postgame Live and Chicago Tribune Live. Follow Moon on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Bears information.