The public face of Jay Cutler is so uninteresting and boring that we’ve created ways to make him interesting and compelling. Jay Cutler is certainly not the Punky QB Jim McMahon; or even Captain Neckbeard Kyle Orton. At least personality wise.
He never says anything that makes good copy, and most interviews of him are a huge waste of time. I didn’t write about the “not on the same page” garbage from Monday because it’s such a NON-STORY.
I know it’s hard to come up with good storylines when watching shuttle runs all day in training camp, but I doooooooooon’t caaaaaaarrreee about that soundbite. If Cutler says the Bears are “not all on the same page” a couple days before the season kicks off- then I would care.
Jay Cutler press conferences aren’t Lovie Smith or Bo Pelini level of uselessness, but they’re awfully close. And of course, some of that is calculated on his part. His handlers and the Chicago Bears Media Relations don’t want him to make headlines for what he says. They want him to make headlines for what he does on the field.
He’s the anti Johnny Manziel; who constantly gives us topics to discuss.
As national interest in baseball dwindles (at an even faster rate locally) and football becomes even more dominant in American hearts and minds, the appetite for media coverage of football grows even stronger. Especially in July and August. You may think Johnny Manziel is over-covered. And you may be right.
However, when you have the first freshman Heisman trophy winner in history, who plays in the most FOOTBALL INSANE state in the country, and comes from fourth generation Texas big oil money, and he “parties” a lot, gets in trouble for his “partying,” commits “party fouls” and then even takes to Twitter when he’s freshly completed “partying”…how can you not write about that?
He’s J.D. McCoy from “Friday Night Lights” except more entitled and worse at decision making.
Johnny Manziel keeps giving us material. He probably should be soul mates with Kyle Orton.
Juxtapose that with Jay Cutler, who every time he appears in public looks like he’d rather be anywhere else; doing anything else.
We don’t know him well enough personally to truly judge his true personality; only those closest to him can do that. However, the image Jay Cutler presents to the public is fair game for judgment, criticism and analysis. And that public image is one of insouciance, aloofness, surliness, apathy, lack of excitement and boredom.
He shows some congeniality and acting skills in his NFL merchandise ad with Roberto Garza. However, that’s a side we rarely ever see. The journalists and publicists I know that claim to know him best say he’s generally a good dude, and a nice guy. But that personality just doesn’t come across to fans and media in the way that Jay brands himself.
I’m not expecting him to moon a helicopter like Jim McMahon did, or take pictures getting inebriated like Orton did, but there is a ridiculous need here in Chicago for Cutler to be more a lot more interesting than he actually is. It’s not his doing or his fault. It just comes with the territory of playing quarterback for the Chicago Bears. I don’t know why Jay Cutler is my favorite NFL player; probably because I like the challenge of trying to find color in a person who is grey drab all the time. That’s why the media and Bears fans alike ate up the Smokin’ Jay Cutler memes, his ugly Bill Cosby sweater in the Google Hangout, the “don’t care” bathroom incident, the pictures of Cutty in ’80s outfits etc. The Bears media and Bears fan base manufacture an image of Cutler being congenial because he just doesn’t do it himself.
He’s so blah most of the time that the few incidents he’s interesting inspire so much irony that it’s fascinating.
But it’s not his job to entertain. The job of Jay Cutler is to pass well, run the offense and win football games. Having a personality above a bag of rusty nails would just be an added bonus. So writing about him remains a challenge, while keeping you informed on Johnny Manziel is rather easy. And fun.
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Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, a Fox Sports affiliate. He is also an analyst for 95.7 The Fan, and writes on Chicago sports media for Chicago Now. President Obama follows his Twitter account (@PaulMBanks)