Sun Times ran something that the media has never seen before...A positive story about Jay, post joining Chicago!

After an undefeated regular season, the Patriots prepared to play Roncalli High, a private Catholic school in Indianapolis that had won eight 3A titles. The Patriots were a heavy underdog, and Cutler’s status was unclear because of a badly sprained ankle that relegated him to crutches days before the game.

“Our coaches had written him off because it was a very severe ankle sprain, the kind that keeps people out two to four weeks,” Burch says. “They game-planned without Jay.”

But just before the game, he was cleared to play, and the coaches adjusted the game plan by emptying the backfield and placing him in the shotgun on every offensive snap.

‘‘He lit it up that night,” Clayton says. “That was the best performance I’ve ever seen from any high school quarterback.”