Will the real Jay Cutler please stand up

We've all grown so accustomed to the mainstream media taking shots at Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, that when one of them has something positive to say, it's shocking.

Before I get into the piece that is actually complementary to Jay, I'll touch on the type of article that were used to seeing.

Just recently the IndyStar's Zak Keefer published a comparison article about Indianapolis Colts' QB Andrew Luck and Santa Claus, Indiana's own Jay Cutler. (A quick fyi, you should click on the IndyStar link, just to see the picture of Cutler in High School) As expected, there were some out of context instances used to describe Cutler, while Luck was described as a squeaky clean, goody two-shoes.

Keefer concluded that the reason so many Bears' fans don't like Cutler is his,

‘I don't give a ----' scowl he wears on the sideline when the Bears are getting trounced by three touchdowns.

Perhaps Cutler should be a raging lunatic when the Bears are down 21? No, the media would crucify him for that.

Maybe he should smile and think happy thoughts? Come on, the media would jump on that one even worse.

I know, I know, he should hop up and down, pat his teammates on the back and say, 'Come on fellas we can do this, all we need is three defensive stops, then to go out rip off three consecutive tuddys and we've got at tie game! Easy peasy, lemon squeezey!' While the media would probably like that last one, his teammates, who are in the middle of getting their asses kicked, probably would probably not.

Jay can't win with some people, but I don't think he cares.

If it's not articles like that one, it's things like ESPN talking to comedians about Cutler, because they know it'll get a rise out of people. It worked. Because the clip of them interviewing Hannibal Buress was picked up by every local Chicago Bears news outlet, including ours.

But then when something like what Pete Prisco wrote comes along, it helps balance out the scale. Yeah his -- If you hate Jay Cutler's attitude, you don't know the real Jay Cutler -- is a preseason puff piece, but it's a fair preseason puff piece.

Prisco isn't pushing an Anti-Jay agenda like so many in the media do. And if you don't think there's a group of local and national media members that don't bother hiding their distaste for Cutler, then you aren't paying attention.

Right out of the gate Prisco addresses the idiotic body language thing.

Ripping Cutler and even his body language -- however absurd that can be -- has become a cottage industry of sorts, with parody accounts mocking Cutler's propensity to come off as surly and unlikeable, even if few know much about him, other than he's a quarterback that fans and media love to rip.

Prisco talks about a happy and engaging Cutler during their interview time, an interview that the team cut short because Cutler had to board the team bus. Cutler would have kept talking with Prisco if he had the time.

Maybe it's because Cutler knows I am one of the few in the media who has actually taken up his cause, defending him as a player and trying to rationalize the stupidity of those body-language assessments.

Sure Cutler had some issues last year, and he has a history with turnovers, but Prisco provides some context on his 2014 season.

The defense was woeful last season, which forced the Bears to play from behind a lot. Cutler threw 256 passes trailing and 106 when trailing by nine or more points. For reference, Russell Wilson of Seattle threw 54 passes while trailing by nine or more points -- counting the postseason. Then there's this notion that Cutler threw a lot of first-quarter picks to put the Bears in a hole. He threw three last season. Three.

The Bears' offense had trouble moving the ball early, but it clearly wasn't all on Jay.

Perception is often not reality, but once someone makes up their mind about a person, changing it is hard. Cutler was the prima-donna that begged out of Denver, he was the aloof malcontent that didn't like talking to Chicago's media, he was the wimp that wouldn't play through a MCL tear in the playoffs, he wasn't nice to you when you talked to him at that restaurant...

Even if Cutler played the entire season with a big, fat smile on his face, it wouldn't stop the Cutler bashing. When there was an interception on the practice field during work this week, the media immediately thought it was Cutler. It was Clausen, but it's hard to shake a perceived label.

You all hate Cutler's faces. You hate his antics. You hate his turnovers. You hate the idea he's a spoiled baby who you think was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. The reality is his dad was a police officer who also started a paving company. Guess who helped pave every summer?

It was Cutler and a bunch of his high school coaches.

"That wasn't easy work," said {high school coach Bob} Clayton. "It was tough. And he was out there in the middle of it all the time. He's not some silver-spoon kid."

Cutler and offensive coordinator Adam Gase have been getting along splendidly, but the season hasn't started yet. There may be some blow-ups along the way, but so far, so good for the Cutler/Gase combo.

I do have to disagree with Prisco's close however;

The only thing now is for him to go out there, like Gase said, and have some fun and win some games. Then the stupidity of grading body language and assessing facial expressions won't matter a bit -- and the Jay Cutler bashing industry might actually cease to exist.

Some fans and members of the media hate Cutler so much, there's no amount of winning that will turn them around.

Jay simply can't win with some people, but again, I don't think he cares.