Brandon Marshall needs to shut up and go away

Brandon Marshall spent three memorable seasons in Chicago but it all went south and now he's on to his fourth NFL team. Despite no longer being a Bear he continues to sound off about former bro Jay Cutler.

Granted, there are a lot of people, including many Chicago Bears fans who share the same or similar sentiments about the signal caller but enough is enough.

Marshall and Cutler were part of the same draft class in Denver with the Broncos back in 2006 and they quickly rose the ranks together to be starters and a great WR-QB tandem. Once Cutler was offloaded, Marshall quickly followed suit and the two Twitter-flirted over the idea of reuniting with the Bears only to see it become reality in 2012.

Marshall and Cutler's first two seasons were great; Marshall was hitting franchise marks, Cutler seemed to be playing at a nice level, if perhaps targeting 15 a little too much, but when his other options were Matt Forte and rookie Alshon Jeffery, it makes a little more sense.

But then last season happened. The feud can be traced back to Marshall's post-Dolphins loss tirade, which led to his "buyer's remorse" comment in December and by March he was sent to New York and since then he's sort of back-handed at Cutler by tweeting things like Kyle Orton is the best QB he's played with and listing a lot of teammates not named Cutler as the best.

Yesterday, in an appearance on ESPN's First Take (Marshall on TV, no really, hard to believe), he had this to say about his former teammate (From the Worldwide Leader):

"But for me last year, I felt like, when we are going on 10 years, nine, 10 years in the league -- it's time to get it. I felt like I was the only one in the organization that had the 'huevos' to hold [Cutler] accountable. It didn't go the way I wanted it to go."

Now I don't know what the question he was asked was, but I do know it wasn't specifically about Cutler. In the full clip he mentions a culture of "keeping things in-house" before saying to one of the hosts (paraphrasing) "You've said things about Cutler" to which the host asked "Was I right" to which Marshall said, yes and then he went into the above quote.

Marshall hasn't been a member of the Chicago organization for nearly five months now, why is he so insistent on taking shots at Cutler still? Why does it matter?

There were a lot of people, myself included, who defended Marshall's outbursts and comments last season and chalked it up to wanting to win and frustration and just showing that he cared and was still working when so many others gave up. But that's just not the case. This is who Marshall is and who he has been all along.

This is why he is on his fourth team and likely a reason he's never played in a postseason contest. He loves the spotlight, he loves having a pedestal and he absolutely loves blaming everyone but himself when it comes to football.

Cutler, for his part, has taken the high road at every available opportunity. Instead of going out of his way to slight Marshall when asked about him, he hasn't. Even when he hasn't been asked about him he doesn't mention him (which cannot be said for No. 15). Cutler is a target for criticism and much of it is deserved for his on-field results but this is not a situation that should be creeping back up again and again.

Marshall and Cutler's relationship is clearly fractured, likely beyond repair at this point but Marshall has no reason to continue to go out of his way to take down his former friend. It's childish, it's petty and it reveals Marshall's true character.

I believed in a different Marshall for a long time. I was a huge fan of his in 2012 and 2013, I almost bought a jersey of his because he seemed worthy of it, but now I am glad I didn't waste the money.

I wish he would've been traded to a team that would make him irrelevant. Just shut up already. For what it's worth, Marshall said after Jets practice that he's done talking about Cutler and the Bears from now on. From the earlier ESPN piece:

"That was my last time talking about it. So, today is the last day. Moving on," he said, adding that "from here on out is it's [all] about the New York Jets."

I would say I'm looking forward to what he says about Geno Smith in a few months time, but I'm not. I couldn't care less. Go away Brandon, just go away.