OK, I got that out of the way. This could be the second installment of my “sports are too important” series. It was going to be about the concussion theme that played out across the season, and how many people were frustrated that it became such a big deal. To many people, the idea of a player ending up with brain damage that would affect that person later in life was far less important than staying in a game and gutting it out. To many people, a GAME is more important than someone’s long term health. There are still people in denial about the science that goes into concussion evaluation, which means guys like Justin Morneau are branded as soft, simply because medicine has advanced far enough to grasp the severity of his injury.
That brings us to Cutler. Rather than waiting for news to spill out on the severity of Cutler’s injury, he was immediately branded as soft. When it was revealed that he had a torn MCL (Grade 2 sprain, in medical parlance) people then jumped on his case with examples of players who have played with knee injuries, like Drew Brees and Maurice Jones-Drew. People wanted to excoriate Cutler for his lack of dedication.
These arguments are on the surface legitimate, but on closer inspection mostly unfounded. Most players that gut out injuries in their joints gut it out with the help of an injection in the area of the injury. Due to his diabetes, Cutler is unable to receive such injections. MJD played on a torn meniscus, but the meniscus isn’t a load bearing stretch of tissue, as it is there to hold the kneecap in place. Drew Brees also had a sprain of his MCL and played on it for an entire season, however Brees sprain was low grade (Grade 1, as it were) and decidedly playable. A Grade 2 sprain, such as Cutlers, threatens the structural integrity of the knee. Other ligaments, like the ACL affect it’s stability with lateral movement, but the MCL is load bearing. While it hurts to put weight on it with a Grade 1 sprain, a Grade 2 sprain could lead to permanent damage to the knee if someone plants hard on the knee, as a quarterback would do, especially since more strain would be placed on the other ligaments.
So, aside from the fact that keeping Cutler out of the lineup was the medically correct thing to do, whether Cutler haters feel the same or not. Cutler and the Bears decided to preserve his ability to play next season, or even to walk normally in 20 years rather than to keep him in the game and risk further injury. If one takes a look at all the facts, this is the logical conclusion.
The idea that, since Cutler makes millions of dollars, he should be willing to suffer life altering injuries for his fans is appalling to me, especially when you see how many former players still struggle to pay their medical expenses.
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