Jay Cutler made some excellent throws in Sunday's 23-20 loss to the Vikings. But the play that most impressed his teammates didn't involve a pass.
Cutler bulled into the end zone on a 4-yard touchdown run, surviving a nasty collision with safety Harrison Smith at the goal line, to give the Bears a 20-13 lead with 4:55 left in the game.
"That's what you want from a quarterback," said receiver Alshon Jeffery. "He played his [butt] off. In the end, he gave it up for the team. He put it all on the line and scored the touchdown."
"Tremendous job finishing there at the goal line," said right tackle Kyle Long. "Speaks to the kind of person he is and the kind of player he is."
Cutler rolled to his right on the play, looking to throw to either Jeffery or receiver Marc Mariani before deciding to tuck the ball and run it. Of course, that decision probably didn't factor in the hit the quarterback was about to take from Smith.
"I instantly regretted it," Cutler joked. "I'm thinking the shortest distance is a straight line. I knew the situation and wanted to get a score. It was me on him and ultimately we got the touchdown so I can't regret it too much."
Cutler said he felt fine after absorbing the shot from Smith, who led with his shoulder.
"I'm not used to those types of collisions, let's be honest," Cutler said. "That's not something I want to make a living doing, but you get over it pretty quickly whenever you get the touchdown and you get some endorphins going, so I was OK."
Coach John Fox was impressed with the performance of Cutler, who completed 22 of 33 passes for 211 yards with one touchdown, no interceptions and a 94.4 passer rating.
"He played admirable," Fox said. "I thought it was a great job of escaping the pocket and good toughness. He kinda showed a little bit of what we see in him to finish that play and score a touchdown and put us up by seven."
