On Tuesday, Charles Barkley was on “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000 in Chicago and voiced his displeasure with the players who criticized Jay Cutler for not finishing the NFC title game against the Packers last Sunday.

“I was mad at the players, to be honest with you,” Barkley said Tuesday on “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000. “I think it was inappropriate and wrong to question a guy’s heart. Now reporters, they’re going to do what they want to. They’re entitled to their opinion. But as players, I don’t think it’s appropriate to question another guy’s heart.

“That crosses the line, because you don’t know. If you go back and start looking at all the stuff that’s been said, and clearly one of the more vocal critics was Maurice Jones-Drew, and then you find out he missed the last two games with a bad knee. And he was really the first guy who crucified Jay. You have to be careful, because in the two most important games of the year, he sat out with a bad knee. And then it really makes him look like an idiot now.”

“I just think it’s inappropriate,” Barkley said. “It’s fair to criticize guys when they don’t play well, but it’s 100 percent unfair to criticize guys … if a guy says he’s hurt, you have to respect that.”

The main reason why this story has developed a mind of its own is because players were the ones who publicly attacked Cutler. Fans did too, but we’re idiots. We’re expected to react emotionally and not think things through. That’s our right as morons.

But to see the amount of players who immediately rushed to judgment on Cutler was surprising to say the least. This wasn’t a member of the media who ran with an idea in a post-game story. These were players who were jumping on him – and right off the bat, too. This was the biggest player-on-player beating via Twitter that anyone has ever seen.

I think it was fair for Barkley to bring up the fact that MJD didn’t play in the Jaguars’ final two regular season games due to a knee injury, even though the playoffs were on the line for Jacksonville. What happens in the future when MJD suffers an injury and he’s criticized for not toughing it out? It’s easy to say you would have played when it isn’t your body.

One criticism that Barkely have on how Cutler was how he seemingly didn’t try and help young quarterback Caleb Haine..

“I was very disappointed that he wasn’t standing beside that young kid,” Barkley said. “I was very disappointed he wasn’t there trying to work with that young kid. There were a couple of shots of them on the sideline, with [Hanie] looking at pictures, and [Cutler] was just disengaged. That’s a fair criticism.”

Barkley’s right, it didn’t look like Cutler offered much help to Haine on the sidelines. Then again, maybe Cutler just wanted to leave the coaching up to the coaches and decided that it was best if he stayed out of Haine’s ear.

After all, it’s important not to rush to judgment over something that we perceive, when in reality the situation may have been very different.

In the AFC Championship Game two years ago, Steelers’ receiver Hines Ward suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee against the Ravens and while he briefly returned to the game, he was taken out again and didn’t return.

Sound familiar?

On Monday, the Chicago Sun Times reported that the knee injury Jay Cutler suffered in the NFC title game on Sunday is a Grade II MCL tear. The team announced that the injury was a “sprain,” but there’s still a tear that occurs in the knee. According to Sun Times’ writer Sean Jensen, the injury would usually sideline a player for 3-4 weeks.

Following the injury, Ward was able to play in the Super Bowl two weeks later and is often regarded as one of the most durable players in the NFL. Yet Cutler is a “sissy” for not returning to his game. If the injury was serious enough for Ward not to return, shouldn’t Cutler be given the benefit of the doubt?

As I wrote earlier today, it seems as though the people doing the criticizing flat out don’t like Cutler as a person. That’s not hard to understand seeing as how he has often rubbed teammates, opponents and members of the media the wrong way in the past. People aren’t willing to look at your side of things when you constantly exude a my-sh*t-don’t-stink attitude.

Of course, another factor that is fueling the Cutler-is-a-pansy side is that Philip Rivers tore his ACL the week before the 2008 AFC title game and had a cleanup procedure done just so he could play. So, as the thinking goes, if Rivers was able to play one week after having ACL surgery, why couldn’t Cutler gut out a MCL sprain for 28 more minutes?

Granted, everyone has a different threshold for pain and again, if Ward couldn’t play on his sprain than maybe people should cut Cutler some slack. Athletes know their own bodies and know whether or not they can continue to play following an injury. I think the biggest issue is that Cutler was so nonchalant on the sidelines and the Bears never announced during the game that he was out. The only reason television networks employ sideline reporters is so that they can fill viewers in on injuries, yet nobody said that Cutler was out. Had the Bears made an official announcement saying Cutler was unable to return, maybe people would be less critical.

But there he was, standing up, sitting on the bench or riding the bike. None of those things give the perception that he couldn’t continue playing.

When you factor in Ward and Rivers’ injuries, Cutler’s attitude, the general lack of understanding of what went on after Cutler got hurt and the fact that it was the NFC title game, this is the perfect storm that has brewed. It’s quite interesting, actually. I keep waiting for there to be a smoking gun that emerges and for some unnamed source to say Cutler could have gone back in.

Jay Cutler has an MCL tear in his left knee, although the severity of the injury is still unknown. In other words, we still don’t have enough information on whether or not he could have played in the second half against Green Bay.

But unless he’s having his leg amputated later this afternoon, he’ll still have plenty of folks questioning his toughness. People know what they saw on Sunday: A disinterested Cutler not fighting to get back into the biggest game of his life. He just stood or sat there, almost looking bored and/or annoyed that he had to watch the rest of the game from underneath his parka.

Former and current players have taken to Twitter to blast the Chicago QB. Maurice Jones-Drew pointed out that he played on a bad knee all season. Former Buccaneer great Derrick Brooks tweeted that he would have to be crawling and unable to get up to come off the field. Eagles’ corner Asante Samuel wrote that the Bears players should look at Cutler “sideways” from now on.

Fans have been even more demonstrative with their criticism. One group decided to burn his jersey after the game and I’m sure there were many others to curse his name and trash his memorabilia as well. If I were Cutler, I’d be looking up vacation spots right about now. (I hear South Dakota is nice this time of year.)

But is everyone being rational with his or her criticism? After all, he has only missed one start in his career and that came earlier this season when he suffered a concussion. Team trainers did check him out at halftime and he did try to go back into the game in the third quarter. He also has a torn MCL, so clearly he wasn’t faking the injury unless the Bears made up the results of his MRI (which is a stretch, but I also wouldn’t put anything past teams these days).

Did he do everything he could to try to get back into the game? It certainly didn’t look like it, which is why people are irate. If I were a Bears fan, I’d probably be fuming, too. This was the biggest game of the season and it looked like Cutler would rather be playing Mrs. Pac-Man than fighting beside his teammates. We want our quarterbacks to have guts, heart and determination. If they’re hurt, they better be withering in pain and bleeding from the ears before they come out of a conference championship game. And even then, they better be crawling around the sidelines while screaming to go back in.

Cutler did none of that, which is where the criticism comes in. But are fans just upset because their team lost and are looking for an easy target? And are players both past and present railing on him because they just don’t like Cutler as a person? Would a quarterback who wasn’t such a punk be given the benefit of the doubt in the same situation?

I wouldn’t be surprised if the criticism of Cutler was more about the stakes of the game and his personality than about his toughness. If you notice, his teammates have vehemently defended him and none of the players who are criticizing him play in the NFC North. I’d like to believe that no player would ever want to leave a playoff game when he still had something left to give.

But maybe the criticism of Cutler is just. Maybe he is a gutless wonder who should be called out. After all, a MCL tear isn’t an ACL tear. The injury can certainly affect a quarterback’s mobility and whether or not he can plant his foot, but I’m sure many players have gutted out this specific injury before.

Either way, this situation is now burned into people’s memories so he’ll have to deal with future questioning. Hopefully for his sake, he has enough toughness to prove doubters wrong.

Apparently Jay Cutler is about as popular as a rectal exam when it comes to both former and current NFL players.

After leaving the NFC Championship Game early in the third quarter on Sunday, Cutler is being called out for not playing on a hurt knee. Everyone from Maurice Jones Drew to former NFL Defensive Player of the Year Derrick Brooks took to Twitter to blast the Chicago signal caller for his perceived lack of toughness.

From NFL Fanhouse:

“Hey, I think the urban meyer rule is effect right now… When the going gets tough……..QUIT.” Maurice Jones-Drew tweeted during the game. “All I’m saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee…I played the whole season on one.”

“FOX HAVEN’T SHOWED ANY TRAINERS LOOKING AT CUTLER, UMMM,” tweeted Derrick Brooks, a former NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

The rest of us can only make educated guesses. Back to Twitter, this time from Arizona’s Darnell Dockett:

“If I’m on Chicago team jay cutler has to wait till me and the team shower get dressed and leave before he comes in the locker room!”

I’m willing to give Cutler the benefit of the doubt for now. If the guy was hurt and couldn’t play, then he was hurt and couldn’t play. He has taken quite a beating the past two years and his teammates aren’t questioning his toughness, so why should fans at home? He showed a lot of guts last week on his first touchdown run against the Seahawks last weekend and he even had a run against the Packers on Sunday that showed some toughness.

That said, I honestly don’t blame anyone for calling him out. He flat out looked disinterested during the second half and if the MRI that he’s scheduled for on Monday comes back negative, then he won’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to everyone’s criticism of his toughness. The image of Kellen Winslow being helped off the field by two teammates in “The Epic in Miami” is forever burned into our memory. So when a guy leaves a championship game and doesn’t have a torn knee, a concussion or internal bleeding, we’re going to question whether or not he has any stones.

Again, I’m willing to give Cutler the benefit of the doubt. I want to believe that a million dollar athlete wouldn’t voluntarily leave a game when a chance to play in the Super Bowl is on the line. I also don’t think it’s wise to draw conclusions based on assumptions. Some are only assuming that Cutler was healthy enough to play when the only person that knows whether or not he could have stayed in is Jay Cutler.

But for Cutler’s sake, I’m hoping his MCL is torn because if it isn’t, his reputation will suffer much greater damage than his knee ever will.

Here are five quick-hit thoughts about the Packers’ 21-14 win over the Bears in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.

1. The Packers’ improbable run continues.
Let’s take a moment to appreciate what the 2010 Green Bay Packers have been able to do. They entered the season as legitimate Super Bowl contenders, only to see their hopes seemingly wash away because of injuries. Needing two wins in the final two weeks just to qualify for the postseason, they crushed the Giants and edged out the Bears to clinch the No. 6 seed in the NFC. Against long odds, the Packers then go on the road and knock off the Eagles, the No. 1-seeded Falcons and the No. 2-seeded Bears to reach the Super Bowl. It’s hard enough to win on the road, nevertheless do so in the postseason when home field advantage is so paramount. The Packers are red-hot and match up well with either the Jets or Steelers.

2. Capers deserves a lot of praise for the play of his defense.
Rex Ryan has earned a lot of attention this postseason for his defensive game plans, but Dom Capers deserves some of the spotlight after what Green Bay did on Sunday. His defense is the main reason the Packers won today – not Aaron Rodgers. The Bears made things interesting in the fourth quarter and the Packers did catch a break when Jay Cutler left the game with a knee injury, but let’s not take anything away from Capers’ game plan. The Bears could do nothing offensively for the first three quarters and their offensive line couldn’t stop Green Bay’s pass rush. Matt Forte had a couple of nice runs and Caleb Hanie made some clutch throws in the fourth quarter but again, domination was on display. The Packers held the Bears to 218 passing yards and 83 rushing, all while forcing three turnovers. On a day when Rodgers wasn’t at his best, the Packers needed a strong defensive effort and that’s exactly what they got.

3. Shields played the game of his young career.
How good was 23-year-old Sam Shields on Sunday? His interception (or semi-interception depending on whether or not you believe he had possession of the ball) right before half stopped Chicago from taking some momentum into the locker room and his second interception sealed the game. He was also a major factor as a blitzer, accounting for one of Green Bay’s two sacks and supplying the pressure on B.J. Raji’s pick-six in the fourth quarter. Kudos must be given to Capers for throwing a new wrinkle at Chicago’s offense by turning Shields into an unexpected X-factor. The undrafted rookie free agent was all over the place on Sunday.

4. This loss doesn’t hang on the Bears’ defense.
There’s not much more Chicago’s defense could have done to win this game. They gave up a touchdown on the first drive but they rebounded nicely after that. Thanks to the offense’s inability to move the ball, Chicago’s defense was constantly in poor field position for most of the first half but it managed to keep the deficit to just 14 points at halftime. Then when the offense showed some life by cutting the score to 14-7 early in the fourth, the Bears’ D once again came up big with a couple of huge stops. In the end, Chicago was done in by its offense but there’s no doubt that its defense came to play. Brian Urlacher was all over the place and for this unit to hold Rodgers to only 244 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after what he did to the Falcons last week was impressive.

5. A truly disastrous day for Cutler and the Bears’ O-line.
There’s nothing that Cutler can do about getting hurt. It’s football – injuries happen. But sorry Cutler supporters: he was awful in the first half. He missed an open Devin Hester early in the game that could have given the Bears a first down and set them up in great field position. He also looked for the Packers’ pass rush instead of anticipating it and he just never looked sure of himself. Give Green Bay’s defense credit for its play, but Cutler had to be better. Of course, it’s not like his offensive line did him many favors. He was constantly under duress and he didn’t have time to survey the field and go through his reads. Even if he was able to finish the game, his O-line wasn’t prepared for the pressure that Green Bay brought. I also thought Mike Martz panicked a little in the second quarter by trying to move the ball through the air instead of staying balanced. Forte was about the only offensive player for Chicago that’s deserving of praise. He and the defense kept the Bears in the game when it looked like all hope was lost in the third quarter. Give Hanie credit for breathing life into Chicago’s offense after Todd Collins’ pathetic performance, but it just wasn’t the Bears’ day offensively.