This whole thing reeks of mismanagement to me. I'm generally all for management taking the "hard line" with dip#### players when the situation merits it (and in most cases, it does).
But this just makes no sense. First, why even go AFTER another QB in the first place? Just because the coach coached him before? You have a top shelf offense, and a bottom-feeding defense the year before, and you want your big splash in the offseason to be bringing in a new QB to replace the young talented QB you already have on contract (and CHEAP as well, I might add)? That's dumb part one.
Dumb part two is lying to the face of your franchise. According to Cutler, his MAIN beef with management is that they told him that they were not going after another QB, and that they were not actively trying to trade him. Given that it seems incredibly stupid to me in the first place, I can see where it would be difficult to try to explain that to the guy you are trying to get rid of, but as an "experienced" NFL guy, you should KNOW this stuff always gets out eventually, and that when it does you are going to look like even more of a schmuck. Gotta man up if you want the respect.
Dumb part three is not massaging the situation even AFTER it blew up. SHOULD an NFL head coach have to coddle a player? In a perfect world, absolutely not. But come on. This is still a very YOUNG man you dealing with. He came into the league and has done really good things for the most part (don't want to overplay this, but I think most would agree that he has at least been as good as advertised). Then all of the sudden, the only head coach he has had in the NFL gets canned. His offensive coordinator (who he has had a lot of success with) gets canned. His best friend on the team is being actively shopped. And the year after he goes to the Pro Bowl, his brand new coach who he has NO relationship with has LIED to him, and has been actively trying to replace him. I mean what do you guys calling Cutler a baby and whiner really expect? As 25 year old multi-millionaire starting NFL QB coming off of a very successful season, how would YOU feel about what gone down in Denver this off-season? You'd be saying WTF too. And where is the team now? You've either got a very pissed off QB trying to "lead" your team, or even if you still want to dump him, you've just lowered his trade value since the league KNOWS he's dying to get out of your city. Either way, you've hosed yourself. Yes, a coach should run his team. He's he boss. But there is a REASON franchise QBs make MORE money than coaches. They are critical to a teams success to say the least. As a coach or a front office guy, you MIGHT give that a little thought.
While I don't don't think Cutler as managed his end perfectly, I put the overall blame for this entire fiasco squarely on management. The whole things has been ridiculous.