"Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, who was among the first to defend his quarterback in January, still is seething about questions regarding Jay Cutler's toughness.

"It was stupid," Urlacher said Sunday, referring to other NFL players who criticized Cutler on Twitter after he left the NFC Championship Game in the third quarter. "Then all the guys that were trying to get attention, it was just dumb to me. They're not playing, so don't talk [trash] about someone who is playing.

"If Jay could have been in there, he would have been. That's all I know. He's not a little [expletive]. He's a tough dude. He played hurt, and anyone who watches our games knows how tough he is."

Still the face of the Bears, ­Urlacher vouched for Cutler, who missed nearly the entire second half with a Grade II tear of the medial collateral ligament, immediately after the 21-14 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

"Jay was hurt," Urlacher said at the time, also dismissing "jealous" players who were calling out Cutler on Twitter. "He's one of the toughest players on our football team."

There are varying degrees of a player casting support for a beleaguered teammate.

And since Cutler arrived via trade during the 2009 offseason, there have been rumblings that the quarterback and revered linebacker didn't like one another, most notably with former Bears receiver Bobby Wade telling KFAN-AM (1130) in Minneapolis last July that Urlacher referred to Cutler using a vulgar word for a female body part. Urlacher insisted at the time he never said that, and Wade later apologized for the incident.

Cutler isn't overly concerned about how he's perceived, but he has benefited from not having any teammate privately question his toughness while most teammates publicly have backed him.

None more candidly than Urlacher.

During an interview at St. Rita High School, where he was an honorary captain in the Chicago First Responders Memorial Bowl, Urlacher singled out Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew, one of the most vocal to attack Cutler."