"When Jay Cutler suffered a knee injury and left in the second half of last January's NFC championship game, he was faced with rehabilitating both his knee and his image during the offseason.

He was called a quitter, a coward and much worse. And most of those insults were hurled pre-emptively by NFL players who were unaware — and perhaps unconcerned — about the seriousness of the injury.

The reaction nationally and locally has been much different this week after Cutler suffered a broken thumb making a tackle after throwing an interception in the fourth quarter of the Bears' 31-20 victory over the Chargers.

His teammates have gone out of their way to praise Cutler's work ethic, leadership skills and toughness.

"He doesn't get enough credit for the type of guy he is," Brian Urlacher said. "People say he pouts. He doesn't pout. He's (ticked) off when things don't go his way on the field. We all get mad, but he gets more criticism than the rest of us. He practices all the time, never complains. He doesn't complain after games. He doesn't call people out … just a good stand-up guy. And the more you're around the guy, the more you get to like him."

Beginning Sunday against the Raiders in Oakland, Caleb Hanie will be asked to approximate what Cutler accomplished in the first 10 games of this season.

"I don't think the offense is just built on Jay Cutler," Raiders coach Hue Jackson said. "They have a lot of good players.""