Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer apologized to his players Thursday for anonymously criticizing quarterback Jay Cutler to a media outlet, according to a report.
The Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs reports that Kromer said he criticized Cutler for killing the team by refusing to check out of bad running plays. Kromer gave his criticism to NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport, who reported Sunday that the Bears were having “buyer’s remorse” over Cutler’s contract and that the team considered benching the QB during their win over the Buccaneers.
According to Biggs, Kromer denied being the source of the “buyer’s remorse” part of the report but did admit to saying Cutler was hurting the offense.
Kromer reportedly told his players he spoke out of the heat of the moment and that he was wrong for doing so.
Unsurprisingly, Bears players are feeling the dysfunction of a coach anonymously criticizing the team’s starting quarterback.
“I’m still kind of trying to sort my way through this to be honest,” one player told The Tribune. “It’s one of the most (messed) up things I have ever seen.”
“It’s a (messed) up situation,” another player said.
The end of the season cannot come quickly enough for the 5-8 Bears. The team was embarrassed in consecutive games when it gave up over 50 points to the Patriots and Packers. Those terrible performances came after Brandon Marshall called out his teammates following a loss to the Dolphins.
Marshall is out for the season because of a rib injury, but his relationship with Cutler is believed to be strained because he said the Bears should have buyer’s remorse over the quarterback’s big contract.
Though it’s nice that Kromer stood up and apologized to his players, this just highlights how bad things are with the team. Coaches should not be anonymously criticizing their players. And it’s pretty clear too that Kromer wasn’t the only person from the organization providing information to Rapoport, which is another reason to be concerned.
