This season has been brutal on Bears fans, and the 41-21 drubbing the Bears got at the hands of the Cardinals in Week 9 was no small part of that.  Not only did Cutler throw 5 interceptions that week, but he looked all-around awful.  The news for Cutler got worse a few days after the game, as he was fined $20,000 for “verbal abuse” towards a game official.  Initially that seems okay considering we don’t know exactly what was said.  A 20k does seem a bit high for what was likely a “you have no idea what you’re doing out here” type of comment from Cutler, but still acceptable.  Acceptable until you hear this:

Meanwhile, Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris was fined $7,500 for unnecessarily striking an opponent. He was ejected just 65 seconds into the game for slugging Cardinals offensive tackle Deuce Lutui.

So Tommie Harris punched a guy in the face, on camera, with most of the country watching, and got slapped with a $7,500 fine.  Cutler on the other hand, was fined $20,000 for “verbal abuse”?  Anything short of “I know where you live and I’m going to kill you and your whole family” does not deserve a larger fine than the one for punching someone in the face on purpose.  Right?  Am I taking crazy pills?  Does anyone else think this is odd?

Apparently the NFL would rather encourage people to utilize a more violent approach to conflict resolution, and are willing to make incentives to promote that behavior.  Hmmm, after reading that last sentence I just realized how naive I am.  It’s the NFL, of course they would rather encourage people to act like steroid-filled animals than try to talk things out like human beings.  My bad.  Next time Cutler should just jack the line judge in the face.  It would save him about $12,500 by my calculations.