"Bears quarterback Jay Cutler remembers the helping hand he received from Steve McNair and is mourning the loss of the former Tennessee Titans quarterback.In a story by Jim Wyatt of the Nashville Tennessean, Cutler said he needed a good showing in the Senior Bowl to boost his stock before the 2006 NFL draft. Because the offense Cutler's team would be running was being directed by the Titans' coaching staff, McNair volunteered to tutor the former Vanderbilt star beforehand.
''Mac met with me on two occasions, and he would have stayed there with me all day, as long as it took for me to learn the offense,'' Cutler told the newspaper. ''I'll never forget that, and that just shows you the type of guy he was. That was going to be a big step for me to go there and play well. Ever since then, I have thought of him as a friend.''
Cutler said he was stunned when he learned of McNair's murder last weekend from his agent, Bus Cook, who also represented McNair.
''I just saw Mac two weeks ago, and I was talking to him about his days at Alcorn State and how much fun he was to watch back then,'' Cutler told the Tennessean. ''We talked about a lot of things. He was telling me about his sons and going on and on about how well they were doing. We talked for an hour about his oldest son and what a good football player he was."
