Kyle Long: Jay Cutler is the best leader I’ve ever played with

They had a great rapport on the Chicago Bears. Kyle Long tells a fascinating story about why his former teammate Jay Cutler was such an incredible leader.

Kyle Long just wrapped up a great seven-year NFL career spent entirely with the Chicago Bears. Long was a Pro Bowler in each of his first three years in the league, earning Second-Team All-Pro honors in 2014. Long spoke with FanSided‘s Mark Carman on “Da Windy City with Mark Carman” podcast on behalf of Crown Royal and #GenerosityHour happy hours on all things Bears.

Enjoying retirement these days, Long is teaming up with his older brother in two-time Super Bowl champion Chris Long to host a virtual happy hour over Chris’ Instagram Live on Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. ET. For every post using #GenerosityHour, Crown Royal will donate $1 to bartenders in need through the USBG Bartender Emergency Assistance Fund, up to $200,000.

And who doesn’t love a good story told between friends over a happy hour? Long has a future in broadcasting like his Pro Football Hall of Fame father Howie Long, and boy, does he tell an incredible story about his beloved former Bears teammate Jay Cutler in his conversation with Carman.

“…I think he’s the best leader I’ve ever been a teammate with,” said Long. “He would show up at my house at 6:30 a.m. CT on off-days. So we’d play on a Sunday night, I wanna sleep in on Monday morning. And Jay said, ‘No, no, no, no, no. You played 80 snaps and beat the heck out of people. You gotta go get your body worked on.'”

“So he would break into my house with his kids. He’d have his kids in his arms and he’d wake me up and say, ‘Get your butt in there. We’re gonna get eggs first, but we’re gonna get to that training room. You gonna be healthy for next week because I threw for three touchdowns last week.'”

As for why Long believes he had such a tight bond with Cutler during their four years together in Chicago, he offered this. ” I think for Jay and I, he could just step up in the pocket behind the right guard and sling the ball to Brandon Marshall. And he felt comfortable with that and he’s a guy we could go downtown and we could grab a Crown and cola.”

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Who wouldn’t love a teammate like that? What kind of guy is going to “break into your house”, makes sure you get fed before you get your body worked on and will then go out for a night on the town with you? That’s an elite teammate right there, and one who cares so much about and more than you’ll ever know.

Kyle Long spoke with FanSided on behalf of Crown Royal and #GenerosityHour happy hours.