You become like the Bears , who have gone 1-4 since mid-October, and you refuse to talk to NBC and Bob Costas before your big ''Sunday Night Football'' game, no matter what that network or who that guy may be.

General manager Jerry Angelo, head coach Lovie Smith and quarterback Jay Cutler have decided they are not available for the standard Costas interviews, and the guess here is that the decision was approved at the top of the Bears organization.

Yet I guarantee you the real reason for the boycott is Cutler himself.

Pro Bowl quarterbacks who are not yet 26 are never traded. But Cutler was sent from Denver to Chicago a half-year ago, with the Bears giving up a whole lot to get him and paying Cutler leader-for-a-decade money. This is the same team that re-signed Angelo and Smith for big deals and now is on the hook for millions because of it.

The quarterback's 17 interceptions say that he has been a failure on the field -- Fox-TV's Terry Bradshaw recently called him the ''disappointment of the year.''

But the failing isn't physical. That's not why you throw off your back foot, late, down the middle, into the end zone for an easy pick-off. If you were a bad physical quarterback, you wouldn't even be able to make throws like that.

No, a player like Cutler screws up because he has not been coached properly or the team around him is lousy or the plays he is made to call are dumb and predictable.

Or he has a personality glitch. It's possible Cutler doesn't listen. Maybe he doesn't know know how to listen. Maybe the glitch means he doesn't know how to communicate well, at all.

A SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS

Thus, if nobody is going to help him out with this deficiency, boycotting public attempts at communication becomes the normal default process.

See ya, Bob.

The fact Patriots quarterback/ dad-with-a-pregnant-wife Tom Brady didn't talk to Costas last week is irrelevant. Brady has three Super Bowl rings. Cutler has, uh ... has he ever won a playoff game? Has he ever played in one? No.

Predictable as this close-the-gates-and-draw-the-bridge mentality is for the Bears , it is sad that it has happened.

Brett Favre never boycotted the media.

Nor did Peyton Manning. Nor, for that matter, Rex Grossman or Jonathan Quinn.

That there is nobody who can coach Cutler in question-answering is ridiculous. It's not like Costas is going to ask about quark theory.

You remember Bears quarterback Cade McNown? He was small and he had a weak arm. But his real failing was his personality. He lost the locker room, and that was that.

We can only hope the Bears aren't close to that point now with Cutler. His apology to the defense for his terrible game at San Francisco was a nice buffer, even if he didn't mean it.

Cutler has great skills and a freakishly big arm. But in the NFL what you don't have is what will be exploited.

KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GETTING INTO

When a team gets to the point the Bears have, certain key members often become petrified of self-analysis, concern for the future, job security.

It's ever so simple to turn the media -- not the opposing team -- into your enemy.

If the Bears lose to the Eagles Sunday and Cutler plays badly, things might get downright nasty.

I remember when Iowa State coach Tim Floyd replaced Phil Jackson as coach of the Bulls in 1999. Floyd thought he was starting his dream job, but he had no idea what he was getting into.

Nor did Lou Piniella know what he was getting into with the Cubs.

And I guarantee you Cutler had no clue about the Bears . Colorado, this ain't.

Sports folks from out of town think they're savvy before they get here. They talk about the big stage and bright lights and opportunity.

Then a 17-65 hoops season rolls their way. Or an 0-3 sweep by the Dodgers. Or 17 picks.

Then they start to wonder.

Then, sometimes, they try to hide.