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Cutler brushes off exchange with Tice

Jay Cutler thought the media was trying to sell papers by asking about Mike Tice. Matthew Emmons/US Presswire

ARLINGTON, Texas. -- Jay Cutler rebounded from a pair of consecutive subpar performances with a masterful effort versus the Dallas Cowboys to the tune of 275 passing yards, two touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 140.1 in the Bears' impressive 34-18 victory on Monday night.

Perhaps the only negative for Cutler occurred in the second quarter when television cameras recorded an awkward exchange between the quarterback and offensive coordinator Mike Tice on the team's bench.

After some apparent early game communication issues that forced the Bears to burn a pair of timeouts, Tice attempted to sit down next to Cutler and have a conversation on the bench. However, Cutler got up and walked away as soon as the veteran coach attempted to speak, much to the apparent chagrin of Tice, who the video shows was clearly caught off guard by Cutler's decision to ignore him, and the Monday Night Football crew discussed the exchange.

The two were able to iron out whatever differences they had on the field as the Bears scored two second half touchdowns en route to the easy win.

Cutler pleaded ignorance about the entire situation in his postgame press conference.

“It wasn’t about anything," Cutler said. "I don’t have to sit by him the whole game do I?

"No (I wasn’t upset). What are we looking for here? I know we’ve got to sell papers, but ... I mean, we can’t read into everything. You guys have got to sell papers and it’s hard out there. But we can’t blow up every headline. Things happen in football games. Just because I walk off and go get water, that doesn’t mean much."

Bears assistant coaches are off limits to the media following games. Tice is not scheduled to speak with reporters until Wednesday.