Brandon Marshall is a player who comes with a lot of baggage. In March of 2012, shortly after the Bears acquired the then 27-year-old receiver, the Chicago Tribune published an article outlining every time Marshall had been involved in some sort of problematic incident off the field.

It is not a short list.

It includes, amongst other things, two arrests for suspicion of domestic violence, an alleged purse snatching, getting into an argument with his father in a parking lot over allegedly firing a gun, stealing sheets from a Burlington Coat Factory, and one incident in which Marshall had to be taken to hospital after his wife stabbed him in the abdomen… because, as he later admitted, he had tried to trap her in a closet.

So it's understandably hard to conflate that Marshall with the Marshall who just this past week was talking to the NFL Thursday Night Football crew after the Bears' victory over the Giants. Upon being asked about his feelings regarding Bears QB Jay Cutler, the man with a history of antagonizing his loved ones was replaced by one who was bursting with affection.

"This year man, it's like night and day, he's unbelievable," he said. "I mean, I'm lost for words when I talk about him." Marshall went on to talk about how well-read Cutler was, and how impressed he was with Cutler's quest for self-improvement as a father and a husband. When asked if any of Cutler's improved performance could be attributed to new head coach Marc Trestman, Marshall said, "You know, honestly, it's more credit to Cutler." He later added that Cutler is "probably the smartest man in any room."

If this seems like a suspiciously hyperbolic assessment of Cutler (a player so famous for his bored and stupid expressions that he spawned a meme wherein cigarettes are photoshopped lazily dangling from the corner his mouth), that's because it probably is. Marshall suffers from a mental illness called Borderline Personality Disorder, a disease that, amongst other things, causes you to see everyone you know as either your best friend or your greatest enemy, and your mind determines which of two they are based only on the last thing they did or said. Marshall had a great game, in large part due to Cutler. It's unsurprising that in this moment, Cutler is Marshall's very best friend in the world.