12:20pm: Coach John Fox says it doesn’t appear that Cutler will have thumb surgery in the short term, Patrick Finley of the Sun Times tweets. He called Cutler “day to day” but coaches don’t always tell the truth when it comes to star players with injuries.
10:38am: The Bears are “preparing for a lengthy absence” for quarterback Jay Cutler after he injured his thumb, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Now, it remains to be seen whether Cutler will have surgery. If Cutler goes under the knife, he will presumably be out for even longer.
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Cutler suffered his injury in the season opener against the Texans, a source tells Adam L. Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times. The quarterback played through last night’s loss to the Eagles with that ligament damage in his right thumb and exacerbated the problem. Typically, this kind of injury results in a three-to-four week absence, Jahns hears.
Cutler, 33, left Monday night’s game after throwing an interception in the third quarter. Before his early exit, Cutler completed 12 of 17 passes for 157 yards. He was also sacked three times.
Without Cutler, the Bears will lean on free agent pickup Brian Hoyer. Hoyer is coming off of the best season of his career as he completed 60% of his passes for 2,600+ yards while throwing 19 touchdowns against seven interceptions. After leading the Texans to a 5-4 record in his nine starts, however, Hoyer had a dreadful showing against Chiefs in the playoffs.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Tough to call cutler a star……..
Eight seasons with Bears…. Amazing…… ???? Find a quarterback …….!!!
Jay is BY FAR the best QB Chicago Bears have ever had. Point the blame on GEORGE McCaskey taking over in 2010. Ryan Pace, Adam Gase, and Vic Fangio were good Hires. Pace letting Gase leave, keeping John Fox was a HUGE mistake. GEORGE wants John Fox…. I say Take Him GEORGE…. Take him to the CFL, just out of Chicago… Don’t forget Dowell… Dowell Loggains was FIRED by the Browns…. The Bears aren’t far from the Browns level, All due to Poor GM’s and Offensive Coaches NOT NAMED Adam Gase!