Chicago Bears quarterback
Jay Cutler will undergo surgery on the thumb on his throwing hand after breaking it during Sunday's 31-20 victory over the
San Diego Chargers.
The team initially said the surgery would take place Tuesday but
quickly changed that statement to say a date hasn't been set. Head coach
Lovie Smith insisted Monday that the plan is for Cutler return before
the playoffs.
"He'll be out an extended period of time," Smith
said. "The plan now is for him to have surgery on the thumb soon, and I
can't tell you exactly how quick, but as soon as possible. Not today,
but hopefully fairly quickly we can have surgery on the thumb.
"And
I also said, the plan is to get him back at the latter part of the
regular season. This is what I wanted to know, 'Was it a season-ending
injury?' No. From what I've been told right now, we can expect him back
at the end of the regular season. For me, that's enough to go on."
Cutler injured the right thumb while trying to make a tackle on
Antoine Cason,
who intercepted a pass with just less than 10 minutes remaining in the
fourth quarter. Cutler continued to play after the injury, completing
his final two passes for 24 yards in the team's final drive.
"It's devastating," linebacker
Brian Urlacher
said. "It's horrible, and I felt worse for him than I did for us. It
stinks for us because he's having such a great year. He's our leader.
He's the guy we turn to for pretty much everything."
The Bears also announced that long snapper
Patrick Mannelly ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and is out for the year.
While
Smith believes Cutler could return before the postseason, sources said
Cutler will likely miss the final six regular-season games.
"I'm
not going to play doctor right now," Smith said on WBBM radio in Chicago
when asked how long Cutler will be sidelined. "We're going through the
process."
With Cutler out, the attention turns to backup
Caleb Hanie,
who will take over as the starter. A four-year veteran, Hanie played in
two games in 2010, completing 8 of 14 passes for 66 yards and an
interception.
Hanie also filled in for Cutler in the NFC title
game, and hit 13-of-20 for 153 yards a touchdown and two interceptions
in a loss to the
Green Bay Packers.
"Caleb
has been around here a long time, and our football team feels
comfortable with him leading us," Smith said. "Don't feel sorry for us,
or anything like that. We have a lot of things in place. We're losing
and we're going to miss a great player for a period of time, but
offensively we're going to rely on our running a game a little bit more.
We have a great defense and special teams."
Rookie
Nathan Enderle is the Bears' only other healthy quarterback, so Smith said the plan is
to sign another veteran quarterback.
"The plan is for that. With
Jay being out for awhile, we need another quarterback on our roster," Smith said. "The plan is
to look for a veteran, preferably,
to come in and help us."
It's expected the Bears would consider quarterbacks with experience playing in the system of offensive coordina
tor Mike Martz.
One who will not be in the running is
Kurt Warner. The former Rams and Cardinals QB tweeted that he was "bummed" for
Cutler,
but added, "Been there 2 many times & he was playing great fball!
Yes, I know & luv offense but NO I am NOT unretiring!"
Another name that comes up in any discussion of need at quarterback is familiar
to Bears fans --
Brett Favre. There is no indication that the Bears are interested, but
Cutler and Favre share the same agent, Bus Cook.
Former Jaguars quarterback
David Garrard -- with no experience in Martz's system -- also seemed like a logical option, but he's just starting rehabilitation from back
surgery and won't be able
to undergo any contact for at least three weeks, according
to a source.
Urlacher said the team "can live with" Hanie and even Enderle.
"With
the way we play defense and special teams and the way we run the
football, we can win with those guys at quarterback," he said. "We're
not happy about what happened, but we're not going
to panic,
as players. I don't know what the organization is doing, but our
coaches won't panic. We'll settle down, get Caleb in there, get his reps
and all that good stuff, but we're not panicking right now."
The Bears opened a roster spot for a veteran QB, releasing defensive end
Mario Addison on Monday.
The Bears
have won five games in a row
to improve
to 7-3. It's possible
Cutler could rejoin the team in time for the playoffs.
Smith said the Bears' strategy won't change.
"Running
game, play from our quarterback position, outstanding defensive play,
special teams," he said. "We've been in this situation before. So again,
it's unfortunate, we don't know exactly how long
Jay will be out, but while he's out the ship will keep moving."