REPORT: BEARS EVALUATING SHOULDER INJURY THAT COULD END JAY CUTLER'S SEASON
In a season where the Bears already have lost two quarterbacks to season-ending injuries, the situation under center took another dark turn with word that Jay Cutler came out of Sunday?s loss to the New York Giants with a shoulder injury that could end Cutler?s season as well.
The injury was first reported by Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune. NFL.com?s Ian Rappaport reported that Cutler was expected to miss some time and that the injury was possibly major. Behind Cutler the Bears have only Matt Barkley on the roster and Josh Woodrum, an undrafted rookie out of Liberty and signed to the practice squad.
Cutler already had missed five games with a thumb injury suffered in the game-two loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. He returned with a strong game in the win over the Minnesota Vikings but has been battered with four sacks each in the subsequent losses to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Giants. Cutler, whose four sacks against New York all came in the fourth quarter, three within the first eight plays of the quarter, took an addition three hits by the Bucs and two by the Giants, and on more than one occasion in each game was slow to get up after the hits.
GM Ryan Pace appeared to have given the Bears some depth at the position when he signed veteran Brian Hoyer in the offseason and claimed promising young arm Connor Shaw off waivers in July. But Shaw?s season ended with a broken leg suffered against Kansas City in the third preseason game. Hoyer was performing well in relief of Cutler, posting a five-game passer rating of 98.0 before going down with a broken arm in the Green Bay game.
The situation is dire for the Bears, who struggled mightily when Barkley replaced Hoyer in Green Bay and completed just 6 of 15 passes and threw interceptions on their final two possessions.
But with Cutler a longshot to be brought back to the Bears in 2017, his chance to establish any sort of resume to take into free agency is at risk. His interception rate has spiked back up (3.6 percent) this season after a dramatic improvement in 2015 and he has thrown at least one interception in four of the five games he?s started this season.
In a season where the Bears already have lost two quarterbacks to season-ending injuries, the situation under center took another dark turn with word that Jay Cutler came out of Sunday?s loss to the New York Giants with a shoulder injury that could end Cutler?s season as well.
The injury was first reported by Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune. NFL.com?s Ian Rappaport reported that Cutler was expected to miss some time and that the injury was possibly major. Behind Cutler the Bears have only Matt Barkley on the roster and Josh Woodrum, an undrafted rookie out of Liberty and signed to the practice squad.
Cutler already had missed five games with a thumb injury suffered in the game-two loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. He returned with a strong game in the win over the Minnesota Vikings but has been battered with four sacks each in the subsequent losses to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Giants. Cutler, whose four sacks against New York all came in the fourth quarter, three within the first eight plays of the quarter, took an addition three hits by the Bucs and two by the Giants, and on more than one occasion in each game was slow to get up after the hits.
GM Ryan Pace appeared to have given the Bears some depth at the position when he signed veteran Brian Hoyer in the offseason and claimed promising young arm Connor Shaw off waivers in July. But Shaw?s season ended with a broken leg suffered against Kansas City in the third preseason game. Hoyer was performing well in relief of Cutler, posting a five-game passer rating of 98.0 before going down with a broken arm in the Green Bay game.
The situation is dire for the Bears, who struggled mightily when Barkley replaced Hoyer in Green Bay and completed just 6 of 15 passes and threw interceptions on their final two possessions.
But with Cutler a longshot to be brought back to the Bears in 2017, his chance to establish any sort of resume to take into free agency is at risk. His interception rate has spiked back up (3.6 percent) this season after a dramatic improvement in 2015 and he has thrown at least one interception in four of the five games he?s started this season.
