Bears have faith in backup QB Caleb Hanie as Jay Cutler undergoes surgery – NFL News
The injury to in-form Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has hit Chicago hard. Cutler is set to undergo surgery on his thumb after picking up the injury during his team’s 31-20 victory over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday in game week
11 of the National Football League.
The 28 year old is set to be replaced by backup quarterback Caleb Hanie for the rest of the regular season with the Bears looking optimistic that Cutler can return by the time the playoffs start. However the news is devastating
for Bears fans since Cutler was the team’s offensive heartbeat and his long layoff will most likely effect the team negatively.
Coach Lovie Smith told reporters "We're going to miss a great player for a period of time. Offensively, we're going to rely on our running game a little bit more."
However, his team is optimistic that Hanie will be more than able to hold his own in the NFL as he is set to play his first game this season against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday November 27th and that the
team has plans to tweak their gameplay a bit now that Cutler will no longer be providing the passes.
Linebacker Brian Urlacher said "We can live with Caleb Hanie. Even [third-stringer Nathan 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. 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."
Cutler got the injury during last Sunday’s match against the Chargers as the Bears increased their winning run to five games. Cutler’s attempted tackle on Chargers cornerback Antoine Cason led to the injury in the fourth quarter.
However the quarterback continued to play the game and did not mention any injuries during his post game interviews.
The news was broken yesterday by Chicago Tribune contributor Vaughn McClure who cited sources familiar with the situation to report on Twitter that Cutler has injured his thumb and will undergo surgery.
Tags: