The Bears are now 4-3 on the season.
LANDOVER, MD- If losing a 45-41 heartbreaker to the lackluster Washington Redskins wasn’t bad enough, things are only getting harder for the Bears as the trainers room is beginning to fill to capacity. The Monsters of the Midway added to the injury list this afternoon, the most notable of the walking wounded being Jay Cutler. Cutler was injured in the second quarter and removed from the game.
He was eventually taken off of the field on a cart and given x-rays. Head coach Marc Trestman says No. 6 has a groin injury and that he will be re-evaluated on Monday. There are reports that the Bears will bring back Jordan Palmer to backup Josh McCown. McCown played the rest of the game in Cutler’s absence.
Palmer if you’ll recall was a member of the Bears roster for the final two preseason games against Oakland and Cleveland. Palmer started the preseason finale against Cleveland. It’s not known how much time Cutler will miss, but according to NFL Network’s Michael Silver Cutler’s injury “could be bad.” Cutler missed a game last season with a concussion, in 2011 his season was ended with a broken hand which required surgery.
Another wounded Bear is linebacker Lance Briggs, he suffered a shoulder injury late in the game. He was seen on the sideline testing his arm and hoped to return to the field but he was kept out for the duration. The Bears are already thin at the linebacker position to begin with. D.J. Williams is out for the year which has put rookie Jon Bostic at the starting middle linebacker spot. Jerry Franklin had been promoted to the active roster from the practice squad on Friday to take Williams’ roster spot.
Should Briggs miss a significant amount of time, either special teams mainstay Blake Costanzo, or rookie Khaseem Greene will start at outside linebacker. Depending on the length of Briggs’ recovery the Bears may have to tap into the free agent market to fill his roster spot. With the Bears still reeling from a difficult salary cap situation, they will have to find a player at an extreme discount. Unless they decide to move rookie defensive end Cornelius Washington over to linebacker, Washington was used as an outside linebacker during his college days.
Cornerback Charles Tillman was also pulled in the second half due to his recurring knee injury. It’s been a nagging issue for “Peanut” since Week 2 against Minnesota. Perhaps the injury is more serious than we’ve all been lead to believe. This injury kept Tillman out of practice leading up the New Orleans game, and it kept out of the Giants game. But expect Zach Bowman to once again fill in for Tillman should he be called upon.
At this point the Bears are probably thanking God Almighty that they now have their bye week to look forward too. Hopefully the extra week will give everyone enough time to heal before the Bears meet the arch-rival Packers on November 4th. It’s doubtful that everyone will heal by then, so the extra week gives the backups time to acclimate themselves to working with the starters.
This holds especially true for Josh McCown who hasn’t started a game since the 2011 season. Last year McCown was the No. 3 quarterback behind Jason Campbell. And with the Bears running a new offense this season, he’ll need all the work he can get with Cutler on the shelf. Today No. 12 did quite well for himself as he completed 14-of-20 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 33 yards, finished with a passer rating of 119.6 and averaged 10 yards per pass.
It’s a start in the right direction especially if McCown will need to take over for a lengthy amount of time. Follow me on Twitter @GabeSalgado82
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