Bears coach Lovie Smith isn’t sure when his quarterback Jay Cutler suffered a concussion Sunday night.
“You know, of course sometime in the first half,” Smith said. "[Cutler] took some hits, so it’s hard to say exactly when. Right now, I don’t have all of that information. But we need to protect him more. You can only take so much, and tonight was a little too much for him.”
David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune notes that Cutler got up and walked towards the wrong sideline after one of his nine sacks. The quarterback’s head was slammed into the turf on the last sack he took, but perhaps he’d already suffered significant damage.
Smith confirmed that Cutler would start if he was able next week, but he’ll have to pass all the required concussion tests first. The Bears face the Panthers next and Carolina has only four sacks on the season.
As the Giants can attest, facing the Bears is a nice way to goose your pass rush numbers.