It doesn’t look like the Bears will get a regular season comeback from Jay Cutler to bolster their playoff chances.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the team is not expecting him to come back before the regular season. There’s still some hope that Cutler will be able to play in the postseason, should the Bears advance that far, but even that remains up in the air due to the surgery needed to repair Cutler’s fractured thumb.
Cutler has two pins and three screws put in the thumb and there’s not much anyone can do to speed up the healing process. During a radio interview earlier this week, transcribed by the Chicago Tribune, Cutler talked about the timetable for a return and said that it remains uncertain.
“Everything is kind of on track. It’s just a matter of letting that bone really heal and maybe taking the pins out, maybe not. It’s just time ... and time’s not really on our side right now, but that’s the only thing we can really do.”
It’s not exactly the only thing. They can also hope that Caleb Hanie starts generating some better results for the offense, because hoping alone won’t make up for not having Cutler and Matt Forte at a crucial moment in the season.