Seven weeks into the NFL season and there are growing fears among Chicago Bears fans that the season may already be over.
The team announced on Monday that quarterback Jay Cutler will be out at least four weeks with a torn groin muscle and linebacker Lance Briggs for at least six with a small fracture in his shoulder.
Try as he might, a despondent coach Marc Trestman couldn't much hide his disappointment. "Lance is our leader," Trestman told the Chicago Tribune. "He's the guy who makes everything go. He makes the calls and so forth. So you're going to miss him. But it's 'Next man up.' That's how you have to operate in this league."
After Briggs left Sunday's 45-41 loss to Washington the Redskins ran 27 plays and gained 234 yards and scored touchdowns on three of four drives.
Referring to Cutler, Trestman added, "I'm only confident by what they've told me. This is a minimum of four weeks. Then he'll be evaluated week to week. ... Four weeks is a reasonable start. And then it'll be week to week. I'm encouraged by the prognosis."
Josh McCown took over for Cutler against the Redskins and even he admits things now have to be different. "Have you seen the way he throws," said McCown. "Obviously, there's a difference with the velocity at which the ball travels when Jay throws it and when I throw it. So there's different ways that we have to play the game in different ways we see the game."
Adding to the Bears woes is the aggravation of the right knee injury Charles Tillman is battling that has led to inflammation and has him listed as week-to-week.
Trestman said neither Cutler nor Briggs will require surgery.
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