Fox: Starting job may not be Cutler’s
Definitive statements don’t come easy when you’re 0- 3.
Perhaps that’s why Bears coach John Fox, when given an opportunity Monday to anoint Jay Cutler the starting quarterback whenever he returns from a sprained thumb, refrained.
“I don’t think there are any givens,” he said, a day after the Bears lost 31- 17 to the Dallas Cowboys with Brian Hoyer under center. “And that’s no indictment on anybody. This is a day- to- day, week-to-week, what-have- you- done- formelately league. And so we’re just trying to get the best 11 guys out there regardless of the position, to where we can play a full 60 minutes and get a victory.”
It seems unlikely that the Bears decide Cutler was the problem all along. He still has not been cleared by the medical staff — “I don’t think we want to have setbacks with any player who is injured, including Jay,” Fox said — but that doesn’t preclude a start Sunday against the Detroit Lions. The Bears plan to re- evaluate him Wednesday.
Fox drew a comparison between this year and last, when Cutler hurt his hamstring in Week 2 and came back to start, and win, the Bears’ first game in Week 4, cementing a reputation as a quick healer.
“He returned after one week,” said Fox, who added the Bears are in “kind of a day- to- day mode” with Cutler. “It’s hard to predict. We’ll just see and evaluate him every day.”
Sources told the Sun- Times that Cutler first injured his thumb in Week 1. If so, a return Sunday would fall within the return timeline.
Fox seemed pleased with Hoyer’s 30- for- 49 performance for 317 yards and two touchdowns, though much of the damage came with the Bears down by two scores or more. The Bears totaled 276 of their 390 yards— 71 percent— in the second half, which they began with a 21- point deficit.
“When you’re down 24- 3, you kind of abort the gameplan . . . and you’ve just got to work on trying to catch up,” said tight end Zach Miller, who caught both of Hoyer’s touchdown passes.
Hoyer erred in keeping the ball on a run- pass option on the Bears’ first play, Fox said, but “did some good things” the rest of the way. It wasn’t enough to win— and probably wasn’t enough to supplant Cutler whenever he’s able to return.
“Yardage doesn’t win games,” Fox said. “Points do.”