Thumbs Down - Can the Bears Overcome Jay Cutler's Injury?

"I've learned that life is one crushing defeat after another, until you just wish Flanders was dead." - Homer Simpson

I certainly don't feel that way about life in general (and not just because, like hens love roosters and geese love ganders, I love Ned Flanders more than Homer Simpson loves a nacho hat).  But the first part of that sentence does a pretty good job of summarizing how I've felt watching my football teams this fall.  After a 6-0 start, the Illini may need to win their last game of the regular season at Minnesota to avoid being shut out of a bowl game.  The Bears had been doing a good job of covering up the stench emanating from Champaign by posting a five-game winning streak - and major props to you if you guessed that the Bears, who were sitting at 2-3 at the same time the Illini were 6-0, would reach seven wins before the Illini did.  However, as you've undoubtedly heard, the Bears suffered a crushing injury on Sunday, losing long snapper Patrick Mannelly to a torn ACL.  Oh - and there was also something about Jay Cutler breaking his thumb during the win over the Chargers.

Cutler is one of the five starters (along with Forte, Peppers, Briggs, and Urlacher) whom the team could least afford to lose to injury for an extended period of time.  And to be blunt, it really sucks that Cutler got hurt when he was playing better than he ever had since joining the Bears.  While Lovie Smith is confident that Cutler can return before the regular season ends, the Bears still have to find a way to win enough games in the meantime to make Cutler's return to the lineup meaningful.  To do that the Bears will turn to Caleb Hanie, whose last significant playing time (unless you obsess over preseason games) involved leading a valiant but ill-fated comeback attempt against the Packers in the NFC Championship Game.  The good news is that (1) Hanie showed in that game that he can succeed against a top-of-the-line NFL defense; (2) the Bears have proven in the Lovie Smith era that they can win games with defense, special teams, and a marginal QB; and (3) the Bears only have two games left against teams with winning records (at Oakland and at Green Bay).  So even without Cutler, the Bears still have an excellent chance to reach the playoffs - beating Kansas City and Seattle at home, then picking up a road win over Denver or Minnesota, would be enough to get the Bears to 10-6.   And one more good thing - with Hanie on the field, it's less likely that Martz goes crazy and reverts to the seven-step drop play calls he loves so much.

Bottom line - I think we'll see some ugly football while Cutler's gone, but I also think the Bears can squeeze out enough wins that, with the tiebreaker advantages they hold, they'll be able to get into the playoffs.  And more importantly, if they do get to the postseason, they should have a healthy Jay Cutler to lead them.