Cutler to Have Surgery on Thumb as Early as Today

By Chuck Sudo in News on Nov 22, 2011 4:45PM

If you listen to sports talk radio — WSCR-AM streams in our home office throughout the day — you know the big story yesterday was Jay Cutler's broken thumb. Some armchair analysts wondered why the Bears quarterback's injury required surgery when Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger has been playing with a broken thumb. It brings to mind the criticism levied at Cutler during the NFC Championship game, where fans and other NFL players questioned Cutler's toughness when he couldn't return to the field in the second half with a knee injury.

Cutler is set to have surgery on the thumb as soon as today. His injury is described as an "unstable fracture," meaning the break needs to be reset in order to heal properly. Bears head coach Lovie Smith, in his press conference to media yesterday, sounded optimistic Cutler's injury could heal in time for him to return and contribute to a Bears playoff run.

Which brings us to the second-biggest story on Our Town's sports talkers yesterday: Can the Bears qualify for the playoffs? With Cutler out, Caleb Hanie now tops the depth chart. Hanie may have impressed some with his cleanup duty in the NFC title game, but he's still largely unproven.

Hanie's Prime Directive: Don't screw up. If he can perform well enough so that opponents stop stacking their defensive fronts eight deep to negate Matt Forte, the Bears should win the three games experts feel are necessary for them to qualify for the playoffs. Hanie's first major test will be Sunday in Oakland against the Raiders.

Cutler, meanwhile, was rumored to have proposed to ex-fiance Kristin Cavallari again, which Cavallari denied.

We've all done stupid things when we were depressed. Once, we beer bonged six Old Style tall boys through a beer bong, blacked out for 18 hours and woke up in Kenosha with no idea how we got there.

Chin up, Jay.