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The Chicago Bears watched star quarterback Jay Cutler go down in their week two loss to the Arizona Cardinals. For the next two weeks, it sounds like they’ll be watching him on the sidelines. Per reports, Cutler suffered a mild hamstring injury during Chicago’s week two NFC clash and will miss the next two weeks as he tries to work his way back to 100%.
Bears QB Jay Cutler will miss at least 2 weeks with hamstring injury, per sources. Jimmy Clausen now starts. The Bears declined comment.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 21, 2015
The worst part about Cutler’s injury was that he left the game with the Bears still within striking distance at Soldier Field. He also had been performing quite well up until he got hurt, as he had completed his first eight passes. His final pass, an eventual pick-six, was his only incompletion on the day and took a close 21-14 game and pushed Arizona up, 28-14. The Cardinals went on to blow the Bears out from there, but had Cutler stayed in the game, the way he was playing suggested he could have kept Chicago in it.
Week 2
Chicago’s immediate fortunes don’t look great, as they’re now going to have to march into Seattle to try to take down the Seahawks without Cutler. That’s not going to be easy, especially with Seattle trying to get out of an ugly 0-2 hole. Both of the Seahawks’ losses to get 2015 going have come on the road, but they tend to play their best football at home in front of the “12th Man”. That’d bad news for Jimmy Clausen, who will try to step up in place of the injured Cutker.
Clausen wasn’t terrible in his lone start in place of Cutler in 2014, but he couldn’t get a win and he’s unlikely to do so in a brutal environment against a still very strong Seattle defense. That makes the Bears a very bad pick in week two.
Playoff Odds
While things won’t project well for the next two games (specifically week three), there is still a minor chance Cutler could return in two weeks and save Chicago’s sinking ship. Of course, it’s not overly likely. The Bears kept things close with the Green Bay Packers in their week one loss, but after losing to the Cardinals are now not just 0-2 on the year, but 0-2 on their own field. Unless they turn things around with an awesome road record in 2015, they’ll be facing an uphill battle the rest of the year. Few people picked Chicago to be a Super Bowl or even playoff contender, but the few that did could quickly see their bets crumbling right before their very eyes. If you’ve yet to make any hard NFL bets, refraining from picking Chicago to do anything substantial in 2015 is probably a good idea.
