John Fox has been surprised by Jay Cutler’s toughness in the relatively short time Fox has been Bears head coach. And Cutler may do that yet again, with Fox announcing that the injury to Cutler’s right (throwing) shoulder is “not season-ending contrary to the reports you hear,” Fox said on Wednesday.
The Bears did not place Cutler on injured reserve. He did not practice on Wednesday, leaving Matt Barkley and David Fales to handle the throwing duties in the first day of on-field work leading up Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans. Fox said only that Cutler had a shoulder injury, noting that “he’s a tough son of a gun so he doesn’t go typical of the [recovery] lengths people put into it as far as weeks [inactive] and what not.
“So, right now he is day to day.”
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With that “diagnosis,” typical for a head coach not wanting to declare a starter out for an upcoming game, Fox did not rule Cutler out for Tennessee.
Nonetheless, Barkley took the starter’s snaps on Wednesday, which already puts him ahead of where he was when he was forced into the Green Bay game after then-starter Brian Hoyer went down with a broken arm.
“It’s still up in the air about what’s going to be happening,” Barkley said. “But I’m preparing like I’m starting. Getting the reps is big in any quarterback’s development, so taking advantage of those, just getting timing down with the receivers, getting in and out of the huddle, just little things like that. But whatever happens Sunday I’ll be ready.”