The Bears brought Jimmy Clausen back to Chicago this past offseason because of his familiarity with head coach John Fox.
Now, Fox may have to rely on that familiarity sooner that he probably would have hoped.
Clausen, who struggled to a 1-9 record as a rookie with the Carolina Panthers under Fox in 2010, replaced Bears starting quarterback Jay Cutler, who suffered a hamstring injury late in the second half of Sunday's 48-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
Afterward, Clausen's teammates were already talking as if he will be the team's starter against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3.
"Jimmy just has to come in and fill in that role," Bears wide receiver Josh Bellamy said. "We don't expect any fallout. We expect Jimmy to come in and do the same thing Jay would do."
[MORE BEARS: Jay Cutler's 'competitiveness' leads to hamstring injury]
Tight end Martellus Bennett is already looking forward to having a full week of practice with Clausen.
NFL
"We're going to catch a lot of balls from Jimmy during the week," Bennett said. "We're going to run a lot of routes with him so he has to get familiar with our timing.
"He handled it well and I'm looking forward to working with him this week to get ready for the Seahawks."
This won't be the first time that Clausen, who went 14-of-23 for 121 yards and an interception in relief of Cutler on Sunday, could be tasked with replacing Cutler as the starter in Chicago, albeit under different circumstances in 2015.
Clausen hadn't seen any regular-season playing time since 2010 when the Bears started him in place of Cutler, a performance-based benching from then head coach Marc Trestman, against the Detroit Lions in Week 15 last season. Against the league's No. 2-ranked scoring defense, Clausen completed 23-of-39 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns in the Bears' loss.
[NBC SHOP: Gear up, Bears fans!]
"It's always an opportunity when you step on the field," Clausen said. "If you're a backup or third-string guy, it's just an opportunity to go out there and improve, get better and make the team go. That's the job of the quarterback to get the team rolling and move the chains and put touchdowns on the board."
Would the offense expect a drop-off from Cutler to Clausen?
"The bark is different," Bennett said. "Their throws are different. The plays that we run with him are different. It's just a lot of little things. Nothing super major, but just getting familiar with him behind us."
However, there is one area that sets the quarterbacks apart in Bennett's mind.
"Jay has better hair."