For the third time in less than a week, with a chance to clearly identify Jay Cutler as his starting quarterback when he recovers sufficiently from an injured thumb, John Fox deferred his Cutler-or Brian Hoyer decision.
“I think it's performance-based,” Fox said on Monday. “So anybody that's performing well, I don't think we're going to be likely to change.”
Hoyer is “performing well.” And the Bears won with him at quarterback.
The Bears defeated the Detroit Lions 17-14 on Sunday with Hoyer completing 28 of 36 passes for 302 yards, a second straight 300-yard game for Hoyer, something that Cutler has accomplished just twice in his seven-plus Bears seasons. As important for a defense-based coach like Fox, Hoyer has thrown zero interceptions in his 97 pass attempts since taking over when Cutler was forced to leave the Philadelphia game.
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Though far, far from solely Cutler’s fault, the Bears are 4-9 over Cutler’s last 13 starts.
Cutler has been on a prove-it track with the Fox staff ever since the head coach was hired. Obviously every player is ultimately on a prove-it basis in the NFL, but the No. 1 quarterback is not just another player, and Fox indicated last Wednesday, Sunday night and again Monday that the decision is not a foregone conclusion in Cutler’s favor.
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“I'd say right now he's day to day and really right now it's been week to week,” Fox said of Cutler’s status with the injured thumb. “So I don't have a time line. ... I think we'll evaluate it just like we do every position on the football team.
"I think Jay has played a lot of good football. In fact in the cut-ups watching Detroit in last year's two games I thought he played pretty well. We'll evaluate it like everything. Right now I don't like getting into speculation and predictions because we'll know more on Wednesday.”