Jay Cutler dropped back to pass on first-and-ten in the second quarter and took a sack from nose guard Chris Baker. It looked mundane enough. Except it was not just another sack.
As Baker whipped Cutler to the ground, Cutler clutched at his left hip. He exited the field and later in the game it was learned that Cutler had sustained a groin injury and would not return.
On Monday, the Bears announced that Cutler would be out a minimum of four weeks. When asked to be more specific, general manager Phil Emery declined and said only that it would be four weeks at least before Cutler could return and week-to-week thereafter.
Somehow, the loss of Cutler was not the most concerning injury of the day.
The retooled offense still looked serviceable despite the fact that backup Josh McCown was forced into action, and even though former Bears safety Brandon Meriweather was taking as many cheap shots as he could at Chicago receivers.
(Meriweather was suspended by the NFL on Monday for two games because of his repeated disregard for the rules surrounding hitting defenseless players.)
No, the worst news of the day—even worse, in fact, than the 45-41 loss to the professional Washington, D.C., football team—was the loss of veteran linebacker Lance Briggs.
Briggs, who had taken over the defensive play calling since the retirement of former middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, is expected to miss up to six weeks with a fracture in his shoulder, according to NFL.com.
This comes just a week after the Bears lost new middle linebacker D.J. Williams for the remainder of the season because of a torn pectoral muscle.
The Williams injury meant that rookie middle linebacker Jonathan Bostic got the first start of his career Sunday. And even though he has plenty of speed and can lay some big hits on people, he is still a rookie and was not always able to shed blocks or pick up the right assignments.
Veteran cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tillman also missed some time in Washington on Sunday with a recurring knee injury.
All of these defensive injuries could not come in a worse game. Even when everyone was healthy this was not the Monsters of the Midway defense of old. Without key players like Briggs, Tillman and Williams, things could only get worse.
Safeties Major Wright and Chris Conte have proven themselves ineffective, both in coverage and in run support. They were even more exposed against Washington.
Following a timeout in the Washington game, Conte left his receiver open, had to run over and get set to cover him and still gave up a touchdown on a fade route. And late in the game, Wright was pulled because of bad play in favor of Craig Steltz.
The safeties’ issues in coverage are only exacerbated by poor defensive line play. Defensive end Julius Peppers has really shown up for only two games, the one in Washington and the game against the Lions, both of which were losses.
Second-year pass rush specialist Shea McClellin is similarly experiencing difficulty, especially in run defense. The team also lost defensive tackle Henry Melton for the remainder of the season, and Stephen Paea has been working through turf toe issues.
The depleted defense is extremely concerning, especially now that the Bears’ offense will presumably be unable to put up as many points without the services of Cutler. The only good news is that the Bears have a bye week before heading to Lambeau Field to face off against the Packers.
The bye gives the Bears a chance to get healthy, but how much good that will do may be minimal because the key injuries appear to be long-term.
The Bears needed to get better and younger on defense even before seemingly the entire defense got hurt. The injuries just move the upcoming front office moves into the realm of absolutely critical.
Tim Carroll
Senior Sports Editor
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