LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- The Chicago Bears were already losing games. Now theyre going to be without their most important players on both sides of the ball. Injured quarterback Jay Cutler will miss at least the next four weeks of the season and Pro Bowl linebacker Lance Briggs will be out for around six weeks, staggering blows for a struggling team. The Bears announced the news Monday, a day after Cutler suffered a muscle tear in his groin during a 45-41 loss to the Washington Redskins, forcing the Bears to go with veteran Josh McCown. Briggs left the game with a small fracture in his left shoulder. Neither player will need surgery. "Theyre not done," coach Marc Trestman said. "Theyre going to be back (this season)." Pro Bowl cornerback Charles Tillman also left the game with a knee injury as Chicago (4-3) lost for the third time in four games. The Bears are off this week, but with the injuries mounting, their season could be slipping away from them. The defence has been hit particularly hard in recent weeks, and with Cutler out, itll be veteran McCown lining up behind centre as they try to keep up with Green Bay and Detroit in the NFC North. Cutler came up clutching the top of his left leg following a sack by 333-pound nose tackle Chris Baker with about 10 minutes left in the first half. He stayed down for a few minutes and eventually limped off the field. "They said this is a minimum four weeks and then well evaluate it week to week," Trestman said. "Based on the history -- I talked to the doctors this morning -- of this injury, four weeks is a reasonable start and that it would be week to week." The Bears insisted Cutler will return this season. "Unless theres a complication during his rehab, with the injury that he has that Im certain hell be back at some point," general manager Phil Emery said. Where Cutler will be next season remains to be seen, given his expiring contract. Its the second time in three years that he will miss a significant chunk of time, after suffering a season-ending injury in 2011. Emery said he doesnt see a pattern. As for how this injury will impact contract negotiations with Cutler after the season, he wouldnt discuss that. "Theres no reason to because its not the here-and-now," Emery said. The here-and-now has the Bears forced to go with McCown, hoping he can at least keep them afloat while Cutler recuperates. He entered Sundays game at Washington in the second quarter, seeing his first game action since the 2011 season. He completed 14 of 20 passes for 204 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown pass to Martellus Bennett that gave his team a 41-38 lead with 3:57 to play. McCown looked understandably rusty in his first few plays, but he did put Chicago in position to win the shootout with the Redskins. The Bears will need more of the same if theyre going to have a chance of winning their next game at Green Bay on a Monday night following the bye, not to mention beating Detroit the following week. They didnt fare well the last time they went an extended period without Cutler. After he broke his thumb two years ago, the Bears dropped five of six following a 7-3 start in a collapse that cost general manager Jerry Angelo his job. Back then, Caleb Hanie struggled in a big way. The Bears then turned to McCown, who had been coaching high school football in North Carolina, late in the season. They have more weapons now with Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery and Bennett, not to mention a rebuilt offensive line and a system thats geared more to quick, high-percentage passes than what they were running under Mike Martz. "Especially in this league where the quarterback drives the ship, I dont know if youre ever ready to handle losing your starting quarterback," McCown said. "But I think the structure is in place and the emphasis has been put on individuals to do their job and do their part. If we continue to get that, and we felt like we got that yesterday, it allows the quarterback to step in there, whether its Jay or myself, to function and play, because guys are going to be coached to be where they are supposed to be and do what theyre supposed to do." With Cutler out, Chicago is bringing in Jordan Palmer to back up McCown. The Bears were one injury away from having receiver Earl Bennett line up behind centre because they only carry two quarterbacks. Emery said that wont change. He also said the Bears are looking to bring in a veteran with Briggs injured. And just for the record, Brian Urlacher is not a candidate. Emery shot down that idea, pointing out that the former star middle linebacker filed his retirement papers before the season and received his termination pay. He also said the Bears wont make a trade simply because of the injuries, even though they have some big holes to fill. They lost defensive tackle Henry Melton, his replacement, Nate Collins, and middle linebacker D.J. Williams to season-ending knee injuries. With Briggs out, rookie Jon Bostic or veteran James Anderson figure to call plays and rookie Khaseem Greene will likely get more playing time. "Weve worked trades here the last couple of weeks, we just havent found the correct combination of value and player exchange," Emery said. NOTE: To make room for Palmer, Emery said the Bears released TE Steve Maneri. KWaun Williams Jersey . "Canada," Bolland said with a smile. "Is that a question?" One day earlier, though, fellow Toronto Maple Leafs centre Nazem Kadri wasnt so sure his home and native land could pull off the win against the United States in the semi-finals of the Olympic hockey tournament. Doug Cunningham Jersey . Chelsea took until the second half to trouble the leagues bottom team, but Schuerrle then ripped through the defence with ease at Craven Cottage to keep Jose Mourinhos side on track for the title. http://www.custom49ersjersey.com/custom-...arge-2778d.html. - The Detroit Lions have placed tight end Brandon Pettigrew on injured reserve, ending his season. Steve Young Jersey . The two-time former Formula One champion downplayed his third-place finish three weeks ago in China and said progress is going slow for Ferrari as it tries to make up ground on Mercedes. John Brodie Jersey . Dwyane Wade took over in the fourth quarter.In the wake of all the penalties last week, I thought I would break them down and see what happened. I also got help from CFL stats Guru Steve Daniel, who deserves credit for all the work he does weekly. Here is a list of the penalties that happened in Week 3. There were 110 (27.5 per game) last week. In the last 20 years, there have been only two weeks with more penalties! One thing you always look at as a coach are penalties that occur before the ball was snapped, those are usually based on mental errors such as not following the snap count on offence or watching the ball on defence. The before-the-whistle penalties can be eliminated by focusing on your assignment. Offside, procedure, time count and too many men would fall in that category. Last week there were 31 of those penalties or 28 per cent of the total penalties. Some interesting stats - Holding was the highest penalty called last week with 25 calls including 11 times in one game. - Almost 1000 yards was penalizedd last week, which moved the ball up and down the field.dddddddddddd - 298 penalties so far this season - 99 penalties per week - Almost 25 penalties per game - Penalties are up in all areas: offence, defence, special teams As a coach, you are always stressing and coaching the correct fundamentals of the game but it is sometimes hard for players to learn how to correct penalties until it happens to them at full speed in a game. Also we have lost a lot of veteran football players this past season. We shouldnt blame the officials for the increase in the penalties because they are calling what they are seeing happening on the field. Usually coaches range with agreeing with 70-90 per cent of the calls when they see them on film. Every week the coaches still see penalties on the game film that were not called that should have been called. Im not sure what the reason is for so many penalties this year, but Im sure the coaches and players are working hard to correct them. ' ' '
