Bears quarterback Jay Cutler will have shoulder surgery Saturday and is lost for the season, coach John Fox said Thursday.
Cutler tried to rehab the labrum in his right, throwing shoulder over the past 11 days, Fox said, but the team determined that surgery was the best way to fix it.
“He’s tough,” Fox said. “Like I said, he waited the two weeks, a lot of rehab. They’re in there all hours of the morning and afternoon and evening. There were some different treatments that I’m not going to get into all the exacts. But typically things you try to do to avoid surgery and they didn’t take for him like they were expecting. And we’re at the surgical mode at this point.”
Fox claimed last week that the injury was not season-ending. Cutler wanted to play again this season.
“He exhausted his options,” offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains said.
Cutler’s last game — against the Giants — could have been his last with the Bears. Fox refused to speculate, saying that “the offseason is the offseason — we’re not there yet.”
Matt Barkley figures to start the rest of the season.
Cutler, who suffered a hit in the first quarter against the Giants, will be placed on injured reserve. He started only five games this season, having injured ligaments in his right thumb in Week 2 against the Eagles.
“I know he’s extremely competitive,” Fox said. “I think he’s been very tough-minded when he’s had to deal with things, even in our tenure here, different surgeries, the hamstring, the thumb and now the shoulder. I think he’s handled that as well as most guys I’ve ever been associated with.”
Receiver Cam Meredith said no one can question his toughness.
“He’s definitely a resilient guy, always in the training room trying to get ice and doing something to get himself better,” he said. “So it’s just hard to see him being in this situation. He’s definitely going to battle through it and come up with, whatever the next situation is, he’ll get through.”