John Fox: Bears QB Jay Cutler’s injury ‘not season-ending’

The Bears don’t expect quarterback Jay Cutler to miss the rest of the season after suffering a right shoulder injury against the Giants, coach John Fox said Wednesday.

Fox didn’t rule out Cutler for Sunday against the Titans, calling him “day to day.” But Cutler did not practice Wednesday. Matt Barkley would start Sunday if Cutler can’t play.

“In my experience with Jay, he’s a tough son of a gun,” Fox said. “He doesn’t go typical of the [injury] lengths people put into it as far as weeks and what not.”

Fox wouldn’t confirm an NFL Network report that he had a torn labrum in his shoulder, but said there are variables when describing any injury, referencing right guard Kyle Long’s torn labrum that didn’t cause him to miss a single regular-season game.

“There’s different levels of injury,” Fox said. “Tear is kind of a broad term. “It is sore. There is soreness to it. But there’s a lot of things in the shoulder that can affect the quarterback. Some of them can be just chronic, old, just wear and tear, like pitchers or quarterbacks in the NFL [have]. It’s injured. But it’s not season-ending.”

Fox wouldn’t say when Cutler, who met with Bears doctors throughout the game, was hurt. He took his first big hit on the second play of the game, a roughing-the-passer penalty.