A Sunday without Jay Cutler's extremes sounds unbearable

I’m not sure we in Chicago fully appreciate Jay Cutler’s entertainment value. He’s up, he’s down, he’s all over the place. He’s a soap opera of a quarterback.

So I don’t want to imagine life without him Sunday against Seattle.

And I really don’t want to imagine life with Jimmy Clausen, a faucet drip of the commonplace to Cutler’s open hydrant of unpredictability.

John Fox, international man of mystery, offered some hope Monday, saying the Bears would continue to evaluate Cutler’s strained hamstring. That struck some people as vague and unsatisfying, but I was just grateful the Bears’ secretive head coach acknowledged that Cutler had a leg.

Fox has come a long way since his many days of calling Alshon Jeffery day to day, hasn’t he?

A reporter asked him Monday if Cutler had undergone a magnetic resonance imaging test.

“Yeah, I’m not going to get into all the tests, but it could have been one of them,’’ he said.

What I took away from Fox’s news conference is that Cutler, injured while trying to make a tackle the day before, might be able to play against Seattle. On the other hand, that could be exactly what he hopes the Seahawks will believe before he stuns them with Clausen, a surprise from which few teams can recover.

“Any time it’s not real severe, I think it’s good news,’’ he said of Cutler’s injury. “But we’ll just evaluate going forward. We’ve got game planning (Monday night and Tuesday) for Seattle. Players are back in on Wednesday.’’

Asked if there was a chance Cutler could practice Wednesday, Fox stayed strong.

“Is (the coin flip) going to be heads or tails on Sunday? I don’t know,’’ he said.

Hours later, the Sun-Times, quoting a source, reported that Clausen would start Sunday and that Cutler likely would miss two games. Two thoughts:

Man, two weeks of Clausen.

And this John Fox, he’s a beauty.

As to the pick-six that Cutler threw Sunday against the Cardinals, Fox refused to blame any one person.

“Football is 11 guys doing stuff,’’ he said.

And people say he’s not forthcoming.