Jay Cutler Injury: Bears Season in Grave Danger with Cutler's Broken Hand

The Chicago Bears worst-case scenario just happened.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Jay Cutler has broken his throwing hand and is in jeopardy of missing the rest of the 2011 season. Right now the report says he'll miss 6-to-8 weeks meaning he wouldn't be available for the rest of the regular season.

It's unclear when the injury occurred considering he wasn't sacked in the Bears 31-20 win over the San Diego Chargers.The break must have occurred at some point late in the game considering he collected 286 yards and two touchdowns in anther magnificent performance.

At 7-3, the Bears seemed poised to make their way back to the NFC playoffs for the second consecutive year.

Now they are long shots.

Sure Caleb Hanie put up respectable numbers against the Green Bay Packers in the second half of last year's NFC Championship game (13/20 for 153 yards and one touchdown), but that was more of a product of Green Bay's lack of preparation.

If Cutler is indeed missing the rest of the season, Hanie is going to be dissected and digested to death by opposing defenses.

Offensive coordinator Mike Martz had customized his offense to completely revolve around the strength's of Cutler...i.e short drop backs with quick reads with the occasional shot down the field. The change in philosophy occurred when the Bears were 2-3 and looking like a bust.

Five wins later everything changed. Now it's back to bleak.

The O-line still is one of the worst in the league despite Cutler's ability to make them look better with all of his quick throws and underrated elusiveness.

Hanie may be in his fourth season as a pro, but the former Colorado State Ram has almost zero NFL experience. With a shaky line and a horrendous group of receivers, it's hard to imagine the Bears winning three or possibly four more games to reach the 10-11 win plateau.

Aside from home games against the Chiefs and the Seahawks, the Bears are going to be favored to lose in the other four games left on their schedule, which are all road contests (Oakland, Denver, Green Bay, Minnesota).

9-7 isn't going to be enough in the ultra competitive NFC.

This is a death blow that is a cruel way to end what was shaping up to be a magical season in The Windy City.