Jay Cutler Injury: Loss of QB Won't Keep Chicago Bears out of Playoff Picture

Don't panic just yet, Bears fans. Jay Cutler's broken thumb may be damaging to Chicago's hopes of reaching the NFC playoffs, but it's far from damning.

Certainly, losing Cutler for at least the remainder of the regular season doesn't help the Bears in their pursuit of a wild-card berth. He'd played remarkably well over the last five games, throwing seven touchdowns while getting picked off just three times and sacked on five occasions while leading Chicago to victory each time out. In essence, he'd finally begun to play like the quarterback the team thought it was getting when it gave up Kyle Orton and three draft picks to get him from the Denver Broncos in 2009.

Hence, the tragic reaction to Cutler's fate after the Bears' 31-20 win over the San Diego Chargers. Chicago's recent upturn has coincided so perfectly with Cutler's quarterbacking renaissance that to lose him would seem to equate to a devastating turn of events.

The Bears, however, are not built around the talents of their signal caller like the Packers, Colts and Patriots are. Rather, Lovie Smith's squad predicates the bulk of its success on running the ball with Matt Forte and Marion Barber, dominating special teams with Devin Hester and Robbie Gould and, as always, letting stars like Brian Urlacher and Charles Tillman wreak havoc on defense. Luckily for Bill Swerski and the legions of Superfans out there, those all-important pieces are still in place, Cutler or no Cutler.

More importantly, the Bears are still at 7-3 after 10 games, putting them on pace to grab sixth seed in the NFC playoff picture. Holding off the Atlanta Falcons and the New York Giants, both at 6-4, won't be easy—not with games against the Raiders, the Broncos and the Packers still left on the schedule—but it's not as though either of those teams will have a much easier time over their final six contests. The Falcons still have to contend with the Texans and the Saints while the Giants, infamous for their second-half collapses, will have to endure a brutal slate to close out the regular season.

The road will be bumpy without Cutler behind the wheel, but so long as Caleb Hanie, who nearly led the Bears to a win over the Packers in last year's NFC Championship Game, proves competent enough to hand the ball off to Matt Forte 25 to 30 times a game and complete the occasional pass to Johnny Knox, Chicago's offense should be fine, just fine.

And that's really all the Bears need it to be to keep winning. Three more wins—against the Chiefs, the Seahawks and the Vikings—should be more than enough to get Da Bears (Daaaa Bearssss) into the playoffs.

Even if Cutler can only hold the clipboard with one hand.