#2: Jay Cutler breaks his thumb (2011)
In case people haven’t realized yet, 2011 was a brutal year for Bears football. It started out with them losing the NFC championship and then almost never got off the ground with the NFL lockout that followed. Still, the season came but Chicago didn’t get started right. They were 2-3 through the first five games, leaving some to wonder if they were on the decline.
Then things started clicking. Sparked by a blowout of the Vikings, the Bears went on to win five-straight games. Amazing as it sounds, what added to the insanity was the surge was sparked in large part by their quarterback. Jay Cutler played arguably the best football of his Chicago career during that stretch, throwing seven touchdowns to just three interceptions and helping the offense to average 30 points per game.
Things reached a fever pitch with a 31-20 win over the Chargers, one in which he accounted for three scores. His only low mark was a bad interception in the second half that almost led to a score before the defense stopped it. Not much seemed amiss. The Bears closed it out and celebrated their fifth-straight.
Then the news began to hit. Cutler, while trying to chase down the interceptor had apparently broken the thumb on his throwing hand. He would miss the rest of the regular season. Bears nation was stunned. Without him, the momentum vanished. With overmatched Caleb Hanie in reserve, they lose their next five games and were knocked from the playoff picture.
Many thought that team was the last one that could’ve reached and won the Super Bowl. We’ll never know.