Bears to move forward without Cutler

By the next time I blog, the Bears will, in a perfect world, be almost halfway through quarterback Jay Cutler's absence.

I'm not too optimistic that Cutler will be back by the end of the regular season, but coach Lovie Smith is — at least publicly. It seems more realistic that he may return for the playoffs, provided the Bears get there. I think they do, but their chances are obviously lower without him. Sunday at about 6:30 p.m., I'd have said the Bears had a 75-80 percent chance to make the playoffs. Two hours later, I'd have dropped it to around 60 percent.

Those chances went up yesterday when the Lions lost and may have hurt themselves going forward if defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is suspended for his little stomping incident. Dallas slipping past the Dolphins didn't help, but I think the Cowboys may be destined for an NFC East championship, meaning the Bears will have to worry about the Giants (and maybe the Eagles) in a wild-card context.

We'll know more about all of this after I return from a week-long vacation a week from Monday. Hopefully the Bears will be treading water behind Caleb Hanie. Until then, a couple of other quick thoughts:

•   Who knows where the Blackhawks will be a week and a half ago. Their strong start to the season has almost evaporated as they've generated zero points in their last three games while being outscored 15-4 by the Flames, Oilers and Sharks. They're down 3-2 after one period at Anaheim at the moment, meaning it could come down to tomorrow night's game at Los Angeles as to whether the Hawks can generate more than a pathetic two points on their circus trip.

•   Thought No. 1 LSU was in trouble when it fell behind 14-0 against No. 3 Arkansas this afternoon, but the Tigers have stormed back and lead 21-14 in the third quarter. I don't care what happens in the rest of this one — LSU should be playing for the national championship. And if Arkansas doesn't rally, Alabama should be playing them. I hate it, too, but Boise State, Oklahoma State, Stanford and Oregon have all blown golden opportunities to show their title-game worthiness.