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Cutler still not cleared, test of Vikings may fall to Barkley

Brian Hoyer's broken arm makes coach John Fox's decision to go back to Jay Cutler as the Bears' starting quarterback a no-brainer.

In his five starts, Hoyer was statistically superior to Cutler, throwing for more than 300 yards in each of the first four games until he was injured early in the second quarter Thursday night in Green Bay. Although Hoyer was the main culprit in the Bears' red zone struggles, overall he threw 6 touchdowns and no interceptions while compiling a 98.0 passer rating.

Cutler had a 75.7 passer rating before he was sidelined by a sprained thumb early in the second half of the Week Two loss to the Eagles. His final snap resulted in an interception, which some critics would say is fitting.

Fox had cast doubt on the quarterback question a couple weeks ago when he said whoever gave the team the best chance to win would start even after Cutler was healthy.

"I am not going to get into speculation," Fox said. "Jay is not healthy."

Now Cutler gets the job back by default - when he's healthy, that is.

And the Bears are hopeful Cutler will be healthy when they face the Minnesota Vikings on Halloween night at Soldier Field, six weeks to the day since he was injured. That's not a guarantee, though. Cutler's sole practice appearance was Sept. 28, when he was extremely limited.

"When he's cleared medically, we'll have him out there," Fox said after the 26-10 loss to the Packers. "When exactly that's going to be, I can't answer that. He's getting closer."

If Cutler can't go, the task of facing one of the NFL's premier defenses falls to Matt Barkley. His shaky performance in relief of Hoyer in Green Bay wasn't surprising given his lack of practice reps with the first team, a situation exacerbated by the short week.

Barkley went 6-for-15 for 81 yards with 2 interceptions and an 18.3 passer rating at Lambeau Field.

He has never started an NFL game and has only played in five since he was drafted in the fourth round by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2013. Barkley has only been with the Bears since Sept. 5, two days after he was waived by the Arizona Cardinals.

"The personnel people thought that he was a taller guy that stood in the pocket pretty well," Fox said of the 6-foot-2, 227-pounder from USC. "He's a guy that we thought we could work with, that had some experience, and hopefully he got a little bit more experience (Thursday) night."

But it certainly wasn't quality experience.

"Coming in (and) throwing to guys you haven't really repped with is the biggest thing I had (to deal with), Barkley said. "We moved the ball well at times, but we also shot ourselves in the foot. Sometimes the ball just didn't bounce our way."

Barkley's first possession produced the offense's only points on a 39-yard Connor Barth field goal, capping a 54-yard drive fueled by Ka'Deem Carey's 24-yard run. But none of the next four drives moved beyond the Packers' 42-yard line.

Running the scout team (the upcoming opponent's offense) in practice, Barkley had only gotten work with backup wide receivers Josh Bellamy and Deonte Thompson. If he has to start against the Vikings, he'll at least have the benefit of a long week of practice and the luxury of throwing to starting wide receivers Alshon Jeffery, Cam Meredith and Eddie Royal (if he's healthy) and tight end Zach Miller.

Whomever is at quarterback may benefit from getting one or both of the two injured starting guards back. Josh Sitton was inactive with a sprained ankle against the Packers and Kyle Long left in the second quarter with an arm injury.

"Hopefully the guys who were a little banged up can rest and get healthy," Barkley said. "(We'll have) a little more time to install a game-plan."

• Follow Bob's Bears reports on Twitter @BobLeGere.

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