GREEN BAY, Wisc. -- It's time to bring Jay Cutler out of hibernation.

Losing Brian Hoyer indefinitely to a broken left arm removes any doubt as to who should start at quarterback when the Bears next take the field on Oct. 31 against the Minnesota Vikings, which mercifully is the team's final prime-time game of the year.

Cutler left the Bears' game against the Eagles almost five weeks ago. Unless Cutler underwent a clandestine procedure to surgically repair his damaged right thumb, he should be ready soon. You have to figure medical clearance is a formality at this point.

The enigmatic quarterback routinely has been spotted without the protective thumb brace he wore when he initially suffered the injury. He even practiced with the Wednesday leading up to the Lions game before the team shut him down.

Cutler is not perfect, but he absolutely gives the Bears their best chance to win.

At 1-6, what else could possibly matter to John Fox, who is 7-16 overall with Chicago?

"Yeah, I think it would be a lift," tight end Zach Miller said of Cutler's potential return. "Obviously to get your starting quarterback back at any time is good. I'm not sure where exactly he's at with his recovery, but I know we have some time now before we play Minnesota."

The Vikings currently are undefeated, so next Monday night's matchup is trickier for the Bears than their 26-10 loss to the underwhelming Packers.

As it stands, the Bears are in real danger of having a worse record than -- cover your eyes -- they did under Marc Trestman in 2014.

Drastic times call for drastic measures.

Fox stuck with Hoyer for many reasons, the primary one being that Hoyer passed for 300-plus yards in four consecutive weeks and did not have an interception in 200 pass attempts.

That's all great, but the Bears still couldn't score enough points.

Sure, Cutler is riskier than Hoyer. But Cutler can make certain throws Hoyer cannot.

Hoyer missed a wide-open Joshua Bellamy for what would have been a 51-yard touchdown in the first quarter. In the same exact scenario, Cutler's ball probably hits the mark, and if that happens, who knows how Green Bay responds.

Cutler is not the future. But neither is Matt Barkley. Barkley was forced into a tough situation when Hoyer went down, and played the best he could, but nobody wants to see Barkley on the field for 60 minutes.

The Bears better start winning games, for everyone's sake, and Cutler represents their best shot to do it, like it or not.