"Jay Cutler had the stitches removed from his injured right thumb Wednesday and said he already is working on his grip and flexibility in hopes of returning to the Chicago Bears this season.

"Everything is kind of on track," Cutler told "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on WMVP-AM 1000. "It's just a matter of letting that bone really heal and maybe taking the pins out, maybe not. It's just time ... and time's not really on our side right now, but that's the only thing we can really do.

"We were doing some grip stuff this past week, just trying to get some flexibility and mobility back in there. The next couple of weeks hopefully I'll be able to throw the football and hopefully some of this pain subsides.""