Jay Cutler: Don't hold your breath

JAY CUTLER isn't sure he'll throw another pass for the Chicago Bears this year.

Speaking to reporters for the first time yesterday since he broke the thumb on his right (throwing) hand against San Diego 2 weeks ago, Cutler said he might be finished for the season.

"I've got to be smart about it," he said. "Obviously, I'd want to play next week if they'd allow me. I don't think that's going to be in the cards. It could be I'm done for the season. I just have to be smart about it and realize that there is a long-term picture here. At the same point, I want to be out there and my teammates want me to be out there."

He said he hopes it happens this season, but he wasn't making any guarantees.

Coach Lovie Smith acknowledged a possibility that Cutler won't return, but just as he did the day after the San Diego game, he said he expects his quarterback to play again this season.

In a related development, Cutler's engagement to Kristin Cavallari is on again. The reality-TV star announced the engagement yesterday on her Twitter feed, saying: "This time its official..Jay and I are engaged again :)." Cutler confirmed it during the news conference about his thumb. He said they haven't set a wedding date. Cutler broke off their engagement shortly before they were to marry last summer.

Cavallari became a celebrity in 2004 when MTV tracked her high-school love life and rivalry with Lauren Conrad. She was later on "The Hills" and was a contestant this season on "Dancing With the Stars."

In other pro football news:

* Detroit defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh will present his appeal of his two-game suspension for stomping Packers guard Evan Dietrich-Smith to Art Shell in a conference call today. The league handed out the suspension Tuesday, but Suh immediately appealed. Shell is a joint appointee of the NFL and the players association for such cases.

Suh stomped on Dietrich-Smith's right arm during Detroit's Thanksgiving Day loss to the Packers and was ejected. Should he lose the appeal, he will miss Sunday's game at New Orleans and the Dec. 11 home game against Minnesota.

Dietrich-Smith declined comment on Suh's suspension, and didn't welcome the publicity from the incident. "It's not really cool to be famous for being stepped on," he said.

* Buffalo receiver Stevie Johnson was fined $10,000 by the NFL for mimicking shooting himself in the thigh during a touchdown celebration last weekend that mocked New York Jets receiver Plaxico Burress.