Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler will undergo surgery on the thumb on his throwing hand after breaking it during Sunday's 31-20 victory over the San Diego Chargers.

The team initially said the surgery would take place Tuesday but quickly changed that statement to say a date hasn't been set. Head coach Lovie Smith insisted Monday that the plan is for Cutler return before the playoffs.

"He'll be out an extended period of time," Smith said. "The plan now is for him to have surgery on the thumb soon, and I can't tell you exactly how quick, but as soon as possible. Not today, but hopefully fairly quickly we can have surgery on the thumb.

"And I also said, the plan is to get him back at the latter part of the regular season. This is what I wanted to know, 'Was it a season-ending injury?' No. From what I've been told right now, we can expect him back at the end of the regular season. For me, that's enough to go on."

Cutler injured the right thumb while trying to make a tackle on Antoine Cason, who intercepted a pass with just less than 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Cutler continued to play after the injury, completing his final two passes for 24 yards in the team's final drive.

"It's devastating," linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "It's horrible, and I felt worse for him than I did for us. It stinks for us because he's having such a great year. He's our leader. He's the guy we turn to for pretty much everything."