Pisa out for season

Bears linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa will require knee surgery and is expected to miss the rest of the season, Bears coach Lovie Smith said Wednesday.

Tinoisamoa injured his knee for the second time Sunday at Atlanta. He initially tore his posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the first quarter of the Bears' season opener at Green Bay.

"It's a shame you didn't get a chance to see Pisa really play for an extended period of time," Smith said. "He's a heck of a football player. It's about rehab now until he gets his surgery."

The Bears signed Tinoisamoa this spring to start at strong-side linebacker opposite Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher. Many observers said that the Bears' linebackers unit was among the best in the NFL, but injuries quickly changed the team's outlook.

Hunter Hillenmeyer returned to practice Wednesday and could start at middle linebacker or strong-side linebacker Sunday at Cincinnati. Nick Roach likely will start wherever Hillenmeyer does not, although Jamar Williams also could receive playing time at either spot.

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Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said Wednesday that he never intended to discuss Jay Cutler's contract status until after the season.

That changed when Cutler's agent, Bus Cook, approached the team with some ideas based on the contracts that were signed earlier this season by quarterbacks Eli Manning and Philip Rivers.

"When we were able to find that common ground, then we were able to move on it," Angelo said Wednesday at Halas Hall. "We felt, given the uncertainty of the [collective bargaining agreement], given the fact that we had the cap room, this was a good time for us."

Cutler will receive about $20 million in guaranteed money and $30 million in new money as part of the two-year contract extension, which goes through the 2013 season.

"It helps our planning going forward," Angelo said. "This will not impede us to not do anything we need to do in free agency, moving forward. In fact, it's going to help us now because there is real clarity. Because Jay was always in the plans – it was just when we were going to do it and how much it was going to cost."