Chicago Bears head coach Marc Trestman has hinted that Jay Cutler may be out for longer than the four weeks initially reported.

Cutler suffered a torn groin muscle during his side's 45-41 loss to the Washington Redskins on Sunday, with the Bears confirming that the first-choice quarterback would miss four weeks of action.

However, Trestman has warned that the four-week time-scale is the minimum that Cutler could miss, and that he will approach the recovery week by week after that stage.

"I'm only confident by what [the doctors] told me. This is a minimum of four weeks, and then he'll be evaluated week to week. But based on the history - I talked to the doctors this morning - four weeks is a reasonable start, and then it would be week to week," Trestman told reporters.

"Jay's injury has been highly documented. I read a paper that the doctor gave me that says this is the kind of injury he has, and there's a lot of different ways to go about doing it, but the best is just rest and recovery."

Veteran quarterback Josh McCown is likely to start in Cutler's absence, while Jordan Palmer has been signed to the roster to act as backup.