Chicago Bears coach Phil Emery has told his players that there will be no contract discussions until the end of the 2013 NFL season.

The Bears have a number of key players - including quarterback Jay Cutler - who are going into the last year of their contracts, but Emery claims that the franchise is unable to open discussions before the end of the season.

Emery first told his players the news at the start of training camp and he reiterated the stance this afternoon.

"It was an honest statement, where we're at as far as the room we have under the cap moving forward this fall," Emery told ESPN.

"There's not a lot of room there. We have a number of key starters that are up after this season, so the honest situation is we won't be able to do [it] and we're not inclined to do it because of that reason this year. So we're going to stay very focused.

"I wanted to go in and say it, so it doesn't become an issue down the road and we can all focus on 2013."

Meanwhile, Bears chairman George McCaskey challenged Cutler to emulate Joe Flacco's achievements after the Baltimore Ravens quarterback guided his side to last season's Super Bowl before being rewarded with the most expensive contract in the NFL.

"If Jay Cutler has a Joe Flacco year and wins the Super Bowl and has that kind of leverage going into contract negotiations next year, that would be just fine with me," said McCaskey.

The Bears finished last season with a 10-6 record but still only managed third place in the NFC North.