Chicago Bears’ Preseason Opener Reveals Little Other Than Injuries
Published by Bob Warja on August 15, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
The long awaited and much anticipated introduction of the new Mike Martz Chicago Bears offense was really much ado about nothing.
Not that you’d expect Martz to pull out all the stops in the first preseason game, but it would have been helpful to see more than one series with Jay Cutler.
Yet that’s all we got and in that one series, Cutler led the team on a nice drive downfield that produced a field goal, though there were protection issues arising once the Bears were in the red zone.
The Bears offensive line did not game plan for San Diego blitzes. In addition to the pressure on Cutler in the red zone, the Bears did not protect Caleb Hanie well at times, and Dan LeFevour was sacked late in the game as well.
The Bears lost 25-10 to a San Diego Chargers team that was lacking holdouts Vincent Jackson and Marcus McNeill.
But the final result doesn’t really matter as much as the play of guys on the bubble as well as things to watch. And the Martz offense is atop the list of most Bears fans’ excitement and concern.
Issues like, ‘can the offensive line prevent Cutler from getting killed’ and ‘can the wideouts pick up the complicated Martz offense’, as well as ‘how will the tight ends fare in a Martz offense that doesn’t normally value them’ were not fully expected to be answered on one preseason game.
And those answers certainly were not provided despite having the majority of the offense remaining on the field in the first half, sans Cutler and Olin Kreutz.
On the one Cutler drive, the line protected adequately. But with Haney replacing Cutler, there wasn’t much to be learned, though Hanie did connect for the Bears lone TD with Devin Aromashodu
In fairness to Hanie, who was injured in the game, he was not protected by the line well, despite facing a second string Chargers defense.
Meanwhile, the one thing that every coach, GM and fan prays for is good health and that is another area where there are many questions.
Lovie Smith was unable to provide any status on the injuries to Haney, Craig Steltz, Major Wright, and Hunter Hillenmeyer.
Haney hurt his shoulder after being sacked from behind by linebacker Antwan Applewhite, forcing a fumble that was recovered by the Chargers.
Steltz hurt his ankle early, while Wright hurt his finger and neither returned to the game. Hillenmeyer suffered an undetermined injury while making a tackle.
At least long-snapper Patrick Mannelly returned to the game after exiting early with a shoulder injury.
The corner and safety positions continue to be a concern for the Bears, as Philip Rivers picked apart the Bears secondary for a 140.3 passer rating in completing 4 of 6 passes for 62 yards.
Safety Al Afalava did have a pick, but was burned badly on the play that resulted in the blocked punt.
The special teams play was not good, either, as Dave Taub’s unit allowed a blocked punt in the third quarter which resulted in a safety.
Hey, it’s only game one of the preseason. While it would have been nice to see Cutler play a couple more series, let’s hope the injuries aren’t serious, especially the one to Wright, who may just end up starting at safety.
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