Bears Blitz

Ever since Jay Cutler arrived in Chicago, the promise of a quarterback who could move around in the pocket or outside the pocket and throw (and even run with the ball occasionally) seemed enticing for the Bears.

On Saturday night, they finally got a taste of their first mobile quarterback who can also throw since Jim Harbaugh. However, it was never like that with Harbaugh or any other Bears quarterback for that matter.

Cutler looked vintage Brett Favre in the Bears’ 17-3 victory over the New York Giants.
“He’s an athlete,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said. “We’re banking on him being able to make plays like that. It was good to see him take another step.”

Cutler took a lot of steps, then threw the ball or took some more steps and just ran it.
On a planned rollout, he hit Earl Bennett. He found Matt Forte and Greg Olsen by moving around in the pocket first.

He very nearly found Devin Hester by scrambling right and heaving it 60 yards, but Hester took a wrong turn when he had to adjust his pattern. Finally, Cutler ran 12 yards for a first down.

“He does some plays and does some things out there that I’ve never seen,” Forte said. “I’ve never had a quarterback like that. I’m just glad he’s here.”

Wide receiver Devin Aromashodu might as well have been describing a young Favre.

“He’ll throw it across the field, anywhere, with his arm strength and his mobility,” Aromashodu said  “You never know where the ball is coming from. So he could throw it from anywhere.”

The Bears haven’t shown a lot of rollout in practices at training camp, and in practice the quarterback can’t be touched so he’s rarely going to be flushed out of the pocket to set up playground-style football.

The Bears have worked into their scheme what to do if Cutler is roaming with the ball, looking to throw.

“We kind of have a scheme that we have: If he rolls out to a certain side, certain receivers will do certain things,” Aromashodu said. “So we’re ready for it if he does go out of the pocket.

“It’s really set up. It’s really part of the scheme.”

There’s only so much you can scheme, though.

“We can call designed movement things and move the pocket with him,” offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. “But a lot of it he does on his own, he creates things.

“If the coverage isn’t exactly what we want or if the protection breaks down, he can create a play, which if you look at his film he’s done his whole career, and he did that some tonight.”

Cutler also threw from the pocket, making an impressive 38-yarder on the fingertips to Aromashodu to set up a touchdown, and tossed a play-action TD to the back of the end zone to Desmond Clark en route to his 8-of-13, 121-yard passing effort.

“The offensive line did a great job,” Cutler said. “We’re kind of coming together, myself and the line, you know, with how I can move in the pocket, and when I can step up, when I can take off. It doesn’t happen overnight.

“We’ve got some new linemen, new receivers, a new quarterback, we’re all trying to figure it out.”

Cutler didn’t even mind taking a hit on his 12-yard scramble when he failed to slide soon enough to avoid it.

“It feels good to get hit out there a little bit,” he said. “It’s been eight, nine months since I’ve got some contact,” Cutler said. “Once you get hit, you kind of get a feel for the game. 

“You start feeling more comfortable.”

After the potential for their offense that the Bears saw with Cutler Saturday, they probably would feel more comfortable if Cutler avoids feeling too comfortable by taking those hits in the future.