Bears Blitz

Published by Bob Warja on October 7, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The Bears have officially declared Jay Cutler out for Sunday’s matchup versus the Carolina Panthers and veteran backup QB Todd Collins will start in his place.

Believe it or not, this could actually be good news for the offensive line. Behind a strong-armed QB like Cutler, Mike Martz wanted time to let his routes develop, which resulted in Cutler holding onto the ball far too long and making the protection break down and pile up the sacks.

With a guy like Collins, however, you can expect more dump offs and screen passes which should help get the ball out more quickly, meaning that the line won’t have to hold their black quite as long.

This also likely means that Martz will try to run the ball a bit more than he usually likes. The Panthers have been decent against the run and the Bears have not been able to get that part of their offense on track so far, so this will be interesting to watch.

Quick slants and screens should be the order of the day, so perhaps Chester Taylor will get into the offense a bit more this week.

Fortunately for the Bears, the Panthers offense is not very good either, and very prone to turnovers, and that combination could be deadly against a team like the Bears whose primary focus is on stripping the ball and forcing turnovers..

A young, inexperienced QB with poor mechanics like Jimmy Clausen will be hard-pressed to establish the passing game against the Bears, especially if they can generate some rush from anyone other than Julius Peppers, who should really be motivated against his old team.

The only challenge in this scenario, however, is that the Panthers have a couple guys who can pound the ball, so if they can run it successfully early on, that could open up the passing lanes a bit.

Collins, meanwhile, doesn’t impress and in fact, Caleb Hanie looked better last week against the Giants. But Martz likes veterans and Collins knows the system, so he gets the nod here.

Unless the Bears running game finally gets unhinged, expect this to be a low scoring affair and the team making the fewest mistakes (read: turnovers) may win. The special teams play will be very critical as well.

Look for both punters to try and pin the other team deep in their own territory and for the Panthers to kick away from Devin Hester, which could result in better field position for the Bears.

This game might just come down to a field goal, in which case the Bears have one of the surest kickers in Robbie Gould.

So what if Collins plays well and the Bears win, will there be a QB controversy once again in Chicago? That will be another angle to watch for.

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