With Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears Look to Make Playoff Leap
Published by Scott Shniderman on May 28, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
The 2008 NFL Season ended in a whimper, not a roar, for the Chicago Bears. Only needing to win to qualify for the playoffs, the Bears laid an egg in Houston vs. the Texans in Week 17 and missed out on the playoffs for the second straight year after reaching Super Bowl XLI in 2006.
Jerry Angelo made perhaps his boldest move as Bears GM by going out and acquiring Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos this offseason. Cutler was a superstar quarterback last season, accumulating over 4,500 passing yards while throwing 25 touchdowns on his way to a Pro Bowl berth.
Cutler had clashed with new Broncos management during the offseason and had requested a trade out of the Mile High City. Angelo pounced and grabbed the franchise quarterback with a first and third round pick in the 2009 draft and a first-round pick in the 2010 draft.
The Bears finished 9-7 last season and 7-9 in 2007. With the addition of Jay Cutler the Bears could make the leap and finish closer to, or even a game better than, the 9-7 record they had in 2008. With apologies to the Punky QB Jim McMahon, the Bears have not had a quarterback this good since Sid Luckman.
Cutler is the real deal, however there are still several questions on how the Bears will help contribute to his and the team’s success.
The biggest hole on this team is at wide receiver. To his credit, Angelo did try to go out and trade for Anquan Boldin, the Arizona Cardinal Pro Bowl wideout. Angelo offered Arizona the Bears’ 2009 second-round pick (49th overall) for Boldin.
Although Arizona had stated that a second round pick would be enough to move the talented Boldin, they ultimately got cold feet and the Bears were left to try to fill its most glaring weakness through the draft and free agency.
Some thought Chicago would sign Torry Holt, a former Pro Bowl WR, released by the St. Louis Rams earlier in the offseason, however Holt signed with Jacksonville. There have been some rumors that Chicago is interested in adding talented, but mercurial wideout Plaxico Burress, who was released by the New York Giants on Apr. 3.
Predictably, the Bears want to wait to see what kind of legal recourse will come from Plaxico’s arrest last year for criminal possession of a handgun. Further complicating matters is the fact that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell could suspend Burress as well.
Let’s now turn the focus to the wide receivers that the Bears have in camp. Devin Hester played his first full season as WR last season and posted a respectable line of 51 receptions for 665 yards and three TDs.
Opposite Hester is returning receiver Rashied Davis. Davis tallied 35 catches for 445 yards and two scores last season. Last year’s second round pick, WR Earl Bennett, never made it onto the field, which many thought was a disappointment.
The coaching staff is hoping that Bennett can regain his confidence and timing that he had with Cutler during their one year overlap at Vanderbilt University that will help quicken his development.
The Bears recognized their need for an upgrade at wideout and selected Oklahoma WR Juaquin Iglesias in the third round (99th overall) of the ’09 Draft. Iglesias was the Sooners’ go-to receiver the last two seasons, leading the team with 68 receptions for 907 yards as a junior in 2007 and 74 catches for 1,150 yards as a senior in 2008.
Iglesias is expected to compete right away at the receiver position for the Bears in 2009. The Bears also took wide receivers Johnny Knox (Abilene Christian University) in the fifth round and Derek Kinder (University of Pittsburgh) in the seventh round of the draft in 2009. Knox and Kinder are longer shots to contribute this season in Chicago.
How the Bears choose to fill out their receiving corps this offseason and training camp will go a long way to determine how successful their new prize possession, Jay Cutler, can ultimately be in 2009.
The other question mark surrounding the Chicago Bears offense is how they plan to protect Jay Cutler while he is in the pocket for the upcoming season.
At the Bears’ first OTA activities the Bears lined up new acquisition Orlando Pace at left tackle, Josh Beekman at left guard, Olin Kreutz at center, Roberto Garza and right guard and last year’s number one draft pick Chris Williams at right tackle.
The Bears also brought in free agent acquisition Frank Omiyale from the Carolina Panthers who is looking to challenge for a starting spot as well. While difficult to tell how the line is doing during the OTAs, this part of the squad is a major question mark going into the season.
Kreutz is all-world at center, he will provide a rock for the O-Line this year. The Pace signing makes sense and he had some Pro Bowl seasons in the past, but time will tell if he still has enough left in the tank.
The remaining three positions are full of question marks and the Bears coaching staff will require some time to determine if this unit can keep Cutler upright long enough to make the big plays he is certainly capable of.
The O-Line will also play a major role in helping Matt Forte build on his outstanding campaign from last season.
Not all needs fixing on offense. Matt Forte was absolutely superb last season. He led the Bears in rushing yards (1,238), receptions (63) and touchdowns (12) while setting a Bears team record in total yards from scrimmage (1,715), breaking the team record set by Gale Sayers (1,374) in 1965.
Forte’s 1,715 yards from scrimmage were third in the entire league, trailing only Adrian Peterson and Michael Turner. Forte tied with Clinton Portis and Michael Turner for the NFL league lead in first downs with 86 proving that the team had a go-to guy when they needed to move the chains.
Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark form a great TE combo, perhaps the best in the league, and they also added Michael Gaines at TE to add a blocking end to the mix. Cutler has some weapons to choose from, but the development of the wide receivers will be what makes this team a playoff and ultimately, a Super Bowl, contender.
The defense of the Bears is what helped the team make the Super Bowl in 2006 and since Ron Rivera left the defensive coordinator post after Super Bowl XLI, the defense has fallen like a rock.
Sure, there are some playmakers, including Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher, that helped the Bears maintain the fifth best rushing defense (1496 yards allowed for the season) last year, but the secondary was horrendous allowing 3859 passing yards, good for 30th in the league last year.
The defensive backfield needs some major help if the Bears want to be considered a Super Bowl contender. Charles Tillman and Nathan Vasher man the cornerback positions, while Kevin Payne and Josh Bullocks are the Bears safeties right now.
Zack Bowman is currently filling in at cornerback for Charles Tillman, who is coming off surgery during the offseason.
In OTAs last week, the Bears have been playing Craig Steltz at starting free safety, which lead many to believe he may challenge Payne for his job. Additionally the Bears are playing Corey Graham at safety during OTAs, which shows that Chicago is open to allow Graham to compete for a starting safety position as well.
This unit needs to do a better job of limiting big plays and improving upon its near-the-bottom ranking in pass defense for the Bears to make the leap to a playoff team for 2009.
There are plenty of positives going into training camp for the Bears in 2009. Jay Cutler and Matt Forte are cornerstones you can build a franchise around. The Bears run defense was stout last season. The tight end combination on this team is among the best in the league.
If the defense takes a step back without the offense picking up the slack, it could be a long winter in Chicago for Bears fans. However, if the wide receivers come of age and the defensive backs can step it up to bring the pass defense to respectability, this Bears team can build upon its 9-7 season in 2008 and become a playoff team in 2009.
