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BOURBONNAIS — The common view from national media and fans in cities outside Chicago is quarterback Jay Cutler has no one at wide receiver for targets.
A national lice infestation might not have resulted in the amount of head scratching caused when the Bears failed to sign free agent Torry Holt, quickly opted out of the trade talk for Anquan Boldin and Brandon Marshall, and never gave a second thought to Terrell Owens.
All this occurred in a year without a salary cap. After giving up everything except the George Halas fedora in Halas Hall’s display case to sign defensive end Julius Peppers, the Bears had no excuse for turning their nose at available wide receivers except that they simply think they’re already set.
General manager Jerry Angelo, coach Lovie Smith and staff have full confidence in Devin Hester, Earl Bennett, Devin Aromashodu, Johnny Knox and Juaquin Iglesias.
“I feel like on the offensive side of the football we’re going to move the ball,” coach Lovie Smith said. “It’s about scoring. We feel like we have the guys in place to do that.
“I’m excited about Jay Cutler’s second year here. Of course, he’s the leader of our offense. We like what he’s done adjusting to a new offense, just leading some of our young receivers: Hester, Knox, Aromashodu. They should have outstanding seasons.”
The Bears signed Devin Hester a few years ago to a $40 million deal and paid him like a No. 1 receiver. Now they aren’t too happy when someone points out that Hester catches about as many passes as a No. 2 receiver.
On Saturday, receivers coach Darryl Drake was getting a bit irked when questioned why Hester isn’t an elite receiver.
“It bothers me that you even ask me that,” he said. “It really does. It bothers me that you even ask me that again because it’s the same thing I’ve been hearing for years.”
Drake finds nothing wrong with Hester’s route running.
“Who says that he’s not really a route runner?” Drake demanded. “I guess it’s people who haven’t been out there watching, or watch him run a route or watch his body control. If somebody says that, that tells me how really non-visual football that they are. That really does.
“When people say he’s not really a good route runner, boy, that is ignorance at its highest level.”
No one questions Hester’s speed, so coordinator Mike Martz’s offense should suit him. It’s designed with deep routes in mind.
Just to make sure he has the proper route running skills, Hester worked on his own in the off-season with former Martz receiver Isaac Bruce in Florida.
Drake went beyond Hester in defense of his wide receivers. He called it the best group he’s had since coming here in 2004. This includes the Bernard Berrian-Muhsin Muhammad duo of the Super Bowl XLI season.
“Because we’ve got a lot of guys who can do a lot of different things,” Drake said. “We’ve got guys who can be possession guys, we’ve got guys who can run, we’ve got guys who have got run after catch.
“Usually in the past we were lacking something. It may have been run after catch, they may have had straight-line speed but we may have lacked run after catch. We may have had a possession guy, we may not have had the straight-line speed. Now I think we’ve got a combination of all of them.”
No one questions the tight ends. In fact, when the Bears opened practices Friday, Cutler targeted tight ends repeatedly and did nothing to disprove the old football adage that “the quarterback’s best friend is the tight end.”
Desmond Clark, Greg Olsen, Kellen Davis and Richard Angulo made one difficult catch after another all over the field — in stride, leaping, diving, and Angulo even made a one-hander going out of bounds.
Weary of talk that Martz doesn’t use his tight ends as receivers, Clark quickly turned the tables on the media afterward.
“We’re not going to catch any balls in the offense; let’s keep that going,” he said facetiously. “We’re not going to catch any balls. We’ll just be blocking tight ends and that’s how we’ll contribute to the offense.
“That’s what we’re going to do this year.”
While it might be good to know the tight ends can catch passes, they’re certainly not fast enough to spread a defense out all the way down field like Martz wants. Martz says his goal is to make the opponent defend the entire field on every play.
Aromashodu, Knox, Hester and Bennett made big strides as last season wore on, but now they’ve got a new offense to learn and there have been some who questioned whether Hester — in particular — is up for such a task based on the fact he never even played the position in college or his first season in Chicago.
“Just working with those guys for a year, you just see the dramatic growth that they’ve made,” Cutler said. “With Johnny and even with D.A. and even with Devin Hester and we’ve got Earl in there — he’s coming off a little bit of an injury — just coming together as a group. And then you add Rashied (Davis).
“That whole group, I expect them to look totally different this year.”
They looked totally different late last season than at the beginning. They’re going to have to look completely different again in this offense or the failure of Angelo to acquire an established top receiving threat will hang around his neck like a big, lead anchor.
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According to HalasObserver, an inside source within Chicago’s organization via Twitter (http://twitter.com/HalasObserver), Jerry Angelo is seriously considering trading Bears’ newfound receiver Devin Aromashodu and a 2nd round pick for Vincent Jackson, who is due to miss the first four games of the 2010 season.
HalasObserver’ twitter says “Proposed deal for Vincent Jackson: Devin Aromashodu and a 2nd round pick for Vincent Jackson, who is facing a 4 game suspension and a new deal. All internal discussion but Jerry Angelo is thinking hard on this one.”
At the beginning of Chicago’s ink-filled offseason, I produced an article explaining why Lovie and company should attempt a trade for the 2009 Pro Bowler: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/399720-invinceable-2-why-the-chicago-bears-should-trade-for-vincent-jackson
In that article, I predicted the trade would be former first round pick Greg Olsen, a second rounder, and Danieal Manning. Both athletes could be successful in San Diego’s playbooks, but V-Jax’s value has decreased in the Charger’s favor.
Devin Aromashodu is a rising receiver with the size of Jackson and has potential to become a Brandon Marshall type of wide-out.
While many Bears fans cling to the bright future of Aromashodu, Jackson works in the Bears favor more compared to the Chargers in multiple ways.
First, Vincent is a proven gritty, tough, polished receiver. He could thrive easily in Martz’s offense and add goal line versatility with experience to a young core.
The trade may not happen, but if Jerry Angelo pulls the trigger, Chicago’s offense will improve immensely.
If Chicago had a proven threat at wide-out, teams may have the tendency not to blitz as much given the fact there’s even more potential in Martz’s rotation of receivers.
This could be an amazing trade for the Chicago Bears if it works out, so hold support the cause and let your voice be heard Bears’ fans!
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According to NFL insider Adam Schefter, the Chicago Bears are among three teams that have “debated making a run” to land San Diego Chargers’ receiver Vincent Jackson.
If the Bears are really trying to grab Jackson, their off-season just got more intriguing.
First, Jerry Angelo has stated he is content with his young group of wide receivers.
Second, he also said that he doesn’t intend to use any more future draft picks. Well…you would need a 1st rounder to pry Jackson loose from San Diego’s grasp.
Third, does the trade rumor confirm Devin Hester’s transformation into a wide-out as a failure?
Following the Brandon Marshall trade to Miami, which only included two second rounders, this trade is definitely plausible.
At 6’5″, Jackson ranked first among players in yards-per-catch with 17.2, and is coming off consecutive 1,000 yard seasons.
Assuming the Chicago Bears trade for the Pro-Bowl receiver, the team can turn this summer into one of their best off-seasons ever.
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“There’s always next year.”
A phrase Chicago Bears’ fans have come accustomed to for the past three years. A phrase, the Chicago Bears fans don’t want to hear next year.
It’s make or break time for Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith. The Bears missed the playoffs for the third time since 2006, after a magical Super Bowl run.
Following a superb offseason that was full of key acquisitions, the Bears players and staff are flying sky-high right now.
The question is, will Chicago keep flying into the depths of the best or fail miserably?
Well, Bears’ tourists, it’s either going to be really good—or really bad.
The 2009 season was full of massive question marks hovering over certain, yet key positions.
Through observations of the ups and downs, here’s a checklist of what caused problems in 2009:
- Brian Urlacher’s injury
- A poor secondary performance
- Lack of pass rush
- Inconsistent defensive and offensive line play
- No intensity whatsoever
- Matt Forte’s injury
Well, Urlacher is back. No matter what age he is, the defensive star will bring leadership, passion, and above all become a locker room influence once again.
Charles Tillman is coming off an injury last year, Zackary Bowman is underrated and should be a ball-hawk next season, Major Wright resembles a smaller and skinnier Mike Brown, and the addition of hard-hitting vet Chris Harris should help mightily.
Julius Peppers will demand double-teamage, therefore freeing up the once All-Pro Tommie Harris. Mark Anderson has a quicker first step compared to Adewale Ogunleye or Alex Brown, and should be hungry to prove himself similar to his 2006 performance. If Harris can stay healthy, you’re looking at one of the nastiest lines in all of football.
The offensive line is by far the biggest area of concern.
Josh Beekman, a young left guard, deserves the starting spot. He has the ability to run weak-side pitches and pulls with authority.
Olin Kreutz and Roberto Garza are two veterans that should pave the way for young tackles Chris Williams and Frank Omiyale.
While the offensive line seemed to gel within the final few games of the 2009 season, they still display concern.
Omiyale looked very sharp in preseason last season, yet failed to produce at left guard. Bears’ coach Lovie Smith has stated he shows signs of productivity at his natural right tackle position.
With Matt Forte back from knee and leg damage, everyone wonders if he’ll return to his rookie form of quick and intense running.
Martz should assist the young receivers greatly, therefore opening up the pass for Cutler and hopefully holes for Forte.
Come to think of it, the Tulane product should have a more active role in the passing aspect, creating mismatches with linebackers and safeties to utilize his strength—getting in open space with the ball.
In response to the proposed question, the Chicago Bears looked like a very polished and underrated team coming into 2010. There is a great chance of a playoff caliber squad next year.
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Hey Bear Fans,
Mike Martz here, aka desperation hire of the decade. Remember how Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo waited until they had completely exhausted all other viable candidates before calling me, and then half-heartedly handed me the Offensive Coordinator job?
Well I’m not really sure why I wasn’t their first choice. I mean, my offense requires an extremely smart, cool-headed quarterback, veteran wide receivers that can run incredibly precise routes, and an impossibly talented and experienced offensive line. It also, as I’ve noted in the past, takes at least two years to learn, let alone master and run effectively.
Which is why this is really going to be terrible.
If you thought that the Rex Grossman years were bad, wait until I ask one of the worst lines in the NFL to pass block for what will seem like hours per play, while some of the youngest and inexperienced wide receivers in the NFL stumble and bumble their way down the field, trying as hard as they can to remember one of the 1,000 plays I asked them to memorize in a single off season. Watch as Jay Cutler picks his organs up from the football field and stumbles to the sideline, after being sacked for the ninth time that day against any given D-line in the NFL.
Then watch as fear-striken, undrafted, free agent quarterback Caleb Haine reluctantly takes the field to REALLY screw things up.
You are going to want to throw up at what you’re about to endure for 16 games.
On the plus side, its going to be funny. I mean, I’m actually going to tell Jay Cutler, JAY FREAKING CUTLER, not to worry about mistakes and to just try to make plays. Do you have any idea how many interceptions that’s going to lead to? Over/under 32, and I’m taking the over.
I’m going to ask Devin Hester, who was barely able to learn half of Ron Turner’s baby offense, to take the spot at No.1 wide out that was previously manned by future hall-of-famers Issac Bruce and then Torry Holt.
And then, I’m going to ask this dumpster fire of an O-Line to pass block 40 times a game.
Make sure you get really, really drunk before every game in the 2010-2011 season, Bear fans, because what you’re about to see is really going to be something.
By “something,” I mean “we’ll all be fired by week 10.”
Kiss my ass,
Mike Martz
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