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Bears QB Cutler acknowledges he’s feeling pressure |
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP)—Jay Cutler(notes) acknowledges there are times he feels Maybe that explains why the Chicago Bears quarterback was out of sync He misfired, overthrowing receivers and getting picked off twice while “Whenever you’re getting a lot of pressure and you’re getting flushed and No quarterback has taken a bigger beating than Cutler the past two years, All five starters are in positions they haven’t played much in the past, Guard Lance Louis(notes) has missed two games because of an ankle injury and tackle “I still feel we’re eight deep. We have guys that have won games before in Bottom line, though, is there are issues. While the pass protection improved, the run-blocking has been non-existent, They wound up calling 43 passes and nine runs compared to 52 and 11 in a Execution was the problem. Tice said blockers were “overshooting the pull” “We’ve got to clean all that up,” he said. It might help, too, if the Bears called for more handoffs. Tice said it’s “At the same time, the linemen are paid to execute the plays that are At least the blockers gave Cutler enough time. That the Bears couldn’t take If Cutler was a bit jittery, it was easy to see why. That pounding he took against New Orleans resembled some of the beatings he “I think all quarterbacks go through that, to some extent,” offensive Thanks for visiting our blog =). Posted in bears-news | Comments Off
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Fixing 1st, 2nd down may solve 3rd for Chicago… |
LAKE FOREST — The Chicago Bears steamrolled Atlanta 30-12 in the season opener, and managed to convert 38 percent (6-for-16) of their third downs. They have struggled on third downs the past two weeks, however, and in turn have struggled to find another win as well. “We’ve got to convert on third down; it’s that’s simple,” quarterback Jay Cutler said. “It all changes if we’re converting third downs.” The Bears are 11-for-40 (27.5 percent) on third-down conversions this season, but are 5-for-24 (21 percent) in their back-to-back losses, as well as 0-for-2 on fourth downs. They have come to the conclusion that the reason they are having so much trouble on third down is because things aren’t going as planned on first and second downs. “Those third-and-longs, at the end of the day, we’re not going to be able to convert a high rate of those,” Cutler said. “So first and second down is the key. We need to get enough yards to put us in position to be successful on third down and keep the chains moving, keep the clock moving and keep our defense off the field.” The Bears had third and less than seven only one time last weekend against Green Bay, and they converted that one. They had more third-and-10-plus situations (seven) than any other distance, and were 0-for-7 on those. In fact, the 2011 Bears are 1-for-19 on third down and anything over nine yards, and are 5-for-29 on anything over six. So clearly, their problems on third down relate directly to what they’re doing — or not doing — on first and second down. “If you put yourself in a manageable third down, if you’re taking care of your first and second down, then you don’t have that burden of having as many problems to deal with on third-and-long,” wideout Dane Sanzenbacher said. “We just need to get some things cleaned up, establish our running game more, and I guarantee that will help those third downs.” A big part of the problem has been Chicago’s inability to run. The Bears have just three rushing first downs the past two games, and no rushing touchdowns all year. After gaining just 73 yards on the ground in Weeks 2 and 3 combined, they know it’s about time to get that part of their game going again. “Third downs are always the key. It keeps us on the field, and it keeps our defense off it,” tackle Frank Omiyale said. “We know we need to run the ball better … We really want to keep our defense fresh so they can go out there and do what they do best. It’s always a key. It’s always a goal.” Bears center Roberto Garza doesn’t care how they do it, he just wants to see his team stay on the field longer than it has. Because of their third-down issues, the Bears have come up on the wrong end of the time-of-possession stat badly (73:43-46:17) the past two games. “We have to step up and convert. We have to find a way,” Garza said. “When you dig yourselves those holes, you’ve got to dig yourselves out of it.” They are taking aim at Carolina as their way out of that hole. “We’re expecting big changes,” Omiyale said, “and we’re expecting them this week.” Reach staff reporter Jay Taft at 815-987-1384 or jtaft@rrstar.com. Leave your comments on the news below. Posted in bears-news | Comments Off
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The evolution of the Chicago Bears logo |
[ [ [['Conrad Murray', 15]], [ [['she-devil', 12]], [ [['diana nyad', 13]], [ [['Joshua Komisarjevsky', 10]], [ [['CASCO Signal', 13], ['Yu Yuan station', 13]], [ [['It is difficult to assess how many birds are affected', 7]], [ [['But after we launch this hamburger', 6]], [ [['villages where people are trapped under collapsed houses', 8]], [ [['The absence of Borders is going to be felt across the industry', 6]], [ [['Anders Behring Breivik', 8]], [ [['like there is no way out', 9]], [ [['including snipers picking off protesters from rooftops', 5], ['Violence has flared anew in Yemen in frustration', 6]], [ [['Dolores Hope', 7]], Gotta run!. Posted in bears-news | Comments Off
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No balance issue? |
The way coach Lovie Smith sees it, there’s a simple reason the Chicago Bears again lacked balance on offense. They had to pass in Sunday’s 27-17 loss to Green Bay because they couldn’t get their run game going and were playing from behind. Even so, the statistics are hard to ignore: The Bears finished with 13 yards rushing, third fewest in franchise history, on 12 attempts. That includes a scramble and two fumble recoveries by Cutler, who was also 21 of 37 while getting sacked three times, meaning the Bears called 43 passes and nine runs. That comes on the heels of an ugly loss to New Orleans in which Chicago called for 52 passes and 11 runs. Smith made it clear last week that he wanted more balance, but he had no issue with Sunday’s plan. “I said that last week, I thought it was a totally different situation in the game and we needed to run the football more,” Smith said Monday. “I can’t say that yesterday. I think we did what we needed to do on a day like that, when the run’s not working, start throwing the football. I talked about the protection being pretty good. We had a couple of drops. We missed a couple throws but that’s how that game went.” It was a bad day all around for the Bears, and the good will they earned with a dominant opening win over Atlanta continued to disappear. The defense couldn’t contain the Packers and the offense struggled on the ground and in the air. Cutler got enough protection from the line after getting sacked six times the previous week but was still out of sync, starting the third quarter with six straight incompletions. He targeted Roy Williams four times but failed to connect, with two of those passes being picked off by Packers safety Morgan Burnett on balls that appeared overthrown — a deep throw early on and another one over the middle in the fourth quarter. Johnny Knox had four receptions for 84 yards but also had a bad drop over the middle with the Packers’ Charlie Peprah in front of him. “We know as receivers, the more we can do in the passing game, the more it’s going to open things up for Matt (Forte) in the running game,” Dane Sanzenbacher said. When the Bears tried to run, they were fortunate when they didn’t lose yards. Forte found no room and wound up with just two yards on nine carries — six for losses. He ran three times in the third quarter and not once in the fourth with the Packers in control and the Bears trying to get back in it. Even though Green Bay allowed Drew Brees and Cam Newton to each throw for more than 400 yards, it still was somewhat surprising the Bears weren’t a little more balanced. Sure, offensive coordinator Mike Martz likes to throw, but he’s always quick to praise Forte. Plus, there was that message from Smith last week. But through Sunday, Forte ranked 28th in rushing attempts per game at 11.7. “You look at the stats and it’s not very favorable on the offensive side,” Cutler said. “If you’re going to be third-and-6 and third-and-7-plus, it’s tough. Almost a must-throw situation right there, and they are looking to drop eight guys, nine guys and there aren’t a lot of holes. That happened to us.” What’s been happening to the Bears lately isn’t good. Through Sunday, they ranked 23rd in yards per game (304.7), 31st in yards rushing (53.7), 29th in time of possession (26:32) and 29th in third-down percentage (28). It’s not easy to do much behind a line that was 31st and tied for the league lead with 14 sacks allowed. Making matters more difficult, the Bears were missing both starters on the right side, with guard Lance Louis (ankle) and tackle Gabe Carimi (knee) sidelined. “I don’t think we need to go back to the drawing board,” Smith said. “As you work the numbers, we lost two games where we didn’t run the football. Don’t take everything in. You have to look at each game individually. We didn’t run the ball enough, we didn’t have enough rushes a week ago. I’m OK on the first game and the last game on what we had to do to win the football game. When you get behind you’re going to do whatever you need to do to win the game.” Gotta run!. Posted in bears-news | Comments Off
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Chicago Bears again fall victim of their own… |
A nice pass-and-catch by Jay Cutler to Johnny Knox for 13 yards. Then a false start. A nice defensive stand to force a punt. Then a Cutler interception. A defensive-holding penalty that helped keep a Bears’ drive alive. And then a Devin Hester illegal procedure that set them back again. And to top it all off: A perfectly executed trick punt return that resulted in an 89-yard Knox touchdown that would have shrunk the Packers’ lead to three points with just over a minute to play. Then a holding call brought it all back. Whenever the Bears seemed about to scratch their way back into Sunday’s 27-17 loss to Green Bay, they undid it all with a giant mistake. Both physical ones (like when one of the few nice Cutler passes doinked off Knox’s face mask) and mental ones (like most of the 10 penalties for 70 yards.) The hold on the punt return was the most glaring, but it wasn’t the only time the Bears shot themselves in the foot. “It really hurt … I was disappointed in that, and in three offensive penalties that we got when we got momentum,” coach Lovie Smith said Monday. “I was disappointed in an offsides penalty on our defense when we intercepted the ball. “I thought we were ready, but you have to show up on game day. We didn’t.” Cutler has to fit into that category as well. For every good pass he threw, he’d uncork a bad one. He had happy feet in the pocket, was always worried about the pressure — even on the rare occasion when it wasn’t there — and he airmailed five balls over receivers. He shouldn’t take all the blame for the inconsistent offense, but deserves a portion of it. “There were a lot of miscues out there. There were spurts of good football, but it was just inconsistent,” Cutler said. “Against a team like that, you’re never going to beat them.” Playing that inconsistently, the Bears won’t beat anybody. The Bears had five pass plays of more than 20 yards, wideout Dane Sanzenbacher and tight end Kellen Davis came through with big plays, and Henry Melton added another sack to his early-season resume. But it was the miscues and the blunders that really stood out. And though the mistakes didn’t end on the offensive side of the ball — see Craig Steltz’s interesting coverage skills on two Jermichael Finley TD catches — they stood out more. “When you lose two games like that, believe me, we’re not patting each other on the back,” Smith said. “Again, we’re disappointed in our play. Offense is a part of that, and so is defense, and special teams.” Blocks were missed, passes were dropped, tackles were botched and stupid mistakes were made all over the field. The Bears were 3-for-12 on third down, ran for their third-fewest yards in team history (13) and Hester got flagged for throwing a haymaker punch that (luckily for him) didn’t even find its mark (Sam Shields’ helmet). “We were just off,” center Roberto Garza said solemnly. “We never quite got it together.” The final mistake of the day — the Corey Graham holding penalty, which occurred on the opposite side of the field from Knox — negated the Bears’ last-gasp effort to make it a game. Initial replays did not show the penalty, and had some fans up in arms over the “phantom call.” But Graham and Smith admitted it was the right call on Monday, and a better angle revealed the final blow. A sad but fitting end to a day of great plays followed by brutal errors. Staff reporter Jay Taft can be reached at 815-987-1384 or jtaft@rrstar.com. Thanks for reading! . Posted in bears-news | Comments Off
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