Cal's Passing Game: Kurt Warner's Legacy

(Photo by Jonathan Willey/Getty Images)

The projections for next year's Cal football team seem to inevitably come back to one question: "Will Kevin Riley play well enough at QB for the Bears to win?"

While no one is going to argue that the quarterback is a critical position and that last year's performances by Riley and Longshore left much to be desired, the folks who are fixated on Cal's QB play would do well to keep Kurt Warner in mind.

Kurt Warner came into the NFL and promptly became the league's MVP in leading the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl win. His release and accuracy were picture perfect and the offense he ran could not be stopped.

Fast forward three years and Warner was suddenly incapable of avoiding bad interceptions, was missing wide open WRs and was holding onto the ball too long.

Eventually, St. Louis let him go and he followed that with a miserable stint with the NY Giants followed by a couple of mediocre campaigns with the Cardinals.

At that point, it was easy to write off Warner as a flash in the pan, a guy for whom lightning struck but eventually came back to earth as an NFL journeyman.

Only as quickly as you can say Trent Dilfer, it all changed again. In 2009, Warner was back to his 2001 form, leading Arizona to the Super Bowl.

As if by magic, the quick-fire release was back, the uncanny accuracy and the solid decision making returned and Warner was once again an elite NFL quarterback.

The truth is none of what happened to Warner is in the least surprising. American's obsession with quarterbacks has became so myopic as to make them forget that (gasp) football is actually a team game with all of the interdependencies implied with 22 men running around at full speed in organized chaos.

Warner was great early with the Rams because he played behind the league's best offensive line, who afforded him all day to survey the field and find the league's best cadre of offensive weapons: Marshall Faulk, Issac Bruce, and Torry Holt.

With the comfort and confidence that comes from being able to grab a beer and a brat before being hurried by a pass rusher and getting the ball to a bunch of Olympic track athletes, Warner became an MVP.

The recipe was nearly identical this year as Arizona's offensive line became one of the league's best in protecting the passer, while Bolden and Fitzgerald caught anything and everything thrown their way, allowing Warner to once again became Dan Marino.

And for those of you who think Warner is some kind of anomaly, how do you explain Tom Brady going from future hall of famer to truly awful in his last Super Bowl performance. The Patriots sieve-like offensive line had him running for his life and even when he did have time, his rhythm and confidence were shot.

Which leads us back to Cal. Last year's passing game woes were a diabolical mixture of poor QB play, the worst pass protection (you need to look beyond sacks allowed to include hurries and flushes, of which there were many) in the Tedford era and a group of receivers who couldn't get open, much less catch the rare perfect passes they were thrown.

Playing quarterback is the most mentally and emotionally demanding position on the field. Finding a comfort zone and building confidence are critical. Even if you aren't being sacked every play, hurries are ever bit as daunting.

Forcing balls in because your receivers have not gotten separation and then seeing them drop balls that are right in their hands impact the psyche of the quarterback.

The bottom line is that the reasons the Bears passing game was stuck in neutral last season went far beyond Riley and Longshore's struggles.

So what does all this mean for the 2009 campaign? On the surface of it, good news abounds. Starting off up front, where the Bears return eight players who have started including their best past protector from 2007, LT Mike Tepper.

Tepper's return is even bigger than his 335-pound frame might suggest. Tepper will protect Riley's blindside providing Riley with a sense of comfort missing all last season and allowing Schwartz to move to RT where his still evolving pass blocking skills can be worked on with much less pressure.

Even if the injury bug hits the OL as it did in 2008, Cal's combination of talent, experience and depth have never been better. It's hard to imagine the boys up front not providing significantly better protection this year than last.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?