Chicago Bears: First Weekend at Camp Cutler a Success

Here are some observations, comments, quotes and quips from the first weekend of workouts here in Bourbonnais:

New kid on the block

Just how wild are Bears fans going over the Jay Cutler era?
Crowds in recent years have ranged between 2,500 to 4,000 for weekend practices but Friday they had 7,000, Saturday 10,000 and on Sunday Olivet Nazarene school officials said the crowd hit a record 11,000.

There had been concern prior to camp that Cutler would fit in with his new teammates, but that was taken care of long ago. Cutler and backup QB Caleb Hanie have become good friends and Cutler and his tight end target Greg Olsen are inseparable.

Apparently friendship has carried over to the practice field. Cutler and Olsen on Saturday night hooked up for what offensive coordinator Ron Turner on Sunday called the play of camp to date, a fade pass 35 yards downfield to the sidelines thrown perfectly on the air-tight coverage of Brian Urlacher and Daniel Manning.

"It was great coverage by Brian and the ball could only be one place," Turner said. "Greg ran a really good route and the ball was dropped in there. That was a big-time play.”

Running back Matt Forte is getting some carries and receptions, but his work is being limited.
Forte suffered a pulled hamstring in organized team activities and the Bears want to keep it from getting aggravated. So Forte hasn’t been carrying the football during the inside run drill, which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s linemen bunched inside and a short-yardage style play.
Kevin Jones has been taking all Forte’s snaps in short yardage drills and it’s extremely apparent the extra season of work has allowed his surgically repaired knee to get back to 100 percent strength.
Jones cuts sharply and has an instant burst. He also runs with power and should be a good complement to prevent Forte getting worn out. Forte had 316 carries last year to only 34 for Jones.

Wide receiver Earl Bennett failed to catch even one pass last year, but the Bears continue working him at a starting spot and Sunday he enjoyed his best practice to date with three scrimmage catches. That included a diving catch downfield behind cornerback Nate Vasher, about 35 yards on a sideline route.
What is still curious is why Bennett never got involved last year as a rookie. Some of the explanation being give is plausible.
“People have to understand he was only 19 when he came out of college,” wide receivers coach Darryl Drake said.
That much is understandable.
“Making that transition to this league with a different system, a different offense, a different way of doing things, it just doesn’t happen overnight,” Drake said. “We were able to bring him a long slowly.”
Then comes the less understandable part.
“He started to really show improvement toward the end of last season about the time Brandon Lloyd got healthy,” Drake said. “So what do you do, do you sit him down or bring your rookie along slowly. We brought him along slowly. For him it was best thing you could possibly do. I’ve got total confidence in him. He’s got confidence. When a guy has got confidence he can perform.”
So Lloyd took away Bennett’s playing time.  They couldn’t dispense with Lloyd, who they have since dispensed. Just think where Bennett’s confidence might be now with more 2008 playing time under his belt.

Veteran Pro Bowl tackle Orlando Pace is enjoying himself with a new team and it goes beyond the excitement of being with a new, potentially more successful team than the Rams squad he left.
Pace has found a kindred yet opposite spirit to play alongside on the offensive line in Bears tough guy center Olin Kreutz.
“We probably are two different extremes but it works for us because I’ve always been a laid-back and lead-by-example-type of guy and he’s been one of those vocal guys,” Pace said. “We probably are two different extremes but it works. I can adjust and I can fit in just about any place.”
Pace knew Kreutz before coming to Chicago because they played for the NFC in several Pro Bowls.
“One thing about me and Olin, we can almost relate to a lot of stuff,” Pace said. “We can talk about back in the day, the way things used to be, the way old men talk about football.
“So that’s kind of exciting. That’s almost what we do every day  just to get ourselves through camp. There’s a lot of laughing.”
 

The offense unveiled its wildcat and had the defense jumping around and hollering at the snap. Cutler lined up at wide receiver and Devin Hester took the snap, faked a handoff and ran 10 yards off right tackle. 

Lovie Smith afterward said it's possible they could throw to Cutler, then realized how absurd it would be to risk such a valuable commodity in the open field and added that he was joking...Lance Briggs and Hunter Hillenmeyer missed Sunday's workout with "soreness" but should be back Monday.

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