Chicago Bears' New Weapon Instantly Expands Playbook

Quarterback Jay Cutler’s arrival in Chicago will not cause Bears' Offensive Coordinator Ron Turner to toss his playbook into Lake Michigan and draw up a new one.

However, it will lead him to make additions, subtractions, and tinker with existing plays to emphasize both Cutler’s mobility and great arm strength.

There are mountains with more mobility than Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton had. Orton’s 2008 season turned sour on a play when he awkwardly came out of the pocket and got hit near the sidelines. The ensuing ankle injury haunted him all year.

With Cutler, though, expect to see plenty of bootleg passes in short-yardage situations due to his mobility. The misdirection rollout pass to tight ends Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark off a play-action fake to running back Matt Forte could become a staple of the Bears’ third-and-short or fourth-and-short attack.

Last year the Bears suffered defeat and even embarrassment because of their failures in short-yardage situations.

Their season turned on a fourth-and-goal stop by the Vikings at Minneapolis. They lost a game to Carolina because they couldn’t convert fourth-and-short. Against Atlanta, they failed in a fourth quarter goal line situation when a touchdown could have rendered impossible, the miracle comeback engineered by Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.

The threat of Cutler rolling out and passing or running in short yardage should keep defensive ends from pinching in to stop Forte off guard or tackle, making the Bears’ running game more likely to convert.

Cutler’s presence is not going to turn the Bears into a team passing 40 or 50 times a game. Teams can’t win that way.

Cutler arrived in Chicago and pointed out the Broncos tried this last year and failed.
“A lot of that was due to injuries and other circumstances, but it got tough,” he said.
What it does in the passing game is allow Turner to design more deep routes for wide receiver Devin Hester and call more deep passes.

Orton’s greatest shortcoming was inaccuracy in the vertical game. With Cutler’s strong, accurate arm, the Bears will be more likely to run go routes and anything they can to isolate Hester deep when they see defenses cheating up against Forte.

The Bears won’t have to rely as much on double tight end formations when the deep threat is a possibility. They can go to the four-receiver and five-receiver formations and drag receivers across the field under the coverage more often when the threat of Cutler’s arm on the deep ball has opposing defenses staying deeper downfield.

The possibilities may not be endless for the Bears' offense with Cutler's arm, but by comparison to recent years, it's likely to make Turner look more imaginative and put pressure on opposing defenses all over the field.