The Bears Offensive Line: The Root of All Evil?

Although the Bears beat the Cleveland Browns by a sizeable margin the offense was less than stellar and we saw that the Bears cannot put the ball in the end zone when they are in the all important red zone.  Instead of getting touchdowns to start the game, the Bears settled for three field goals and had it been a team like the New York Giants or the New Orleans Saints, those field goals wouldn’t have been enough to win.  Touchdowns would have been needed in that case.

Offensive coordinator Ron Turner has threatened to scale back the playbook a little bit to make things much more simple for the offense but if anything, this team needs to open up the playbook and try new things in order to move the ball better.  Why not try something new or get working on some plays that will actually work as opposed to running the same thing that doesn’t work over and over again.  If you watch the Bears offense closely you will see that they run the same running plays several times a game making it easier for the opposing defense to figure them out.  The Bears fail to get creative on passing plays as well and don’t allow Cutler to move around a lot.

But never fear Bears fans, we have been promised changes.  Now the Bears are saying that they will work on allowing Cutler to work in a mobile pocket which should allow him more time to get the ball down the field and if Cutler gets more time then things will start to happen in the passing game.  If his receivers can run the proper routes and get open then Cutler should have a lot of success throwing the ball down the field.
With a player like Cutler at their disposal, you would figure that the Bears would open up the offense and throw the ball farther down the field.  The offense started out the season throwing the ball far down field but have scaled that back a little bit and aren’t taking as many deep shots mostly because Cutler hasn’t had enough time to throw the ball deep down field.  If the Bears can finally do that they will win more games.

But remember, it begins and ends with the offensive line.  If Cutler isn’t getting good protection than the Bears offense isn’t going to anywhere.  If the line can’t run block than running back Matt Forte isn’t going move the ball anywhere.  And right now, the line isn’t doing its job.

We have seen failures by all the players on the offensive line.  Olin Kreutz has had his problems snapping the ball, Roberto Garza has had problems protecting when Cutler drops back while there are times that Frank Omiyale looks confused and sometimes fails to block anyone.  Chris Williams has had his problems as well and is guilty of false start penalties at critical times.  Finally, seasoned veteran Orlando Pace has struggled as well and is easily out classed by smaller and quicker defensive players.

It may take time for an offensive line to gel but the Bears have had seven games to get it right and still don’t appear close to where you would think that they would be this far into the season.  However, they are all professionals and know what it will take to get it right so if the coaching staff concentrates on getting the line to play better than they should be able to overcome their problems.

There is still plenty of time left in this season to right the ship and get this team on track.  If the Bears want to win they will do what it takes to at least try to win.  Stay tuned.