Bears Camp 2010 » Jay Cutler

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler starts camp on right foot

admin — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:31:16 +0000

It may have taken him a little bit of time, but new Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was beginning to feel comfortable by the end of his training camp debut.

“Toward the end, I think we started getting into it,” Cutler said. “Early on, guys were kind of getting used to the new cleats, the new grass, the new atmosphere. I missed some throws I’m going to be able to make, but it’s the first day.”

With fans filling the stands and standing four or five deep between the bleachers, Cutler and the Bears took part in their first training camp practice of the season Friday at Olivet Nazarene University.

Although the team practiced without pads Friday, the practice served as a good way to break in some of the Bears’ offseason acquisitions, head coach Lovie Smith said.

“I thought we had a good start,” Smith said. “It was good for Jay to get out here and get the first work he’s had with the receivers. It was good for Orlando (Pace), Pisa (Tinoisamoa) and some of our new players to see how we do things.”

Coming off a season in which he threw for more than 4,500 yards and 25 touchdowns for the Denver Broncos, Cutler said he was ready for the first day of camp.

“I was anxious if anything,” he said. “We’ve been throwing these past couple weeks, kind of getting ready. The past couple days we’ve had off, watching some movies and getting ready to go. I think everyone was out here about 30 minutes early, so I think that kind of told you these guys were ready.”

Cutler, receivers finding rhythm

Devin Hester and Earl Bennett took the snaps with Cutler and the rest of the first-team offense Friday.

Cutler and Hester connected on a long play down the sideline in seven-on-seven drills.

Hester said he’s been impressed with Cutler thus far.

“Jay is special,” Hester said. “I talk about it all the time. He probably gets tired of me talking about it, but to his credit, he’s a nice quarterback.”

Cutler said he was happy with the play from his receivers in Friday’s practice.

“My group, I think we might have had one missed assignment,” Cutler said. “But other than that, the guys were in the right spots. They were making some plays, making some adjustments that aren’t on paper. It’s just them out there reacting. I thought they did a good job.”

Replacing Peanut

With Bears cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tilman out indefinitely following back surgery, second-year cornerback Zackary Bowman took many of the first-team reps on Friday.

Smith said Bowman’s solid performance at practice was a continuation of a good offseason, but Bowman still has room for improvement.

“He made a couple plays out there today,” Smith said. “That’s what we’ve seen from him every time we’ve given him an opportunity. (But) he has a long ways to go.”

Although Tillman’s absence isn’t ideal, defensive back Danieal Manning said the competition will help the team in the long run.

“All it is is opportunity, man,” Manning said. “I feel excited about it. It’s only going to make us better. The competition is going to be good.”

Finally, a positive outlook on Bears receivers

Evan Hill — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:45:29 +0000

This Bleacher Report post leads me to believe the Bears’ secret weapon might be their receivers this year. Throw newly acquired quarterback Jay Cutler into the mix to sweep away all that other bad karma from the pocket, and we might have a good season.

Cutler, Smith among hosts of Obama attended DNC fundraiser

Evan Hill — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:29:37 +0000

According to this Sun-Times column, Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith and newly acquired QB Jay Cutler will be featured hosts at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Chicago next week. The event headliner will be President Barack Obama, who is making a brief stop in Chicago for the event.

Commentary: Bears questions to be answered

Steve Soucie — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:57:39 +0000

By Steve Soucie / In a little more than three weeks, the Chicago Bears will be in town for their eighth year of training camp on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University. Having been a part of all of them, I can’t recall any that began with as much buzz surrounding the venerable old franchise as this one will.

But just because there’s a lot of buzz doesn’t mean there aren’t a litany of questions the camp will hopefully provide answers to. Here are a few I’m looking forward to answering:

How good is Jay Cutler’s arm?

I know it’s good — real good. But it might have to be otherworldly to make an impact on what I still believe to be the absolute worst wide receiver unit in the league. The pass catchers will certainly be helped by Cutler’s ability to throw the football with significantly more zip than the predecessors the Bears trotted out to the position, but will this collection of mediocrity be able to actually catch it when thrown? Time will tell.

Who backs up Cutler?

Cutler has been a true workhorse early in his career, never failing to make an NFL start since wresting the job away from veteran Jake Plummer in Denver in the latter stages of 2006. But even iron horses get hurt (see Tom Brady), and the other two quarterbacks on the roster (Caleb Hanie, Brett Basanez) have no NFL experience. They don’t exactly instill confidence that they are at the stage where they can do anything other than hold clipboards and watch games in baseball caps.

Is there a No. 1 receiver on this roster?

I don’t think so, but maybe Cutler will create one. He pretty much did with the Broncos’ Brandon Marshall, who wasn’t widely regarded as an upper-echelon pass catcher until the duo joined forces. I’m aware Marshall isn’t happy in Denver (especially with his meal ticket now throwing passes in Chicago), but it is highly unlikely that Broncos would send both Cutler and Marshall to the same team, and the Bears don’t have the ammunition Denver is currently requiring to get him. Some have connected the team to free agent Plaxico Burress, but I think I’m as likely to be catching passes in drills as the troubled Burress is. It will probably be piecemeal once again, and maybe Cutler can recapture the college rapport he had with Earl Bennett, when Bennett set a number of Southeastern Conference records.

Can the offensive line gel?

Seven-time Pro Bowler Orlando Pace was recently on the cover of The Sporting News explaining that he chose the Bears in the free agency period because there was a “lot of buzz” around the team. Pace is a part of that buzz and should have at least a few more years of solid play in the tank. The addition of Frank Omiyale gives the Bears the option of moving last year’s No. 1 draft pick, Chris Williams, inside to guard. There, Williams would be joined by stalwarts Olin Kreutz and Roberto Garza. Swingman Kevin Shaffer adds solid depth. This is a significantly more-talented unit than last year’s group, and if it comes together, second-year back Matt Forte could have ample running room.

What’s the deal at linebacker?

The Bears have done very little tinkering at this position over the last five years with Lance Briggs, Brian Urlacher and Hunter Hillenmeyer. Hillenmeyer has always been a steady assignment-based player who rarely makes mistakes, but also rarely makes impact plays. Urlacher usually did enough for both of them, and then some. But in his 10th year, Urlacher is starting to show signs of wear and tear and the Bears brought in St. Louis free agent Pisa Tinoisamoa in the offseason. He was the Rams’ leading tackler a year ago and certainly seems capable of adding a jolt to the unit.

Who’s the safety valve?

Kansas City signed away oft-injured Mike Brown in the offseason. I can understand the Bears’ reluctance to bring the former second-round draft choice back because of his history of missing multiple games in nearly every season of his career. But his leadership will be missed and there is an astonishing lack of battle-tested experience left on the roster. At the very least, Brown’s leadership will be missed on a unit that has much-maligned free agent signee Josh Bullocks and second-year man Kevin Payne as the only players with much field service time at the safety position.

That’s a lot of questions (and I could go on), but hopefully Bourbonnais will begin to provide the answers in just a little more than three weeks’ time.

Steve Soucie can be reached at ssoucie@daily-journal.com or 815-937-3392.