All is smiles on the shores of Lake Michigan, as the Chicago Bears started OTAs this week and Jay Cutler is happy with the changes to the coaching staff, and even happier to have Brandon Marshall back as a target.
Last season, Cutler was asked to run previous offensive coordinator Mike Martz’ system, which required the quarterback to hold the ball with minimal protection. After the first few games, in which Chicago was leading the league is sacks given up, Cutler openly worried about surviving the season. After a couple of days with new OC Mike Tice’s playbook, Cutler sounds like a new man.
“It’s something I’m comfortable with,” Cutler said. “I feel it goes with my strengths, what I’m able to do, and I’ve had success with it in the past.”
Cutler also feels like his voice is being heard, something that didn’t happen often under Martz. He’s been working with Tice and first-year Bears quarterback coach Jeremy Bates, who worked with him for three years in Denver (2006 to 2008).
“I think Jeremy has a really good feel of what I like to do and what I don’t like to do,” Cutler said. “There were plays out here today that I told him I don’t like them, let’s think about getting rid of them, and he’s fine with that and coach Tice is fine with that.
“It’s a give-and-take, and that’s a breath of fresh air around here, being able to give ideas and everyone giving ideas and let’s pick the best ones that work for everybody.”
And Cutler is mostly excited to have three-time Pro Bowler Brandon Marshall back. The two had some of their best years together with the Broncos. Marshall caught over 100 balls in 2007 and 2008 playing with Cutler.
“He’s a guy that I’ve missed,” Cutler said. “It’s good having him back. He’s a little bit different guy than he was in Denver, and in a good way. He’s a really good influence for these younger guys.”
Marshall agrees. “I think we’re two guys who are really passionate about the game, grew up playing ball our whole life, and we really, truly love the game,” Marshall said. “But I think the most important thing is we see the field the same. What I mean by that is, a lot of times, you have to wing it out there, and we seem to be on the same page when we do that. That’s what the great ones do: See the field the same way.”
Great quarterback-receiver combinations have always had that chemistry – Jerry Rice and Steve Young had it, Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison, Jim Kelly and Andre Reed, Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin. Looking around today, Tom Brady and Wes Welker have been doing that for years, and last season Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson looked like they were totally in sync.
The increase in free agency in recent years has made it more difficult for quarterbacks and receivers to have the number of years together that they did in the past. Who knows what Cutler and Marshall might have accomplished if they’d stayed together, but now that they are back in the same huddle, they are ready to go. And they have both matured as players in the intervening years.
“In 2008, we finished No. 2 in offense, and everyone said we were really successful, and even we walk around sometimes saying it,” Marshall said. “But when I look at film now, I think we were terrible, and I say that humbly. We were just young and immature out there on the field, not understanding the big picture of the offense and the game itself.
“To see where we’re at now, where our football mind is now, it’s going to be really dangerous. I’m excited to really fall into this offense with a new mind.”
