Bears Wide Receiver Situation Makes for an Ironic Picture

There’s a lot of noise being made about Bears wide receiver Earl Bennett this offseason.  For instance, Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune addresses the plans that offensive coordinator Mike Martz has to increase Bennett’s role in the offense this season.

“’We didn’t throw it to him enough,’ Martz said on the [Bears] website. ‘That will be remedied. He will figure in a much larger role than he did last year. He came to us late. He was injured. I wasn’t really sure where he was with all the stuff. But he established himself as a guy who needs to get a lot more balls than he did.'”

“Martz referenced having Bennett play inside and outside and that’s something that has been missing —  a player with the skill set to handle both roles. That’s what many of the true No. 1 receivers in the NFL can do. Whether or not Bennett is cut out for a star role remains to be seen, but certainly he’s capable of bigger and better things than he was allowed to display this past season.”

ESPN‘s NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert comments further.

“That tells me Bennett is likely to start opposite [Johnny] Knox in Martz’s scheme, with Hester serving perhaps a less prominent role. That would jibe with what coach Lovie Smith said in March at the NFL owners meeting, where he suggested the Bears could be more efficient with [Devin] Hester‘s playing time on offense. Indeed, Smith said he would like to ‘take away some of his reps and get him involved in the ones where he’s out there.'”

I’m all for not trying to use Hester as a number one receiver.  Hester has plenty of talent but I think its become obvious even to the Bears coaching staff that wanted it for him so badly that he doesn’t have the instincts for the role.

But is Bennett really the guy you want to put out there in his place?  True, the two are almost polar opposites, and that’s what makes this situation so funny.  Bennett seems to have very good instincts and fits the role that the Bears have put him in to a ‘T’.  But if you are going to put him on the outside, he’s going to be matched up  with cover corners where he’s going to need speed to succeed.

This sounds to me like its going to be another disappointing development in the continued search to find the wide receiver that the Bears badly need.  Eventually they’re going to have to come to the realization that the solution lies outside the organization.

How Long Will Cutler’s Championship Game Performance Remain an Issue?

Dan Pompei at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

“I wanted to ask you if you thought it was fair of the media, current and past NFL players bashing Jay Cutler during the NFC Championship Game? How can anyone question this guy’s toughness when he battles with diabetes every single day? How about all those hits and sacks he has endured since coming to Chicago? I find it hard to believe Jay would tap out a game that significant. Michael Shahbaz, San Diego

“I thought some of the criticism of Cutler was uncalled for. It’s really difficult for me to ever question whether a player is hurt, because I’m not in his body. I don’t think it has anything to do with Cutler being a diabetic, but he has proven he is a very tough quarterback who can take a hit. It’s interesting that we’re still discussing this four months after the fact. I wonder how long this will continue to be an issue.”

Unless Cutler wins a Super Bowl, this will be an issue for as long as he plays.

Some believe, as Michael does above, that this is simply an issue of Cutler’s physical toughness.  Its not.   This story has legs in part because its got so many facets.  Why did so many players savage Cutler when they would hesitate to do so with most of their other peers?  Were they really questioning his physical toughness or was it the mental toughness, reflected in Cutler’s awful body language and poor leadership skills, that had them wondering?  And most important of all, let’s not forget that in the first half of possibly the most important game of his life, Cutler fell apart and played terribly.

Some people say that when considering the significance of an issue, you should think about whether it would be mentioned in a person’s obituary. Right now, this one would be the lead in Cutler’s.