Angelo heaps praise on 4 Bears
Bears general manager Jerry Angelo spoke with beat reporters for the first time in more than two months before the Dolphins game Thursday night and expressed satisfaction with the team's performance since the bye week.
But despite success in several areas especially on defense Angelo said there is still more work to be done.
Following are selected questions and answers.
Q. Can you talk about the job Lovie Smith has done?
JA: “We've seen the same thing we've seen every year from Lovie. He's always been a great leader for us. I keep going back to that adversity, those thorns. He continues to create hope and the guys rally around Lovie.
“You can say what you want to say, I've read everything that you've said, most of it to me is unfair because the guy has really done an outstanding job of keeping the team together. And I think that is critical for a head coach in this league. You can't minimize that, and he doesn't get enough credit for that.
“He has done a great job of leading this team. I feel the staff has really galvanized in a short period of time with the newness of the coaches and hopefully we're going to see the fruits of that the second half of the season.
Q: The last two game plans have been more balanced. Did you have to sit down with offensive coordinator Mike Martz and emphasize that?
JA: “I'm not going to say it that way. Mike is new to the players. Obviously, Mike has expectations of what he wants to do with our offense. But you have to play games to know what you can and can't do.
“You have to protect the quarterback, and we need to do things differently than maybe what we wanted to do early on.
“But we adjusted. That's the great thing about coaches, they do what they have to do, not necessarily what they wanted to do. Mike and the whole staff adjusted very, very well, and our players are more comfortable now. So hopefully we're going to see that and our offense will grow as it has.”
Q. You paid Julius Peppers a great deal of money. Has he been worth the investment despite having just 2 sacks?
JA: “Don't let the sack numbers be the end result of how you measure this guy. He really truly is a great player and he's been a great leader for us, too. You can't minimize the intangibles. I think a big part of why we've been playing good defense are the intangibles. We're very, very strong and it starts with him.”
Q. From what you've seen this year, is Jay Cutler a better quarterback than he was last year?
JA: “He definitely is better than what he was last year. He's more comfortable in what he's doing. You're starting to see that. The last few weeks I think he has a much better feel for the rush. He's starting to move in the pocket, out of the pocket, making plays, doing things now that show a lot more confidence in his ability to make plays. We all know that he's very gifted in terms of his arm strength. He's continuing to learn the offense and the players around him. It's still a work in progress, but I think he's definitely taken a step.”
Q. Are you satisfied with Cutler's development in Year 2?
JA: “Absolutely. The expectations when he came in were he was going to walk on water. I never thought that. I knew there were going to be some growing pains, and he hit every speed bump you could hit last year, and I feel that he worked harder.
“(The problems) created a little humility, as it would do to anybody, and he is much more focused this year. He's much more comfortable with his environment, meaning our players. Mike Martz and he really hit it off early, and there's a strong relationship there built on trust, and that's critical for his development.”
Q. How tough was it to take some of those games earlier in the year when the quarterbacks were getting sacked so often?
JA: “One word: brutal. Just absolutely brutal. I can't describe the pain.
“No matter what you guys do, it doesn't equal the pain of watching that. But, hey, it's part of the game. You have to suck it up; you have to bounce back. You have to handle the downs, and the downs come off the field as they do on the field.
“You better stay resilient. If you don't, you're going to crash. There's no other way. It's a tough league. That's the beauty of our game. That's why it's such a challenge to everybody. If you can't handle that, then it's next (guy up).”