Resilient Olsen rewrites role

It didn't take more than a few minutes after Mike Martz was hired as the Bears' offensive coordinator for rumors of Greg Olsen's imminent demise to circulate.

In Martz's history, he has not always had much use for a tight end in his offense other than as a blocker, and the Bears signed Brandon Manumaleuna in the off-season to fill that role.

Olsen had seen his catches and receiving yardage increase in each of the previous two years after he was drafted in the first round in 2007 and caught 39 passes for 391 yards.

This season his numbers are down, but it's not as if the 6-foot-5, 255-pound Olsen was completely written out of the script. He finished the regular season with 41 receptions and 404 yards, a significant drop-off from last year's 60-catch, 612-yard performance — but he remains relevant.

“The thing about Greg is, we don't have a fullback,” Martz said. “Greg's numbers in the passing game are not what they could and probably should be for his abilities. But what we've done with him is, he lines up at the line of scrimmage at the point of attack, but he's also lined up at fullback and has been a lead blocker. We line him up at wide receiver. He does so many things for us and just by being able to do that, his flexibility puts a lot of pressure on the defense, even though his numbers wouldn't indicate that.”

The knock on Olsen always has been that he doesn't block well enough to be anything more than a pass-catching tight end, but his size-speed combination can create matchup problems for some defenses.

“Greg is still valuable to this offense,” quarterback Jay Cutler said. “He does so many different things. Him and Earl (Bennett) and Rashied (Davis) are kind of our moveable pieces. He's lined up at probably every position possible out there. Even though Greg's numbers might be down, he's probably had more fun in this offense than he has in years of just the challenge of preparing each week and just the different things we're asking him to do.”

Despite juggling different responsibilities, Olsen seems to be satisfied with becoming a more versatile player and a more complete tight end.

“It's definitely different,” he said. “But I wholeheartedly believe that it's been a good thing. It's opened my eyes that you can have an impact on the game other than just catching touchdowns, or catching the ball.

“In the past, it was always: What did our tight ends do in the passing game? We did stuff in the run game, don't get me wrong, but this year we have a lot more responsibility in blitz protections on third downs. As opposed to running the routes, we're picking up blitzes, which is just as important. We're run blocking from the backfield at the line of scrimmage. You can have a big impact on the game without the ball.”