Too early to determine Chicago Bears starting quarterback
As far as he knew, after Sunday's relief appearance in the 48-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Jimmy Clausen was the Bears' starting quarterback. Or maybe he wasn't.
“I have no idea,” said Clausen, who knew as little about starter Jay Cutler's hamstring injury as the media. “You're going to have to talk to coach (John) Fox and those guys about that. I know nothing.”
Either way, Clausen will get more practice reps with the first team this week than the handful that most backups in the NFL get each week.
“Obviously Jay throws with all the ones when we're out at practice,” Clausen said. “I've just got to get more comfortable with those guys and communication better. We'll be all right.”
With Clausen under center, the offensive line was penalized six times, four times for false starts. Left tackle Jermon Bushrod had 2 false starts and a holding infraction, right guard Vlad Ducasse had a hold and a false start, and center Will Montgomery had a false start.
There also was a botched exchange between Montgomery and Clausen that the quarterback was able to pounce on, barely avoiding a safety.
Clausen didn't get much of a chance to warm up before he replaced Cutler late in the second quarter. “They said, ‘Jay's out. You're in. Let's go.' That was it.”
Clausen completed 14 of 23 passes for 121 yards, no touchdowns and 1 interception for a 56.6 passer rating. He was sacked twice.
Third-and-too-far:
Tight end Martellus Bennett, who caught 4 passes for 48 yards, said the offense was disrupted by 6 penalties for 40 yards with backup quarterback Jimmy Clausen in the game.
“The offense responded well to him, just too many penalties,” Bennett said. “Jimmy was able to move the ball down the field, but penalties kept moving us back. We'd go from third-and-6 to third-and-16. Those are tough to get. Third-down conversions were ridiculous.”
The Bears converted just 2 of 12 third-down conversions for 17 percent; the league average is 41 percent. The Cardinals converted 5 of 9 (56 percent).
Let 'em play:
Because Jay Cutler's hamstring injury occurred while in pursuit of Cardinals safety Tony Jefferson, as he returned an interception for a 26-yard touchdown, coach John Fox was asked about the wisdom of quarterbacks trying to make tackles.
“They're competitors,” Fox said. “Guys do that, I don't care what position it is. You prefer they don't pull a hamstring or get injured. But by no means will I tell a guy not to compete.”
Backup Jimmy Clausen said he'd do the same thing.
“You've got to go make the tackle. Jay's not just going to let the guys walk in. I'm going to do the same thing.”
An injury to Clausen would have left the Bears with no quarterbacks. So what was the plan?
“I couldn't go down,” Clausen said.
Extra points:
Kicker Robbie Gould went 3-for-3 on field goals for the second straight week, connecting from 23, 40 and 51 yards. Gould is 18-for-24 on FG attempts of 50 or longer, tied for the second-highest percentage in NFL history. … The Bears' 170 penalty yards tied the franchise mark which originally was set on Nov. 26, 1944. … Wide receiver Josh Bellamy's 48-yard TD catch was his first NFL reception. … Rookie wide receiver Cam Meredith, a quarterback at St. Joseph's High School in Westchester and an Illinois State product, played in his first NFL game and had 3 catches for 36 yards. … Fourth-round rookie running back Jeremy Langford scored his first TD on a 1-yard run.
Sitting it out:
Inactive were wide receiver Alshon Jeffery (hamstring/calf), defensive tackle Ego Ferguson (knee), cornerback Tracy Porter (hamstring), running back Ka'Deem Carey, linebacker Jon Bostic (knee), center Hroniss Grasu and offensive tackle Tayo Fabuluje.