Passing on first down does wonders for Orton, Bears' offense
Something amazing occurred Sunday at Detroit's Ford Field.
The Bears discovered what a beautiful thing passing on first down can be.
The NFL allows this, and other teams have known about it for quite a while, but for a long time it seemed as if the Bears never got the memo.
Until Sunday that is, when the Lions put up a brick wall to stop rookie running back Matt Forte and Kevin Jones, who combined for just 19 yards on 8 first-down rushing attempts.
In the past, the Bears would have continued ramming their collective head into the brick wall, trying futilely to establish the running game.
But not this time. Uncharacteristically, the Bears ran the ball only eight times on first down in the opening half.
Instead, offensive coordinator Ron Turner, showing newfound confidence in quarterback Kyle Orton, let the rapidly improving four-year veteran throw the ball over the brick wall - way over it.
Orton threw 9 first-down passes in the first half, and he completed all of them for a total of 161 yards, including a 52-yard bomb down the middle to tight end Greg Olsen, a 32-yard completion to Devin Hester, and a 34-yard hookup with Rashied Davis.
"When your quarterback's throwing well, and you have a lot of confidence in him, and your guys are making plays, it definitely opens things up," Turner said. "Right now, the way (Orton) is playing, we'll call whatever we think we need to call."
To prove that point, even after the Bears rode Orton's arm to a 17-0 halftime lead, they came out throwing after the break. Six of the first eight plays in the second half were passes, including 4 completions, one of which was the 30-yard, one-handed catch by Marty Booker.
"I loved it," Orton said. "Not necessarily throwing deep, but just as long as we're getting early-down completions.
"If we win on first down, we can still run the ball, we can throw it deep, we can take shots, screens - everything in the playbook's still there. That's a big part of it, is completing passes on first down."
The Bears haven't abandoned the run. The offensive balance against the Lions was ideal, with 34 passes and 34 runs.
"You can't win in this game being one-dimensional, just running the ball or just throwing the ball," Turner said. "You've got to be able to do both."
With 7 touchdown passes in the past three games, Orton is proving that the offense can be successful with him throwing the ball.
And he's been exceptional throwing deep, something critics claimed he couldn't do, alleging that he was a dink-and-dunk-type passer whose accuracy plummeted on longer throws.
After five weeks, only Tony Romo, Jay Cutler and Drew Brees have more completions of 20-plus yards than Orton, who has 18.
There should be continues opportunities for Orton in the passing game, as long as opponents are focused on stopping Forte.
"Since we're a running team, and we don't keep that a secret, we know that teams will have to come in thinking they have to stop that, which has made us throw the football a little bit more," coach Lovie Smith said. "You have to have a balance, and we've had that."
Does that mean the Bears will start getting off the bus balanced?
"Uh, no," Smith said. "We'll get off the bus still running the football, but we would like to pass it a little bit, too."
Orton's proving that he can pass it more than just a little bit.