'It's a start' But not much more as Cutler struggles in debut with Bears

Posted August 14, 2009 11:00 pm

By Bob LeGere

Franchise quarterback Jay Cutler did not live up to the hype in his debut, as the Bears lost their preseason-opener 27-20 to the Bills in Buffalo.

In four "underwhelming" possessions that totaled 14 snaps and 71 yards, Cutler completed 5 of 10 passes for 64 yards and was intercepted once. He led the Bears to just 3 points, and that scoring drive came on a short field after Garrett Wolfe recovered a Dominic Rhodes muffed punt at the Bills' 43-yard line.

Cutler's biggest play of the night, a perfectly thrown seam route to tight end Desmond Clark, got the Bears in the red zone on their fourth possession. But Cutler's third-down pass to Devin Hester, his last play of the evening, was incomplete, and the Bears settled for Robbie Gould's 23-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead with 3:17 left in the first quarter.

"It's a start," coach Lovie Smith said of the offense. "There are some things we would like to have back. I thought we did a decent job running the ball at times. We had a couple of receivers open, and they were able to make the catch. We'll build from here."

After the Bears' first possession went three-and-out, Cutler found Hester in the middle of the defense for a 20-yard gain on the second series. But two plays later his pass intended for Hester was intercepted by Bills cornerback Leodis McKelvin.

On the Bears' third possession, another three-and-out, Cutler should have been intercepted again, but the Bills' Reggie Corner dropped a ball that hit him in the hands chest high.

Cutler didn't put too much emphasis on the opener, in which the offense was without running back Matt Forte and tight end Greg Olsen, who were held out as a precaution.

"Over the next couple of weeks we'll really start picking it up, start game-planning and go deeper into games," Cutler said. "That's when we'll get a much better feel for where we're headed and what we've got. That's when it's really going to count. We're just calling base stuff and seeing what happens out there right now."

In the second quarter, the Bills put together a 15-play drive, as the Bears' defense struggled against Buffalo's no-huddle offense. But it produced only Rian Lindell's field goal of 28 yards thanks to Alex Brown's sack of Trent Edwards after Buffalo reached the red zone. Edwards completed all 10 of his passes for 79 yards, but he was also sacked by cornerback Corey Graham.

"It was a good starting point, but we need to move forward from here," Brown said. "We need to get more pressure. You really can't prepare for the no-huddle. We got a little winded."

Caleb Hanie took over for Cutler and put up better numbers (8-for-11, 87 yards, 125.9 passer rating) than the starter. On his first possession, Hanie led the Bears on an 11-play drive that included a 16-yard completion to tight end Kellen Davis and ended with Gould's 50-yard field goal for a 6-3 lead midway through the second quarter.

After the Bills took a 13-6 lead in the third quarter, Hanie's athleticism helped the Bears tie it up. Bears safety Craig Steltz returned an interception 41 yards to set it up. Hanie connected with rookie Johnny Knox for 15 yards and then scrambled out of trouble and flipped a short toss to fullback Will Ta'ufo'ou, who crashed into the end zone to complete a 14-yard scoring play.

Bears No. 3 quarterback Brett Basanez was intercepted on back-to-back possessions early in the fourth quarter, allowing the Bills to put together a pair of 4-yard TD drives and pull ahead 27-13. The first pick wasn't Basanez' fault; he hit Knox in stride, but the rookie from Abilene Christian bobbled the ball into the hands of Bills rookie cornerback Ellis Lankster.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Basanez found rookie Wide receiver Juaquin Iglesias in the back of the end zone for a 10-yard TD pass to cap the scoring.

Bob LeGere's game tracker Pecking order: Although the Bears' depth chart listed Josh Beekman as the starter at left guard, it was Frank Omiyale who was in that spot with the first team. Beekman spelled center Olin Kreutz early in the second quarter and then moved to left guard in the second half. The depth chart listed "tri-starters" at strong-side linebacker. Pisa Tinoisamoa opened the game there, but Nick Roach got some snaps with the starters. Jamar Williams played after that. Lopsided numbers: The Bills, who were playing their second preseason game, outgained the Bears 375-225 and had a 38:00-22:00 edge in time of possession. The Bears also turned the ball over five times, including 3 Brett Basanez interceptions, while forcing 3 Buffalo turnovers. Four Bills quarterbacks were a combined 29 of 34 for 265 yards with 1 TD and 1 interception. Sitting it out: Defensive tackle Tommie Harris (knee, hamstring), tight end Greg Olsen (hip), running back Matt Forte (coach's decision), safety Danieal Manning (hamstring), Patrick Mannelly (hip) and cornerbacks Charles Tillman (back) and Zack Bowman (hamstring) did not dress. Except for Tillman and Bowman, most of the others would have played in a regular-season game. A star is born: Rookie strong safety Al Afalava, a sixth-round pick from Oregon State, who was starting because Danieal Manning (hamstring) was held out, finished second among Bears starters with 4 solo tackles and also contributed on special teams.