Culter on Bears new offense: 'It's exciting, always changing'

Quarterback Jay Cutler and the other members of the Bears' offense still are learning new coordinator Mike Martz's scheme, but they're already excited about it.

"We never really know what play's going to be called," Cutler said after Friday morning's high-energy, up-tempo minicamp practice.

"We've got a good idea. But Mike does a great job of mixing things up and keeping the defense off balance, putting guys in matchups where they can win.

"It's exciting. It's always changing. It's always different."

Martz's offense puts a lot of pressure on the quarterback, but it also gives the quarterback a lot of opportunities for success.

"Quarterbacks have to make quick, precise decisions, and you have to be really accurate with the ball," Cutler said. "It puts a lot on the quarterback, puts a lot on the receivers.

"But it's going well. The guys are picking up and they're really receptive to it."

Head coach Lovie Smith already has seen positive signs from the Cutler-Martz collaboration, which is expected to jump-start a Bears offense that often has stalled during the three non-playoff seasons since Super Bowl XLI.

"What I hope to see is exactly how it's been from Day One," Smith said. "They have mutual respect for each other.

"Of course being in the middle, I knew both of the guys, knew that it would be a good fit. All players are looking for someone that can help their game. Mike can help Jay's game, he can help our offense, and guys see that, so Jay has taken over the offense and is learning each day with it and growing each day with it."

Cutler, Martz and the rest of the offense have a lot of time until the regular season starts, but they also have much work to do.

"We've got a lot of time, but we've got to keep putting a lot of pressure on myself and the rest of the guys to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible, (and still) be able to retain all the information throughout the year," Cutler said. "That's going to be the hard part."

Martz has a reputation as being hard on his quarterbacks, but he's better known for helping quarterbacks put up huge numbers in his pass-heavy offenses.

During a six-year span with the St. Louis Rams from 1999-2004, Martz's offenses never failed to accumulate less than 4,287 passing yards in any season.

The Bears haven't thrown for that many yards since 1999, when they had 4,352.

Over the previous five years the Bears have passed for an average of 3,251 yards per season, about 1,500 less per year than the 4,721 passing yards the Rams averaged under Martz.

"Everything he does is to put a quarterback in a good position to be successful," Cutler said. "He's not going to call plays, he's not going to install stuff (that doesn't work).

"Everything we have done, he makes sure I am comfortable with. If not, we adjust it or find some medium ground to make it work."

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