Martz, Cutler confident offensive line can fix things

After allowing 5 sacks in the first half last weekend, the Bears' offensive line must give a better accounting of itself on Saturday.

That will be Job One when the Arizona Cardinals come to Soldier Field for the third preseason game, which is the only one that matters because starters will play into the third quarter.

Last week Oakland Raiders defensive end Kamerion Wimbley had 4 sacks, but 1 came when he looped inside, so that one wasn't the responsibility of left tackle Chris Williams. Still, it was a disheartening performance by a former first-round draft pick.

"I gave him a certain number of sacks," offensive line coach Mike Tice said. "The number wasn't 4; but his number wasn't 2 either."

Bottom line, it can't happen again. An 0-2 preseason record the Bears can handle. Five sacks in the first half? Not so much.

"If I felt like that's who he was, yeah, that would be very unsettling," Martz said. "With Chris it's an aberration. I see him every day out here. I don't know what happened to him. When I look at him on tape (from that game), the technique and everything is just not who he is. I know Mike (Tice) has talked with him, and they worked through that. But a young tackle will go through that, and he has to fortunately experience that in the preseason.

"Imagine if that was a regular-season game. You need to fight through those things. (In the preseason) you put him on one-on-one situations and hang him out to dry a little bit and make him be on the edge by himself and get them used to being under the spotlight and dealing with it. You're always concerned when you have sacks. There's no question about it. But from what we see out of those guys out there in practice every day against what's a real good front, I think they'll be just fine."

Quarterback Jay Cutler, who suffers the consequences of failures up front, isn't worried about Williams, who has been protecting him since they were teammates at Vanderbilt.

So it's not like Cutler has to take Williams out to the woodshed for a verbal beatdown.

"Chris knows; he's a professional," Cutler said. "He's been in the league long enough. He knows what we expect of him, which is very big things. He's our left tackle, he's a first-round pick. I've played with him many years now, so he knows all our expectations are high. I don't think anyone has higher expectations for Chris than himself."

With 13-year veteran center Olin Kreutz on the field and in the huddle, Cutler doesn't have to worry about taking anyone to task. Kreutz is like E.F. Hutton - when he talks people listen.

"I talk to them on the sidelines a little bit," Cutler said. "But in between plays, Olin's taking care of that. I'm getting the play, I'm getting the guys in the huddle, getting everything organized. These guys are old enough, and they've been around, and they expect enough out of themselves that I don't have to do a lot of yelling.

"I've heard Olin a couple times in the game getting a little bit fired up, but we're going to take care of it in our own way."

That needs to happen starting Saturday night.

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<li><a href="/story/?id=403115">Injuries not helping safety situation <span class="date">[8/24/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=403136">Martz likes Cutler and QB development <span class="date">[8/24/10]</span></a></li>

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