For Bears, yards get longer as they get closer to goal

After one week the Bears are in a first-place tie with the Colts with 463 yards of total offense.

But they know there's room for improvement.

Execution at the goal line leaps to mind after the Bears went 0-for-5 from inside the 1-yard line last Sunday. In the first quarter they lost a yard on a third-down run and settled for a 20-yard field goal and then failed on four straight tries on a fourth-quarter possession.

"We've got to get some goal-line stuff," quarterback Jay Cutler said. "We've got to concentrate on that. We've got to improve. It's definitely going to be a point of emphasis this week."

Offensive coordinator Mike Martz accepted the blame for last week, even though the offensive line deserves a good share of it.

"That's a coaching deal," Martz said. "We've been going through all this stuff and our goal-line stuff has not gotten the attention that it needs. I just don't think we did a good enough job of preparing them for what they were going to see. (The Lions) were a little different than what we thought, but we've got to spend more time with them on that, too. I'll wear that one."

The idea of a quarterback sneak at the goal line was floated to Cutler, who said it could be a consideration down the road.

"That's game by game," he said. "It's going to be hard for us to get a push inside. Teams aren't stupid. They know once you get into those third-and-short, fourth-and-short, one-yard-line situations, they're going to put two guys in the gaps."

Less of a problem but no less noteworthy was the lack of involvement from Devin Hester. Only 1 pass was directed toward Hester, which he caught for a 17-yard pickup. But 1 catch isn't what the Bears' coaching staff has in mind when they refer to Hester as their No. 1 receiver.

"If Devin would have got open, I would have thrown him the ball," said Cutler, whose 372 passing yards tied for sixth most in franchise history. "It's going to be game-by-game who gets the ball, depending on (the) coverage. We're going to go with the matchups.

"They were doing some stuff to Devin, putting some guys (safeties) over the top of him. Devin is going to have his games. I'm not worried about that. He played really well. He's going to play really well this week, so I'm excited for him."

Hester, who led the Bears with 757 receiving yards last year and led the wideouts with 57 catches, isn't worried either. But he's caught just 6 passes in the Bears' past eight games, although he missed three straight late last season with a calf injury. On the bright side, Hester has averaged 26.7 yards on those 6 catches.

"That's the way it goes," Hester said. "You sometimes get one or two balls, and the next week you might get 15 or 20. That's what I'm hoping for this week. Get my hands on the ball a little more and try to help out the team as much as I can. I thought I was open a couple times, but some of the plays are not designed for me."

Martz said there wasn't a conscious effort to target Devin Aromashodu 10 times (he caught 5) or to target Hester just once.

"You just have to be careful about trying to get somebody the ball, and you leave trying to win the game," Martz said. "The defense will dictate that too. If the quarterback is doing what he's supposed to do, that ball can go anywhere at any time based on the structure of the defense. It just happens in the course of a game. We had some things that we were trying to get to, and it just didn't work out."

• Follow Bob LeGere's Bears reports via Twitter@BobLeGere. Check out his blog, Bear Essentials at DailyHerald.com

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