Bears' Cutler coping with life on the run

As well as Jay Cutler played in Monday night's loss while running for his life, he doesn't want to make a habit of it.

“I don't really want to be under pressure a lot,” he said two days after completing 28 of 38 passes for a passer rating of 99.6.

But he may not have a choice. The offensive line isn't getting noticeably better, and offensive coordinator Mike Martz isn't calling plays that get the ball out of the quarterback's hand any quicker.

Martz hasn't said anything to Cutler about that, as yet, but the quarterback would be happy to hear it.

“Whenever you talk to him, you can ask him,” Cutler said. “I said, ‘I'm hoping.' I'd like to see that happen.”

The Detroit Lions sacked Cutler “just” three times, but they chased him from the pocket several times and forced him to elude pass rushers while remaining in the pocket at other times. He responded with 249 passing yards and 1 TD with no interceptions.

Bears head coach Lovie Smith says he's not concerned that Cutler will lose confidence in an offensive line that has struggled to keep him upright.

“Jay played the best game he's played in a long time,” Smith said. “He was under the gun quite a bit. He hung in there and made play after play, so, no, (I'm) not concerned about that at all.”

That's the kind of pressure Cutler has experienced frequently since the beginning of last season, and he has taken a physical beating on a regular basis. He says he can handle that, but having to deal with an omnipresent pass rush has adversely affected his timing and the rhythm of the offense.

“Physically it's not that big of a deal,” he said. “Mentally it just speeds up my (internal) clock; just makes me uneasy in the pocket. You take your eyes away from downfield to check to see what's going on in front of you, so it's psychologically and mentally more than anything. I just don't want to take a sack, (so I) try to get rid of the ball as fast as possible.”

Cutler was sacked a league-high 52 times last season, and he's on pace for 58 sacks this season. He can expect similar pressure Sunday night from the Minnesota Vikings' defense, which is No. 9 in the league with 16 sacks, and especially from defensive end Jared Allen, who leads the NFL with 8 ½sacks.

“They saw the game plan Detroit had,” Cutler said. “We're going to have to find a way to block them.”

That has been an ongoing problem, and no one knows it better than Cutler. The Bears ran the ball a season-high 31 times in the 34-29 victory over the Carolina Panthers, which enabled them to slow down the pass rush, allowing just 1 sack. But in other games, Cutler has been sacked at least three times.

“You can only keep running the ball so many times,” Cutler said. “At a certain point, you're going to have to throw it, and at a certain point you're going to have to evaluate what you can do in the passing game and what you can't do. That's not up to me, though, that's up to those guys (the coaches).”

Smith was asked if the Bears need to evaluate things differently to put Cutler and the rest of the offense in a better position to succeed.

“Believe it or not, we're trying to put our guys in position to succeed every play,” he said. “As far as evaluating, we evaluate every day, every play. So yes, we do and we are.”

Cutler had success in Denver on planned rollouts, but he said Martz's offense doesn't lend itself to putting the quarterback on the move, although he's agreeable to anything at this point.

“I'll do anything they want me to do,” Cutler said. “It doesn't matter to me. As long as everyone else is comfortable with it, as long as the offensive line's comfortable with it, as long as we can do it in the right, timely manner and fashion, then I'm cool with it.”

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