Bears finally giving Cutler control
It is not in Lovie Smith's nature to admit a mistake.
At least, not publicly.
But in the last month Smith has acknowledged several errors through his actions.
So full credit now to Smith for fixing some of them, especially as they relate to quarterback Jay Cutler.
Since they invested so many draft picks, much money and a considerable portion of their future in Cutler, the Bears have unwittingly done just about everything possible to derail his career.
They have done little to improve the offensive line, nothing to upgrade the receiving corps, and the choice of offensive coaches has been, well, offensive.
For months the suggestion here was to elevate Mike Tice to offensive coordinator and bring in someone Cutler likes — such as Jeremy Bates — as his quarterback coach.
It's not sexy and it's not flashy, but it's the best thing for Cutler under the circumstances.
Mike Martz had to go. Even Smith finally figured that out after his hand-picked coordinator managed to get Cutler beaten to a pulp.
Martz's obstinate behavior even in the face of the painfully obvious was negligence of the worst NFL kind, but his firing would also mean yet another system change for Cutler, hardly what he needed right now.
Next season will mark Cutler's sixth offensive coordinator in eight years — including Vanderbilt — not to mention all the QB coaches he couldn't stand.
And though Cutler is not the easiest guy to get along with from a coach's perspective, that's who he is, and it made no sense to stick him with yet another coach or system he didn't like.
The middle ground was launching Martz and giving him Tice, Bates and an offense in which he has complete input, up to and including allowing him to audible whenever he wants. Let him use the hurry-up and call his own plays, giving him the chance to move around and be creative.
Tice will make certain the Bears hand off enough, that Cutler doesn't get killed by seven-step drops and inflexible calls, and Bates will handle the passing aspect of the coordinator's job.
But no one has a better feel for his personnel and what works on the field than the quarterback, and once Cutler took the offense away from Martz last season, he played the best football of his career and the Bears won five straight before Cutler's thumb injury.
Of course, Cutler still needs the weapons and the protection to take the Bears a long way, but at least — finally — the Bears are trying to give Cutler a chance to be his best after ignoring the problems of the last several years.
Cutler will be 29 in April, and after six years in the league he should be in his prime and at his absolute best. Instead, it's been a lot of starts and stops, due in part to consistent upheaval on the coaching staff, a lack of talent around him, injuries and sometimes his immaturity and impatience.
What's amazing is that Cutler is still walking around and able to campaign for a more suitable offense and better supporting cast.
The last two years under Martz, Cutler was hit 215 times and dropped for 80 sacks in 27 games, an average of 8 hits and 3 sacks per game.
But consider that through five games in 2011, when the Bears were 2-3, Cutler was averaging 9.4 hits and 3.6 sacks, and when Cutler demanded more max protect, shorter drops, rollouts and handoffs, the Bears won the next five and the QB was hit an average of seven times with only 1 sack.
They went from running it 36 percent of the time to 52 percent, and Cutler played some great football.
It doesn't mean you can't be successful in today's NFL with a pass-happy offense, because some of the best teams in football are precisely that, but you can also run to set up the pass and give your QB a fighting chance to survive in the process.
If this works out, the credit should go to Smith for recognizing the problem, getting it right and giving Cutler men with whom he can work.
Now if they can only find him a line and some weapons, Cutler might just reach his potential.
brozner@dailyherald.com
#376;Hear Barry Rozner on WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.