Bears’ Cutler happy about Bennett’s return
Jay Cutler’s 146.2 passer rating in last season’s 31-26 victory over Philadelphia was the highest of his six-year career, but a lot has changed since last Nov. 28.
“We started off hot,” Cutler said. “We passed the ball well, we ran the ball well, and we converted on third down. Whenever we got in the red zone, we were scoring touchdowns and not kicking field goals. Sometimes games go like that.”
Converting on third downs and in the red zone have both been problems for the Bears this season.
They’re 29th in third-down efficiency, converting just 30.2 percent of their opportunities, well below the league average of 38.6 percent and miles behind the Eagles, who have converted 45.5 percent of their third downs.
The problem for the Bears in the red zone is not scoring, it’s settling for field goals instead of touchdowns. On 18 trips inside the 20, they’ve come away with 9 touchdowns, a 50 percent success rate, which is in the middle of NFL teams.
“It’s a lot of different things,” Cutler said. “We’re not executing, we’re missing assignments, missing throws, missing hot (reads), lining up wrong.
“It’s a numerous amount of things that could happen that go wrong on a play. At the end of the day, we’re not executing like we should when we get down there.”
That wasn’t a problem in the previous meeting with the Eagles. Two of Cutler’s 4 touchdown passes that day went to Earl Bennett, who will play Monday night for the first time in seven weeks after he suffered a chest injury in Week 2.
“He looked good, whenever we practiced, on Tuesday (or) whatever day it was,” Cutler said, still adapting to the practice schedule adjusted for the Monday night game.
“And I’m excited for him. He’s a heck of a football player. He adds a little bit of energy to that room and a little bit of energy to our huddle.
“He’s just consistent. He’s an even-keeled guy in that wide-receiver room. He adds some experience. It’s just going to help them a lot having him back.”
Bennett was third on the Bears last season with 46 catches and second with 561 receiving yards, when he emerged as a reliable third-down target for Cutler.
“He has such great hands,” said Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz. “But he’s (also) a terrific run-after-the-catch guy. He does everything very well. What Earl has that people don’t realize until they play him is that he has real speed.
“He made so many key plays in key situations for us last year. I call him ‘Mr. Third Down.’ It’s almost a foregone conclusion (that when) you throw him the ball, it’s going to be a completion. It’s good to have him back.”
The Bears will need all the reinforcements they can get, considering the Eagles will be significantly stronger in the secondary than they were a year ago.
Cutler torched a secondary that was missing injured four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Asante Samuel and didn’t yet have three-time Pro Bowl corner Nnamdi Asomugha, who was signed as am unrestricted free agent this year.
The Eagles also added Pro Bowl corner Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in an off-season trade.
“Their corners are very good,” Martz said. “I think they were struggling a little bit when we caught them (last season). They’ve addressed some of those issues that they had last year.”
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