Aug. 04--John Fox is the first Bears coach who isn't serving up platitudes when it comes to Jay Cutler.
It's a results-based business and Fox would rather see how things play out for the quarterback. He might be new to town but Fox is just as aware as every Bears fan what has happened over the previous five seasons.
Cutler has to do a better job of protecting the football. He has to play with a greater degree of consistency. He needs to be more productive. If he accomplishes all that under his fourth offensive coordinator, Adam Gase, he ought to enjoy success. Otherwise, the Bears will have to take the plunge into a search for a replacement, what some argued they should have done after general manager Ryan Pace took over.
One voice that you wouldn't expect to be bullish on Cutler is one of his ex-coordinators, one of many assistants that have filtered through Halas Hall since 2009.
Mike Martz predicts Cutler is poised for a big season. Yes, the same Martz that Cutler delivered a choice profanity at during an NBC broadcast in 2011, Martz's final season with the organization and his last job in coaching.
"In Jay's defense, whether you like Jay or you don't like Jay, there just weren't any players here," Martz said. "He just didn't have that much of a supporting cast and he is in a position now where he has an offensive coordinator that can help him and he's got better players. I think this could be a great year for him."
Martz reasons that with the skill players surrounding Cutler, including wide receivers Alshon Jeffery, Eddie Royal and Kevin White, tight end Martellus Bennett and running back Matt Forte, the quarterback is destined for a breakout year.
On the other hand, one could argue that the Bears had a solid supporting cast last year and the year before.
"The guys that we started at wide receiver were first and foremost special teams players," Martz said of 2010 and 2011. "That's how they made the team and that's why they were always running down on kickoffs and stuff like that. It just wasn't fair to those guys. They just weren't in the class of the big-time receivers they have now.
"The other thing is you go back and look at that offensive line, the center (Olin Kreutz 2010, Roberto Garza 2011) was a really good player. We had a good player there but the rest of them now, the year after I left, what happened to them? Where are they now? They're all out of the league. So when you look at the receivers and the offensive line, it's pretty remarkable what he was able to do over the years."
Gase worked under Martz for the Lions and 49ers and they've had conversations about Cutler, who was 17-8 in two seasons under Martz with 36 touchdown passes and 23 interceptions and a trip to the NFC Championship Game following the 2010 season. Martz pointed to a stretch of games in 2011 before Cutler suffered a broken thumb where he thought he was playing at a high level.
"We've had discussions about him," Martz said. "Obviously, they are positive. There were some things system-wise that I tried to force down Jay's throat in that first year and I know we were in the NFC Championship and all that but the second year we tried to tailor it more toward things he was more comfortable with and I think that is where he really excelled.
"Shame on me. Those are the kind of things I discussed with Adam. He will feel his way through that with Jay and Jay is going to be different today than when I had him."
Cutler sees elements of the Martz offense in what Gase does. But they are just elements. At times, it might look like something the Patriots do with Josh McDaniels, another influence on Gase. At times, it will resemble something that Peyton Manning took with him from Indianapolis to Denver. Gase counts Steve Mariucci as a mentor as well. Martz was ahead of his time with the Greatest Show on Turf and a lot of his playbook spread far in a copycat league.
"Some of the formations and some of the concepts," Cutler said when asked about similarities. "Adam's done a really good job over the course of his career of choosing plays that are core plays that really work, some gimmicky stuff, some stuff that's kind of situational, combining everything together, whether it's from West coast or it's from the numbers system or Josh McDaniels and those guys, he's combining all that good stuff to make one good one."
Gase went back and looked at some of the games Martz referenced from 2011 when he was early in the process of building the offense. He wanted to get a sense for how Cutler handled certain things.
"I think a lot of people forget under Mike the Bears won a lot more games than they lost," Gase said.
They did. But Martz was jettisoned after two seasons and the Bears moved on. Cutler will need a strong season to take the next step with the organization. Martz believes it will happen but if we've learned anything it's that predictions are about as useful as those platitudes.
bmbiggs@tribpub.com
