Hoge: Bears Offense That Bad Or Defense That Good?
By Adam Hoge-
BOURBONNAIS, Ill. (CBS) – Fans that showed up to Olivet Nazarene University Tuesday night could not have been impressed with the Bears offense.
Jay Cutler was impressive in 7-on-7 drills, but when the team went 11-on-11, completed passes were rare. And when Caleb Hanie – who took second-team snaps after being demoted to the third-team Monday – went under center, the offense looked even worse.
The good news is that the defense was making plays. Chris Harris made a spectacular diving deflection on a Cutler pass. Brian Urlacher deflected a Cutler pass and Major Wright made a nice diving interception. Both Corey Graham and Craig Steltz came up with picks on Hanie.
This all leads to a common training camp question: Was the offense that bad or was the defense just that good?
"I think you can look at that the defense was playing good football," head coach Lovie Smith said after practice. "Bears win. I mean that's how I saw it tonight. We're good on that side of the football and I think that had a lot to do with it."
That's fine and all, but if the Bears' offense is going to be successful this season, Cutler has to be better against what is a very good Bears defense in practice.
It wasn't all the quarterbacks fault. Julius Peppers had a great practice and caused major problems for both left tackle J'Marcus Webb and right tackle Gabe Carimi. Henry Melton was also a frequent visitor to the Bear backfield. The quarterbacks were forced to make quick decisions and they didn't handle it well – especially Hanie.
The Bears' backup quarterback didn't have a great practice after what appears to be a motivational ploy by Martz on Monday and Hanie refused to say that it gave him any extra motivation.
"I'm motivated, but I don't need that as motivation," he said after practice. "I'll be motivated as anytime no matter what happens."
Nathan Enderle took reps with the second team on Monday after Hanie struggled in Saturday's preseason game and in the practices leading up to the game.
"You never want to miss reps," Hanie said. "You want to get every rep you can and progress. All I can do is look into the future and look at what's ahead of me."
Martz continued to be hard on Hanie in Tuesday's practice and one has to wonder how much friction has developed in their relationship. The offensive coordinator clearly did not have faith in him last year and it's obvious he likes Enderle – who he visited in Idaho and pushed hard for the Bears to draft.
For now, Hanie is taking the high road.
"It's just part of the deal. Sometimes Mike has done that with me and anybody so you know, it's fine," Hanie said. "Mike's tough on the backup quarterbacks. It's been his MO his whole career so I expect that from him and I'm glad he is because it pushes me and makes me better."
But when asked about his own play in training camp, Hanie was much more frank.
"It's not going well, I wouldn't say. Kind of middle of the road. I'm kind of just working through some stuff," he said.
For more updates from Bears training camp, follow Adam Hoge on Twitter (@AdamHogeCBS).
