Hoge: Bernie Kosar Drops In On Bears OTAs
By Adam Hoge-
LAKE FOREST (CBS) — As if the Bears didn't have enough quarterbacks around Halas Hall these days, they brought in another one Wednesday.
But this guy won't be playing anytime soon. Instead, he was just out on the practice field observing, albeit closely.
Former Cleveland Browns star quarterback Bernie Kosar was in the middle of things Wednesday, wearing a Bears T-shirt and navy blue pants, fitting in nicely with the rest of the coaching staff. He stood near quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh but didn't say much during the two-hour OTA practice.
"It's not really my place to come in here and be doing a lot of talking," Kosar said. "You don't want to be disrespectful when the coaches are talking, and it's something where I'm just sitting back and waiting to see how it's going."
But Kosar did get a few coaching points in. Every once in a while he said something to Jay Cutler and the rest of the quarterback group.
Kosar isn't the first visitor to a Bears practice, but he sure looked like more than a bystander with the way he was involved. He watched tape with the players Wednesday morning and will join some of them for dinner Wednesday evening.
It's probably best to call Kosar a consultant right now, and it's actually surprising that he hasn't been involved more up to this point, considering his relationship with Bears coach Marc Trestman. They've been close friends since Trestman first coached Kosar at the University of Miami and then again with the Browns. Kosar is even the godfather of one of Trestman's daughters.
"(It's good) to see him here and comfortable," Kosar said of Trestman. "How he's doing and the level of respect not even really two years (in) yet, but you can see the camaraderie, almost a family-type atmosphere that they have here within the building and within the team, it's really impressive to watch."
Kosar is also impressed with Cutler, even putting him in the same sentence as Dan Marino.
"Dan had an amazing presence within the pocket, just being able to move from me to you, finding that weak spot, finding that opportunity and openness," Kosar said. "(Cutler) feels the pressure and just that subtle little step or two that he's able to take to get away, it's really impressive."
As for the success of the Bears offense under Trestman, Kosar pointed back to the days when the two of them were "groomed" by Howard Schnellenberger, the former coach at the University of Miami. There, protection schemes were the lifeblood of the offense.
"Protection is something that is really predominant and important and emphasized and to see how protections, as much as things change, it's funny to see how much they stay the same, and the core foundation of how you want to run offense really starts from the line of scrimmage," Kosar said. "A lot of people don't realize that the protections of going inside-out, making sure things are handled in the middle of the pocket, understand your sight adjustments, your hots, are still about the same."
Hmm, sure sounds like a coach. So is coaching something Kosar wants to do more of?
"We'll see. We'll see," he said. "Football is in your blood. Once you start it like this, it's part of your DNA."
Adam Hoge covers the Bears for CBSChicago.com and is a frequent contributor to 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter at @AdamHoge.
