Martz Gives Hanie Vote Of Confidence As Bears' Backup QB
By Adam Hoge-
BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – It's probably a good thing that the biggest story in training camp right now is the backup quarterback.
After playing poorly in Saturday's preseason opener against the Bills, Caleb Hanie was temporarily demoted to the third-team Monday, but returned to the second-team Tuesday.
So is there any chance he doesn't open the season as Jay Cutler's backup?
"Not unless Caleb's arm falls off or something," offensive coordinator Mike Martz said Wednesday.
Martz has been especially hard on Hanie during training camp and he personally scouted third-team quarterback Nathan Enderle before the Bears drafted him in April, which makes it easy to wonder if Hanie won't eventually be demoted. That's why Martz's vote of confidence for Hanie Wednesday was so meaningful.
"He didn't play as well as I hoped he would Saturday, but Caleb is fine. He's fine. He just needs to clean some things up," Martz said.
As for why he moved Hanie down the depth chart Monday for just one day, Martz said:
"He struggled a little bit on Saturday and whenever quarterbacks do that, you try to give them a day to kind of sit back and regroup a little bit. You need to do that. Most quarterbacks go through this."
Martz said Enderle will get one day with the twos each week during the preseason, but once the regular season starts, neither Hanie nor Enderle will get reps outside of the scout team. That's business as usual for the Bears offensive coordinator.
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