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Martz impressed with Cutler's ability to learn offense In the first of nine position previews in advance of training camp, offensive coordinator Mike Martz discusses Bears quarterbacks with senior writer Larry Mayer:
LM: How would you assess how Jay Cutler has learned the offense to this point?
Quarterback Jay Cutler threw 27 touchdown passes last year, the third most in Bears history.
MM: We’ve thrown everything at him and he’s handled everything exceptionally well. He’s a student of the game, and I think he has an affinity for what we’re doing.
LM: How confident are you in his ability to operate this system?
MM: I have the utmost confidence in him. I don’t blink with him, and he can do things that I’ve never seen anybody do before. He’s got some very special qualities.
LM: What excites you most about working with him?
MM: He’s such a fast learner. He absorbs things so quickly. He gets it immediately. When we put something in new, he understands the concepts immediately. If he makes a mistake, it’s a one-time thing. He’s such a quick study in everything we do.
LM: How did Cutler perform in minicamp and OTA practices?
MM: You have to give him really high marks. The footwork was new for him. What we’re asking guys to do with the footwork is a little bit different. Before we got into OTAs, he had a lot of reps working on it just one-on-one. The discipline of the footwork came very easy to him.
LM: How is the footwork different?
MM: Everything is timing-oriented. He’s just got to get back. Instead of watching and waiting on guys, the ball comes out in tempo based on coverages, and you’ve just got to get it out of there.
LM: Interceptions were a problem for Cutler last season. How confident are you that he will reduce the number of picks that he threw in 2009?
MM: I don’t have any thoughts about last year or the year before or the year before. None of that has any bearing on what we’re doing today, none of it. It has no correlation. I don’t think about it. I don’t talk to him about it. I couldn’t care less about what happened last year.
LM: How would you assess how Caleb Hanie performed in the offseason?
MM: He came a long way. He had a lot to learn because the systems he’s been through are so different from what we do. The physical part of it, he’s got all kinds of skills. At first he fought it a little bit, but he made remarkable progress through the end of OTAs.
LM: What’s your assessment of rookie Dan LeFevour?
MM: I think he’s who we thought he was, I absolutely do. We’re trying to get Caleb as many reps as we can, so we’ll see. I feel confident about what [LeFevour] can do. We’ll give him opportunities in camp.
