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By Brad Biggs
BOURBONNAIS -- It's up to the coaches and players now.
With the start of the season less than six weeks away, general manager Jerry Angelo uttered the words Bears fans are familiar with Monday morning while visiting with "The Mully & Hanley Show" on WSCR-AM 670.
"I feel like the pieces are in place," Angelo said. "But we have to execute."
If it sounds like a page out of the playbook of Dave Wannstedt, well, it is. But Angelo's point was that the roster has been assembled to match what the coaches want. The Bears added a premier quarterback a year ago in Jay Cutler and now they have outfitted Lovie Smith's defense with a premier pass rusher in Julius Peppers. What more could they need?
"It's not like we're going to go out there and we're going to dominate with our talent," Angelo said. "Those days are over. There are few teams in the National Football League that can do that today. It's about execution. You have to execute. You have to have a scheme that facilitates the strengths of your players. If it doesn't, then it's a bad scheme. It's that simple. So we feel real good about the parts in place on offense. Mike (Martz) has had a pretty good history of coming in in his first year and getting things in order pretty quickly. That bodes well, too."
Angelo said he's watching the offensive line most closely with the team set to hold its fifth practice Monday afternoon at Olivet Nazarene University. Sources have said all offseason that Angelo is hoping to see one of his younger players -- Lance Louis, a seventh-round draft pick from San Diego State last year, or Johan Asiata, an undrafted free agent from UNLV in 2009 -- excel. Angelo seems to hint at that.
"Right now (the focus is) the offensive line because that is where we have some young, talented players and wanting to see where their fits are," Angelo said. "Mike (Tice) has played a lot of younger players in different positions. He's got tackles playing guard, he's got guards will potentially play some tackle. We want to look at a lot of different combinations. We want to get the five best players there as soon as we can. I have always felt that at that position it's not necessarily the most talented players but you want to get the same five playing together as soon as you can."
Angelo doesn't know if there is a defined role at this point for wide receiver Devin Hester. Remember Martz compared him to Az-Zahir Hakim when he was first hired and talked about using him in the slot. That tune quickly changed, probably after the team told him there should be bigger plans for Hester. Hester has been a starter opposite Johnny Knox so far in camp and Martz has a call on how the offense will be deployed.
"He's going to have a fit; where that fit is remains to be seen in part because of the other receivers around him," Angelo said. "With Johnny Knox, obviously, having the speed that you want. What Mike likes, like most offensive coordinator, he wants speed. We have two fast receivers. I like Earl (Bennett's) role. (Juaquin) Iglesias has been doing a great job as well. We have speed at tight end. I think Mike is adapting to our personnel and he's seeing it now. He needs to see it. I think right now I don't think anyone is in cement right now. It is a work in progress. Mike came in here with a perception of our players."
Here is Angelo on three other topics:
On Jay Cutler: "Jay has got to play better irrelevant is what is around him. You have to adapt to what is around you. Our offense is going to be different. We're going to be attacking downfield more. We all know what Mike Martz's resume is and we embrace that. I think that is going to play into Jay's strengths very, very well, Our receivers were not experienced last year, they're going to be more experienced. Our tight ends are going to have a big part in the offense even though Mike Martz hasn't featured tight ends, I don't think he's been around a collective group of the athletic tight ends that he has. I like the mix."
On expectations for a a playoff season: " It's not different in how we do business and how we approach the season. I know the perception is different. But you people create the perception. We don't. We understand the big picture, we understand what we have to do. All of us do. But I know this, you've got to be controlled by your beliefs, not your fears. We do not create fears at Halas Hall about the what-ifs. We know what we have to do. We feel very good about this football team. We felt very good about our football teams in the past and it's no different. You've got to go out there and you've got to do it. The things that we're focused on are the things we control and the task at hand. We feel very, very good about our future with this football team. It's going to be challenging year because there has been some change, not only with players but with staff. But all of those changes lead to bigger and better things in our minds."
On the switch this coming January when George McCaskey will take over for his older brother Michael as the chairman of the board for the franchise: "I'm looking at it as business as usual."
More...
BOURBONNAIS -- It's up to the coaches and players now.
With the start of the season less than six weeks away, general manager Jerry Angelo uttered the words Bears fans are familiar with Monday morning while visiting with "The Mully & Hanley Show" on WSCR-AM 670.
"I feel like the pieces are in place," Angelo said. "But we have to execute."
If it sounds like a page out of the playbook of Dave Wannstedt, well, it is. But Angelo's point was that the roster has been assembled to match what the coaches want. The Bears added a premier quarterback a year ago in Jay Cutler and now they have outfitted Lovie Smith's defense with a premier pass rusher in Julius Peppers. What more could they need?
"It's not like we're going to go out there and we're going to dominate with our talent," Angelo said. "Those days are over. There are few teams in the National Football League that can do that today. It's about execution. You have to execute. You have to have a scheme that facilitates the strengths of your players. If it doesn't, then it's a bad scheme. It's that simple. So we feel real good about the parts in place on offense. Mike (Martz) has had a pretty good history of coming in in his first year and getting things in order pretty quickly. That bodes well, too."
Angelo said he's watching the offensive line most closely with the team set to hold its fifth practice Monday afternoon at Olivet Nazarene University. Sources have said all offseason that Angelo is hoping to see one of his younger players -- Lance Louis, a seventh-round draft pick from San Diego State last year, or Johan Asiata, an undrafted free agent from UNLV in 2009 -- excel. Angelo seems to hint at that.
"Right now (the focus is) the offensive line because that is where we have some young, talented players and wanting to see where their fits are," Angelo said. "Mike (Tice) has played a lot of younger players in different positions. He's got tackles playing guard, he's got guards will potentially play some tackle. We want to look at a lot of different combinations. We want to get the five best players there as soon as we can. I have always felt that at that position it's not necessarily the most talented players but you want to get the same five playing together as soon as you can."
Angelo doesn't know if there is a defined role at this point for wide receiver Devin Hester. Remember Martz compared him to Az-Zahir Hakim when he was first hired and talked about using him in the slot. That tune quickly changed, probably after the team told him there should be bigger plans for Hester. Hester has been a starter opposite Johnny Knox so far in camp and Martz has a call on how the offense will be deployed.
"He's going to have a fit; where that fit is remains to be seen in part because of the other receivers around him," Angelo said. "With Johnny Knox, obviously, having the speed that you want. What Mike likes, like most offensive coordinator, he wants speed. We have two fast receivers. I like Earl (Bennett's) role. (Juaquin) Iglesias has been doing a great job as well. We have speed at tight end. I think Mike is adapting to our personnel and he's seeing it now. He needs to see it. I think right now I don't think anyone is in cement right now. It is a work in progress. Mike came in here with a perception of our players."
Here is Angelo on three other topics:
On Jay Cutler: "Jay has got to play better irrelevant is what is around him. You have to adapt to what is around you. Our offense is going to be different. We're going to be attacking downfield more. We all know what Mike Martz's resume is and we embrace that. I think that is going to play into Jay's strengths very, very well, Our receivers were not experienced last year, they're going to be more experienced. Our tight ends are going to have a big part in the offense even though Mike Martz hasn't featured tight ends, I don't think he's been around a collective group of the athletic tight ends that he has. I like the mix."
On expectations for a a playoff season: " It's not different in how we do business and how we approach the season. I know the perception is different. But you people create the perception. We don't. We understand the big picture, we understand what we have to do. All of us do. But I know this, you've got to be controlled by your beliefs, not your fears. We do not create fears at Halas Hall about the what-ifs. We know what we have to do. We feel very good about this football team. We felt very good about our football teams in the past and it's no different. You've got to go out there and you've got to do it. The things that we're focused on are the things we control and the task at hand. We feel very, very good about our future with this football team. It's going to be challenging year because there has been some change, not only with players but with staff. But all of those changes lead to bigger and better things in our minds."
On the switch this coming January when George McCaskey will take over for his older brother Michael as the chairman of the board for the franchise: "I'm looking at it as business as usual."
More...
