| 07 June 2010
There may be a false sense of security emerging regarding the 2010 Bears secondary given their play in mini-camp and through the first week of OTAs. Reports of improved play in the secondary from the ChicagoBears.com official website should be met with a heavy dose of skepticism, not only because it comes from the official team site, but for other reasons as well.
What is the chief reason any reports should be taken with a grain of salt? Simple, the 2010 Chicago Bears offense is still being implemented and the QB’s and WR’s are still learning and making a ton of mistakes within the offense. We’ve already covered in a couple articles the complexity of Martz’s offensive system, but the result of that complexity right now will be lots of INTs and plays where the defense is able to feast upon mistakes.
I am not stating that the offense is mistake prone, quite the contrary this is the time for the offense to make mistakes and then go back and watch them on film to correct them. You want your offense ironing out the kinks, to get better to have their rhythm to be where they are supposed to be in September. To expect them to be able to click right now is more than a little premature.The offense may not find it’s legs until after the first pre-season game, quite possibly we won’t see the entire scope of success in this offense until the third game of the pre-season simply because the starters won’t be out there beyond the first few series or beyond the first quarter.
I suspect there will be a rush of panic as Martz begins to implement more of his game plan and the secondary continues to feast on mistakes. Zack Bowman has already been the beneficiary of a lot of those mistakes and part of the reason he’s able to be successful is he knows the defense. When a defense has played together and developed together within the same system they can more easily make plays.
There is no reason to believe that the secondary is playing better given the level of learning involved for the offensive personnel and the fact that success within this offense relies to much on timing and being at the spot where Cutler is going to throw the ball. If the receivers aren’t yet up to speed and there is no reason to believe they are through five mini-camp practices and three days of OTA workouts then there will be lots of chances for the defense.
Common sense dictates all of this and it’s sort of frustrating that we’re being spoon fed this type of crap. While I fully believe that Zack Bowman should be improved this year, I don’t for a second believe that he’s gotten so much better that he’s playing at another level beyond his own talent level.
Measured expectations are in order now more than ever as the Bears offense works to learn. Not one person fan or media person alike should believe for a second that there has been a solid level of improved play until they see it on the field during the game.
For myself personally my expectations are that Zack Bowman will be improved, but Charles Tillman may be the weak link of the two CB’s. The depth at corner is MORE than a little suspect and we all know that Danieal Manning is learning his third position in the secondary heading into his fifth year in the NFL. Defenses are always going to be able to pick up things and get rolling quicker because their responsibilities within a given scheme are never as complex as the offense.
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