Bears quarterback Jay Cutler threw five passes in last Thursday’s game against the Chargers.
All five were in the direction of wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who caught four of them, and that has led to some questions about how much the Bears will be spreading the ball around this season. Coach Marc Trestman has said that the Bears will have more balance in the passing game than last year, when Marshall caught 89 passes more than the next wide receiver on the list, but the other receivers only got looks in the preseason opener when Marshall wasn’t in the lineup.
While Cutler said no when asked if he was going to make a point of looking for receivers other than Marshall against the Raiders on Friday night, the quarterback also offered assurance that the passing game wasn’t going to be all Marshall all the time again this season.
“You guys are hitting the panic button after two preseason games and 30 plays,” Cutler said, via Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. “We’ve ran 30. Lot of runs. Yeah, we’re going to spread it around. We can’t just throw to Brandon and give the ball to Matt [Forte]. We have to figure out ways to get other guys involved. We had plays up, some of them worked, some of them got checked out of. So, it is just the way it goes.”
Cutler says he trusts the other options available in the offense, something that didn’t always appear to be the case last season when Marshall would seem to get the ball whether he was open or not. With defenses sure to focus on stopping Marshall, those other options should have opportunities to shine in 2013 if Cutler looks their way.