The Chicago Bears slumber still, and it’s time to wake up.
Jay Cutler did well enough. Mike Martz looks promising. The final score, however, still went the other way, after Cutler was benched.
Do you have a second? That’s about how long Jay Cutler played Saturday. If you made the unfortunate decision to blink during the Bears’ first offensive series in their 25-10 loss to the San Diego Chargers, you missed two nice Cutler passes that netted 47 yards.
If you had to go to the bathroom, the beginning of the Cutler-Mike Martz era is a rumor to you.
Those two Cutler passes? Things of beauty. And if you were lucky enough to see them, you have no choice but to conclude that Martz, the new offensive coordinator, is indeed the genius the Bears say he is. Johnny Knox was so alone on the first one, a 33-yard reception, he might as well have been in the middle of Wyoming.
If the Bears go on to have a big season, the record will have to be changed to show that, rather than being woefully out of position on the play, Chargers defenders simply were Martzed in the preseason opener.
But if the Cutler-Martz start-up was magical Saturday, it was only because the starting quarterback disappeared into thin air. He took part in eight plays, threw those two passes to Knox, was sacked once, avoided another sack and oversaw a drive that ended in a field goal.
After that, Cutler stood on the sideline with a towel draped over his shoulder and a cup in his hand and chilled. It was a laid-back, California kind of evening for him.