Offense to blame for Bears lack of success against Packers

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Jay Cutler and the Bears offense doesn't have an identity three weeks into the season and it's a problem.

After an offseason which pointed to an offense moving toward becoming more run oriented, the Chicago Bears have ran the ball and after running the ball just 12 times in each of the last two games, one has to wonder where that mindset has gone. It's a bigger question when the best player without argument on offense is the running back, Matt Forte. Forte has even been called the best player on the offense by Mike Martz, the guy calling the plays as the offensive coordinator, and it has to make the "whispers" that were surrounding his future in Chicago a lot more audible.

I normally don't get on my soapbox and say one guy either needs to change or go, but this might be the time to do so with Martz. Last season it took a stern talking to from Lovie Smith to focus more on the running game, the team took off and won eight straight en route to an NFC North title.

When a guy like Forte is responsible for over 50 percent of the offensive yardage through two weeks of the season, you know he's important and a guy the quarterback turns to in a tight spot. But to let him pretty much vanish against the Packers when it was needed doesn't make sense. Now, I get the Packers may have had a linebacker shadowing Forte when he released out of the backfield which wouldn't have given him a chance to get many yards, they are not going to do that every time and even when they do, he's a player that can create on his own in space, so you have to give him a couple chances. Especially when the running game isn't working. Essentially, those dump offs would work as an extension of the run game to give him a chance to contribute.

As for the loss to the Packers and not running, they fell behind by quite a bit and were forced to be more pass happy, which I'm not upset with, but for Forte to not be thrown to as much as he was is a problem to me. Especially when the ball was thrown down field it was either over thrown or dropped by a receiver. I don't fault Cutler for some of those overthrows, as the receiver fell down on a couple of them. The drops, however, are inexcusable but an issue all their own.

Sticking to Martz and the gameplan, with the time Jay had to throw in the first half, there were still too many three and outs. Part of that has to fall on Jay for not executing, but let's be honest, he wasn't that bad. I just don't see him and Martz seeing eye to eye on this thing. It's very clear in his quote tonight in the Chicago Tribune when he says "Until we get more consistent, I guess we don't (have an identity as an offense)."

The mistaken identity has something to do with the interceptions from Jay. Last year he threw 11 interceptions on passes that were intended for Johnny Knox. That leads one to believe he wasn't where he was supposed to be and/or he didn't fight for the ball. Well, Sunday Roy Williams was targeted four times and a whopping two of those times the pass was intercepted. I'd say there is some miscommunication there. Cutler has said it himself in the postgame, they need to get their timing better. If Roy is not on the field in the Red zone, he shouldn't be on the team. Plain and simple. 

One other thing I need to call Martz out on is his trick plays. They don't work. Throw them out of the playbook. Especially the ones involving the Wildcat formation. I like the idea of running the play and giving Forte a chance to run with it more than I actually like the play. It's just going to expose some other part of the offense that doesn't work. (See Devin Hester jumping the start)

Whatever the relationship is between Cutler and Martz, it's still not working right. The job of the coaching staff is to put the players in the best position to win games and right now, that's not happening on the offensive side of the ball. Whether it be Cutler, Williams, Forte or Knox, something isn't right and needs to get hashed out and soon, if they want to stay in this race with Detroit and Green Bay.

Matt Forte ranks 24th in the NFL in carries through three weeks. He needs to get more rushes for the Bears offense to have its identity.