Player Profile…Devin Aromashodu
One of the team’s two Devins, Aromashodu came on in the last few games of the season and proved to be a very valuable member of the team. He caught some big passes including an overtime one against the Vikings on Monday Night Football. Devin Aromashodu has good size for a receiver and deceptive speed.
What took so long…
For whatever reason, last season’s offensive coordinator Ron Turner had to be begged by quarterback Jay Cutler to give Aromashodu a chance to play. It was not like the Bears had great receivers to begin with, so his playing time should not have been a problem. Perhaps this was the final nail in Turner’s coffin last season, but new offensive coordinator Mike Martz likes his group of receivers and Aromishadu has is one of those guys. Now that he has an offensive coordinator with a clue and a full season to prove his skills, the Bears may have found something.
The Verdict…
Look, I would love for this to be a great story for the Bears. It would be nice if the Bears found this guy and he develops into a good NFL receiver. But I am not quite ready to predict that…but I think he has proven he can play in this league and maybe with the right system in place, the Chicago Bears will have something going here. Let’s hope!!!
Chicago Bears OTAs
The Chicago Bears got a taste of the Mike Martz offense during OTAs, or Organized Team Activities to us common folks.
The feedback from Jay Cutler and other Bears was quite positive. “Mike (Martz) does a great job of mixing things up and keeping the defense off balance, putting guys in match-ups where they can win.” Cutler said. “It’s exciting. It’s changing. It’s always different.”
It should be noted that Cutler was picked off twice Friday by Brian Urlacher and Zach Bowman, but he also completed some passes to several players including Greg Olsen. I mention this because it has been reported that the Bears were shopping Olsen in the off-season and Martz has not liked tight ends that do not block well in his past positions.
Much has been made about issues of a working relationship between Martz and Cutler. According the coach Lovie Smith, the relationship is solid. “What I hope to see is exactly how it’s been from Day 1,” Smith said. “They have mutual respect for each other. Of course being in the middle, I knew both of the guys, knew that it would be a good fit.”
I know two things for sure. Jay Cutler is a talented quarterback and Mike Martz is a talented coach. If both can work together, this will be an exciting offense. Both guys have bad reputations, so the opportunity for both to prove critics wrong may be strong motivation. Look, going from Ron Turner to Mike Martz is like going from a ham sandwich to a filet mignon. This will only help the Bear’s offense.
Your thoughts please!!!
Orton’s go-to guy(s), Lloyd and Forte?
After three weeks, wide receiver Brandon Lloyd appears to be the Bears, or at least Kyle Ortons, go-to wide out. The six foot receive leads all bears receivers in yards and yards per catch with 216 and 16.6. respectively. Lloyd’s ability to adjust to deep passes by not necessarily running by guys has been a great option to Orton, whose deep ball is not always on target. Ron Turner, coach of Lloyd at the University of Illinois, always new he had great talent and was not afraid to bring him to Chicago during the off-season despite a poor 2007 season in which Lloyd caught only two balls and caused several problems within the locker room.
After three weeks, rookie running back Matt Forte leads all NFL running backs in carries with 73 touches. Forte has carried the load for Chicago early in the season, which should cause teams to bring more men into the box opening up the passing game. Forte’s 304 rushing yards ranks him fourth in the league, and he ranks second in yards from scrimmage behind Frank Gore with 405 total yards. And Lovie Smith says his work load isn’t going to decrease anytime soon, “He’s young right now with a lot of energy. Whenever Matt isn’t on the field, it isn’t really good for us.”
First round draft pick Chris Williams returned to practice for the first time Wednesday since his surgery. Williams put the pads on and everything, but was limited to individual and conditioning drills. No time table is set for Williams return, and Run Turner believes it will take a while for the rookie to get into full team practice as he had no training camp or pre-season.
In other news around the division, the Detroit Lions have finally let go of general manager Matt Millen. During Millen’s tenure with the Lions, the team finished has more loses than any other team.
