After dropping out of the interview process for the head coaching vacancy with the Oakland Raiders, Mike Tice has settled back in as the offensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears. He recently took some time to discuss the philosophy of the offense, his communication with quarterback Jay Cutler and his vision for left tackle J'Marcus Webb going forward. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune brought out some great quotes from Tice regarding his thoughts about the talent already on the roster as the Bears shift into draft mode.
First off, Tice labeled Cutler "the biggest strength we have" and promised he was in constant communication with the quarterback about the philosophy and flow of the offense for next season. The biggest note for Bears fans might be that Tice plans to give Cutler "the ability to check at the line of scrimmage," but the other interesting nugget came when he said "I'm a no-huddle guy."
What about the offensive line? After J'Marcus Webb suffered through mental and physical mistakes in the form of penalties and sacks allowed, does his former offensive line coach still have faith in him? Tice thinks Webb can get better just by taking away the seven-step drops:
"I thought he was adequate. His consistency grade was actually solid. What grade was bad was the critical errors, the sacks, penalties...Well, if you're not always in the deep drops, if you're making sure the guy gets chip help from a back or a tight end and if you change the release point of the quarterback, you're going to make him better already without making him better."
"And then you have an entire offseason (with) a chance to make him better there. He is a very good run blocker. Do I think he is a guy moving forward? Yes, I do unless some miracle happens and an elite first-round draft pick that we couldn't pass up fell in our lap, which I doubt. Yeah, he's our guy moving forward."
via Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune.
As his former position coach, Tice may know Webb and how to get the most out of him better than anyone else in the organization, so perhaps Tice work his magic. As he said, maybe they can make the line better with actually making the line better.
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