Jay Cutler Confident Bears Offensive Line Will Handle Seattle This Time Around

RENTON, Wash. -- Ask Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler what he remembers most about the Seahawks from the first time Seattle visited the Bears in October, and he's got a ready answer.

"They brought a lot of blitzes,'' Cutler said as the Bears prepare to host the Seahawks Sunday in the NFL playoffs. "We had trouble picking them up, from safeties, to linebackers, to defensive linemen. So we've got to do a better job of sorting them out.''

Seattle sacked Cutler a half dozen times in winning that first meeting 23-20, then went into a tailspin shortly thereafter. The Bears lost their next game, too, then bounced back big time and went on to win the NFC North by taking seven of their last nine games.

Much of that had to do with Cutler coming into his own at the same time the offensive line got it together.

What Cutler and his line don't know is whether or not they can expect the same level of blitzing from the Seahawks. That's because in the same period of time, the Seattle defense has in large part gone away from the blitz in favor of a standard four-man rush, a change that worked well for Seattle in wins the last two weeks against St. Louis (to clinch the NFC West) and New Orleans (to eliminate the defending Super Bowl champions).

Seattle defensive coordinator Gus Bradley isn't saying, that's for sure.

"A lot of (the game plan) is based on the team that we're facing,'' Bradley said Wednesday. "Last week, we felt like with (Saints' quarterback Drew) Brees, he had so many options and things like that, we felt like maybe we could get some edge pressure with our guys.

"Every week's based on what we're seeing off them, so I'm sure there'll be a mixture of both.''

Cutler says the Bears will be ready to handle the blitz, the offense having matured greatly in the last three months.

"We've changed; we've moved some guys around,'' Cutler said. "Chris Williams is now playing guard (instead of tackle). We've got a rookie out there at right tackle (J'Marcus Webb). We've pushed some stuff around a little bit and the last six games they've really gelled and played well.''

Coach Lovie Smith of the Bears said one thing the first meeting with the Seahawks and a subsequent loss to the Washington Redskins proved was that the Bears needed to get better play out of their offensive line if Cutler and the running back were going to get close to being able to maximize talents.

"Well, we needed to (improve),'' Smith said. "Early on we had some injuries and we had different combinations that we had to play, so that was tough, and we just didn't play well for whatever reason.

"But we were able to lock in with this group and they've played together and they've got better. We've seen improvement each week from them. We're playing with more confidence. Seattle was able to get after us that day with six sacks against us and we couldn't really get a running game going, but our offensive line has improved a lot since then.''

It's the improved running game that has Bradley and the Seahawks concerned. Seattle held the Bears to 61 yards and the Redskins were almost as good the next week at 66 yards. But coming into Sunday the Bears have three straight 100-yard rushing games and eight in the last nine.

Only once in those nine games has the offense failed to get a rushing touchdown. Matt Forte, the primary runner, has at least 90 yards in each of the last three games. And Cutler will run when the opportunity arises.

"They've become more consistently committed to the running game,'' Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. "There's no question that they've balanced out their attack. After the Redskins game they put on a run of five (wins) in a row and they played really good football right in there, I think they really found their stride and claimed their championship in their division in that run there.

"They've utilized all of the stuff that (offensive coordinator) Mike Martz loves to run. They have all of their offense that's available. He (Cutler) does a great job of avoiding the rush. They're (starting) off of their running game, there's a little bit more play-action pass than they did before to naturally fit in to what they're doing, but it's a very well-balanced offense right now.''