WR is a huge weakness for the Bears
How big a weakness is Wide Receiver?
I believe that an extreme weakness at WR is being masked only by how bad the Bears OL is playing. I think that our WRs are costing us more than we all think, they just do so in a less obvious way. The weaknesses are not just poor execution, but the poor assembly and coaching of the unit.
Constant mental mistakes are costing this team on offense and many are being committed by the receiving core. In the Seattle game we saw a number of times, specifically in the 2nd half, where time outs had to be used because the WRs could not line up properly. Against the Giants we saw that very few WRs adjusted their routes to account for blitzes. Time and time again we have seen WRs run the wrong routes to the detriment of the offense.
Poor route running has led to interceptions and an awful 3rd down conversion percentage. When you see a highlight of Devin Hester running a route it is almost hard to watch, as the perfect route is called for on 3rd down and he falls. Johnny Knox has not been much better as he seems to be covered 90% of the time and only seems to get yardage on plays where he can YAC. The Martz offense is based on trust and timing and a huge part of that is running the correct route and running it well.
Deep speed was suppose to be what this WR core was based around, but I have yet to see anyone beat someone deep with the exception of 4 games ago by Johnny Knox. The Bears did not have a big target and were going to kill people with speed, but that has not happened.
No size or physicality is killing this group as they have to be very open to get a pass to them. In Denver, when Jay was having most of his success, he has a big target in Brandon Marshall who would catch any of the passes that are incomplete or intercepted in Chicago. Can anyone imagine Brandon Marshall being muscled off a slant route by DeAngelo Hall? When we are 1st and goal at the 1 yard line and Lovie challenges because he knows there is no chance we can run it in, do you not think it would be different if we could throw 3 fades to a 6’4” WR?
To me this group is costing us almost as much as the OL and is not helping Jay out. Jay was suppose to make these guys better, but any QB needs some help. How many ridiculous catches a game does Reggie Wayne make? All of those catches are completions and yardage for Peyton Manning. Jay is trying to orchestrate offense by himself and he is going to continue to fail.
