Collinsworth: Kurt Warner could help

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

After watching Jay Cutler struggle running Mike Martz's offense in a 17-3 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday, Cris Collinsworth said the Chicago Bears would be wise to hire Martz's prized pupil, Kurt Warner, as an adviser.

"I would bring in Kurt Warner. Not as a player. I would bring in Kurt Warner as a guy and say 'Kurt, here's $10,000. I need you to show up for a week and just talk to [Cutler],' " Collinsworth, an NBC analyst, said Tuesday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000.

"Explain what you would think when you had those five-man routes and explain what you thought in max protection and when you were able to get the ball downfield to Larry Fitzgerald and all the great players they had with the Rams. I think they are still figuring it out here. It doesn't help that they are going through all this massive change up front with the offensive line."

Warner, who retired from the Arizona Cardinals after last season, won two MVP awards when he and Martz were with the St. Louis Rams from 1998 to 2003.

Asked if he thought Warner would be game for that job, Collinsworth said: "I don't know. I sure would be making the call, though. I don't mean this as any insult to Jay. I think it's a new system, he's a young player. I think he learned a tough lesson the other night. Maybe he was playing with a concussion and it slowed him down."

Cutler was sacked nine times in the first half and left with a concussion. Bears coach Lovie Smith said he hopes to have Cutler back at practice on Wednesday.

"I'm sure Mike Martz is sitting there going -- probably not to Jay -- he's going, 'Why did he do that?' Like we all were," Collinsworth said. "Why was [Cutler] holding the ball? Why was he not reading it quickly because as Martz had talked to us about, he couldn't believe how quickly Jay was picking up the offense and knowing when he has to get the ball out of his hands and knowing when he could work it down the field. It was just the complete opposite of that in this game.

"And I'm sure somewhere in the back of Jay Cutler's mind he's thinking, 'Is Mike Martz going to get me killed?' Look at the statistics. Every quarterback he's had has taken a lot of sacks and thrown a lot of interceptions. There's only one Kurt Warner."

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print
• Subscribe