If the Bears organization expects to miss the production of Pro Bowl wide receiver Marty Booker this season, offensive coordinator Terry Shea missed the memo.
Shea liked Booker and respected his NFL resume but never promised that Booker would catch more than the 52 passes he caught last season in what was his worst year as a pro.
Nothing personal, but the wide receivers in the offense Shea copied from the Kansas City Chiefs tend to play supporting roles and leave the scene-stealing to other members of the cast.
“At Kansas City, the go-to receiver was the tight end, but the leading receiver was the running back,” Shea explained Wednesday. “It doesn’t mean it can’t be a wide receiver, but I’m not sure this offense falls in that category.”
During Shea’s three years with the Chiefs, no wide receiver caught more passes in a season than the 56 Eddie Kennison had last year. Kennison also led in ’02 with 53 receptions. In that same span, tight end Tony Gonzalez and running back Priest Holmes averaged 70 receptions apiece for one of the highest-scoring teams in the NFL.
Moreover, the classic Don Coryell-model, after which both the Bears’ and Chiefs’ offense is styled, never relied on wide receivers John Jefferson and Charlie Joiner in the passing game as heavily as it did tight end Kellen Winslow and running back Chuck Muncie. In only two of the eight seasons Coryell coached in San Diego did a wide receiver–Joiner–lead the Chargers in receptions.
Such statistical trivia gives Shea comfort when touting an unproven wide receiving corps that he considers more talented than any Chiefs group in his Kansas City tenure. Placing more faith in the scheme than the star, as the Bears basically did in trading Booker, places even more pressure on Shea in his first season here.
The passionate play-caller will work from the sideline instead of the press box, sacrificing a better view for feel.
“I wanted to get the pulse of this offense because I’m working with guys for the first time, and I wanted to be able to look them in the eye, feel what they are feeling and get immediate feedback from the quarterback,” Shea said. “Sometimes up in the box it takes three minutes for the quarterback to get on the phone.”
———-
Edited by Phillip Thompson (plthompson@tribune.com) and Chris Courtney (cdcourtney@tribune.com)
