Why should fans trust that Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler can turn it around after last season?
Matt Forte: Because [new Bears offensive coordinator] Adam Gase is a great coach for Jay. Love Adam Gase. First impression is he's got a lot of energy. He's going to be good not only for this offense, but being able to coach Jay as well, keeping his head stable during a game when stuff happens. Coach [John] Fox just talked about how you respond when events happen in a game, positive or negative. Whatever the response is, the outcome is going to be that.
You're a free agent at the end of the season. How does playing in a contract year affect how you approach the season?
Forte: Nobody wants to play on a one-year deal, especially the uncertainty of how football is with how it goes. You just figure like a guy who's been there since Day 1, continues to put in hard work and has produced, you figure that that guy should be rewarded. But in this business that doesn't always happen. All I can do is talk to them about it and they can say yes or no. They said we're not talking about that type of stuff right now, so all I can do is play football. I've come to the realization that every run or catch that I may have might be my last in a Bears uniform, so if they don't want to re-sign me, I'll have to play somewhere else.
You've had 280-plus touches in all but one of your seven pro seasons. How long can you keep up this pace?
Forte: I keep my body healthy. As you can you see, I was out there participating in the offseason program, organized team activities, and I'm not stiff, and I don't have any injuries, I'm not nursing anything like that. So I'm pretty much healthy. So I feel like I can continue to play as long as I want to. I also trained [speed and quickness drills] in South Florida in the offseason. I went to the same guy coming out for the combine. My 40 time coming out of college was 4.5-something and I ended up running in the low 4.4s, so I used to go back a lot of times in the postseason every year. I missed last year, I didn't go, and I felt the effects of my burst going through the holes and stuff like that or just accelerating after catching the ball. So I went back and did that type of training and got a lot better. I got a benefit out of it.