Bears getting creative in evaluating quarterbacks with helmet camera

Staying ahead of the curve in football is directly related to a team's ability to innovate. The Colts and the Patriots brought a full-blown "air it out" mindset to football throughout the last decade, and now more and more teams are adopting an offensive strategy that leaves running backs wondering when it's their turn to carry the ball.

The problem with such a philosophy is that it requires a quarterback that can make all the right reads at the right times. The Colts had Peyton Manning, and the Patriots had Tom Brady, but many teams aren't sure about the effectiveness of their starting quarterbacks.

The Bears are one such team that isn't quite sure what they have at quarterback. Jay Cutler has had something of an up-and-down career. In Denver, it appeared that he would lead the Broncos for his entire career, but after a startling fallout with the team, and then head coach Josh McDaniels, Cutler found his way to Chicago where he's suffered behind possible the worst offensive line in the league.

Because the Bears are never sure about what they have at the quarterback position, the team is using a helmet camera to evaluate backup quarterback Matt Blanchard, according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. This is a piece of technology that could catch on very quickly around the league.

As shown in the picture above, the camera is mounted off the left side of Blanchard's helmet, allowing coaches to see exactly what the quarterback is seeing. The angle allows coaches to determine how Blanchard looks over the field more accurately as well as being able to see definitively what the quarterback may be missing from play to play.

By itself, the helmet mounted camera wouldn't be as affective, but it's combined with other camera angels from practice. In a league where having a quarterback is absolutely essential, seeing helmet mounted cameras popping up in practice would be no surprise to anyone. Coaches want all the information they can get their hands on, and this idea gives head coach Marc Trestman just a little bit more knowledge about his quarterback situation in Chicago.

About Shane Clemons

Shane Clemons came from humble beginnings creating his own Jaguars blog before moving on to SBNation as a featured writer for the Jaguars. He then moved to Bloguin where he briefly covered the AFC South before taking over Bloguin's Jaguars blog. Since the inception of This Given Sunday, Shane has served as an editor for the site, doing his best not to mess up a good thing.

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