LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Jay Cutler squeezes a football in his right hand before effortlessly flicking his wrist and firing a laser beam 30 yards downfield to tight end Greg Olsen. (View photos of Cutler in a Bears uniform)

The grip the new Bears quarterback has on coordinator Ron Turner’s offense is getting just as firm thanks to Cutler’s perfect attendance during the first five weeks of the team’s offseason program.

“It’s getting good,” Cutler said Wednesday at Halas Hall. “I’ve been able to meet with [Turner and quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton] and go over a lot of stuff and do some field work, so it’s coming along.

Jay Cutler donned a Bears game uniform for the first time this week for a photo shoot.

“It’s all West Coast offense, so it’s really similar to what I’m already used to [from playing with the Broncos]. The way it’s phrased is different. What we called stuff in Denver might be a little different here. But the way you spit it out is the same.”

The process of familiarizing Cutler with the offense began shortly after he was acquired in a blockbuster trade with Denver April 2 that cost the Bears two first-round picks and quarterback Kyle Orton.

“Jay’s a pro,” Hamilton said. “He’s very sharp. He’s picking it up extremely well. After we finish our offseason workout sessions out on the field, he spends extra time here not just studying the playbook but spending time with coach Turner going through the [videotape] cutups from last year.

“A lot of the pass concepts are somewhat universal. It’s just a matter of him getting acclimated to the verbiage that we use within our system. Probably the biggest transition for Jay is just learning the rules for the protections and some of the intricacies of how our reads and progressions are in the offense.”

The Bears system is similar to the one that Cutler operated in Denver. Last season the 6-3, 233-pounder was voted to the Pro Bowl after completing 62.3 percent of his passes for a Broncos-record 4,526 yards with 25 touchdowns, 18 interceptions and an 86.0 rating. 

Cutler, who turned 26 last week, played his first three NFL seasons with the Broncos after arriving as the 11th overall pick in the 2006 draft. In his first full season as a starter in 2007, he completed 63.6 percent of his passes for 3,497 yards with 20 touchdowns, 14 interceptions and an 88.1 passer rating.

“It’s a lot of the same formations and protections,” Cutler said of the Bears offense. "It’s just little things that I’ve got to get used to. But overall it’s gone really well and it’s really similar.

“We did a lot of [different] formations in Denver and I think that Ron likes to do kind of the same stuff here and put guys in different spots and create match-ups that way. The run game’s going to be a little bit better here, so that’s definitely going to help.”

Cutler has been throwing regularly to Bears wide receivers and tight ends in offseason workouts.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons here,” he said. “Coming from Denver, we had a lot of weapons out there. It’s similar with Greg [Olsen] and  Dez [Clark] at the tight end position, and then you’ve got Devin [Hester], Earl [Bennett], Rashied [Davis] and Brandon Rideau, so it’s good. And we’ll get some of the rookies in here and see if they can add a little bit of depth for us.”

Anyone who has watched Cutler throw the ball during offseason workouts has been impressed.

“He has amazing arm talent,” Hamilton said. “He can make all the throws with ease. What a lot of people don’t realize about Jay Cutler—and I didn’t realize this about him prior to him joining the Bears—is that he’s a really good athlete. He has extremely quick feet.

“Not often do you see quarterbacks who can make the tough throws without their feet being in a perfect position, and he’s one of those guys. That’s not something that you can teach or work on out on the field during a drill session. That’s just a gift that he has the ability with his arm talent just to make some amazing throws.”

With Cutler being touted as the best Bears quarterback since Sid Luckman starred for the Monsters of the Midway in the 1940s, there’s a lot of pressure on the Vanderbilt product to perform. But he realizes that that’s part of the deal and embraces the position he’s in.

“Anytime someone trades two first-rounders and a player for somebody, the expectations are going to be really high,” Cutler said. “I knew that going into it, which is fine. It’s going to make it fun. You know it’s going to be a challenge for us. We’re going to have to work hard in training camp and get ready for that first game.

“After the offseason I had, I’m just ready to play football again. It’s good to come to a great organization like this and be able to work with really good coaches and players and have a city behind you. That’s pretty much all you can ask for. So I’m looking forward to it.”

Asked about his goals for the season, Cutler isn't looking past the opener Sept. 13 in Green Bay.

“It’s important to have a good showing and win Game 1 and take it one game at a time,” he said. “I’m not going to start looking at playoffs or the Super Bowl or any of that stuff. You’ve got to take it one game at a time and get everyone on the same page offensively. That’s our goal right now.”