By Dan PompeiThe Bears' search for an offensive coordinator might be ending where it began -- with Mike Martz.
After investigating many other coaches for the position, the Bears finally have decided to interview the former head coach of the Rams. Martz arrived Friday afternoon at Halas Hall.
Bears coach Lovie Smith was Martz' defensive coordinator in St. Louis and the two have remained friends. Martz is known for his aggressive passing offenses -- not for getting off the bus running.
After leaving the Rams, Martz was the offensive coordinator for the Lions, where he worked for Bears defensive line coach/assistant head coach Rod Marinelli. He also worked for one year for the San Francisco 49ers before spending the 2009 season out of football.
On Thursday, the Bears interviewed Vikings quarterbacks coach Kevin Rogers for the position. They also are known to have courted Jeremy Bates, Rob Chudzinski and Hue Jackson. A source close to the situation told the Tribune that the Bears seemed to be operating with more urgency in trying to settle on the right candidate.
Photo: Mike Martz was the offensive coordinator for the Lions and 49ers. (AP)
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I say bring him in as the offensive coordinator. His Rams teams scored 500 points 3 seasons in a row!! No other team has done it more than once in a row, EVER.
His offenses are aggressive, exciting, and play for the W. The Bears mortgaged their future by trading 2 first round draft picks to bring in Cutler's rifle--bring in a coach who knows how to use it. If WR's complain that Martz is demanding and his route running is too precise, tough. It's the NFL, you should want to be the best. If all you want is a paycheck you don't belong on a Mike Martz offense. You don't ever hear anyone complaining about Peyton Manning being too demanding and precise.
The "bus" just broke if Martz is hired. Despite what Martz said about Cutler, Jay be a fool not to want this guy as his OC. Everyone knows Martz like the airball.
they call this rock bottom...there is only martz. not a single soul other than him want this job. if the bears hire martz, it will be a sad day in the history of the organization. with that being said, loyalty runs deep so i will root for him to succeed and hope this is lightning in a bottle. if not, i'm not the one who will lose my job when it falters...
I hope they hire Martz just for the theatrics. Just imaging Martz, Tice, and Cutler going after each other. That could be priceless! -DH
When Martz was either the OC or HC for the Rams their offense was in the top 10 every yr and top 5 half of them. Everyone states that he will get Cutler killed, but it those same 5 yrs (2001 - 2005) the Bears gave up more sacks while being nowhere near the top 10 in offense.
In his first yr as OC for the 49er's M Singletary to over the team in the middle of the season. Mike and Lovie prefer a run first style of offense and wanted to implement his style of offense which didn't include Martz.
In Detroit he took an bad offense and in his first 1st yr their passing offense ended up 7th and his 2nd yr it ended up 4th with a 34 yr old QB. Detroit fired him because they wanted a more ball control offense, in 2008 their offense plummeted to bottom portion of the league and the Lions didn't win a game that yr.
In Cutler, Martz will finally have a QB with mobility. He always said their would not be nearly the sacks in his system if he had a mobile QB. Martz has always been criticized by some players for being too demanding especially with WR's when they don't run the right routes. I for one have no problem with a coach getting on some rich players @ss for not putting in the time to memorize the playbook or putting in enough OT to be able to perform on the field when he's needed.
If Cutler didn't get his head knocked off this year I don't think he will have a problem in Martz system, at least Martz likes to move his QB around and roll him out.
Everyone knows Lovie is big D guy and doesn't know that much about offense. He gave the reins to Turner to run the offense but he knew Turners style of offense and it was similar to what he wanted. I believe the reason they haven't offered Martz up to this point is because Lovie is not a big fan of his style of offense. You can't hire a OC with one style and tell him to run a different style. You hire an OC who runs the style of offense that you want. I think Lovie knows Martz is a good OC and at this point is unable to find the right candidate to run the style he wants. So rather than go after a guy who might run his style but my not be qualified he might have to go after someone who is qualified but doesn't run his system.
Typical of Bears activities about getting coaches. Have to go to previous reject list and bring back recycleable coaches. Good old boys network is still alive and thank goodness for the Bears because they are what on their 4-5th choice by now. It comes down to who in their right mind wants to work for losers like Smith and Angelo. not many peopleand that has been proven in last couple of weeks..
Typical of Bears activities about getting coaches. Have to go to previous reject list and bring back recycleable coaches. Good old boys network is still alive and thank goodness for the Bears because they are what on their 4-5th choice by now. It comes down to who in their right mind wants to work for losers like Smith and Angelo. not many peopleand that has been proven in last couple of weeks..
Lovie=HC , Martz=OC, Marinelli=DC..........Lovie wants to go down with his buddies this year!
Does this not surprise anyone? This was the plan the from the start. They wanted to spin off to the fans that they were trying to find a perfect fit for OC but in the end Martz (LOVIES BUDDY) was the best fit. Lovie and Jerry think we are idiots. Martz's personality will kill that team and cutler
If he takes the job it means he's no good. Anyone with half a brain wouldn't work for this outfit. Or buy tickets to it's games.
A new chair on the deck of the Titanic.
I think martz is a very good candidate, if the bears can interview christensen from the colts then i would say it should come down to those two. Either one would be a good hire. An even better scenario would be to get both somehow.
I believe the Bears have some good receivers. I believe the Bears have a good QB. Turner could coordinate his way out of a shoe box. Turner traded the running game. This may be the haunt. IF Forte and practice team Brown comes to play, they may be a good combo, aka Thomas Jones and Shawn Green of the Jets. IF they do come to play, AND the O-Line wants to be an O-Line, we may have an offense.
All of us need to remember that Martz offense scored a heck of alot of points for the Rams, with Marshall Faulk leading the running game. Passing was there only because Marshall Faulk could run the ball. We also must remember Lovie was not that good at D-Coord. The Rams scored a heck of a lot of points. The Rams D gave up a heck of a lost of points, but less than the offense scored. The Bears need a good O-Coord and D-Coord. If Martz could take our good receiver prospects and create some good routes, and take our O-Line and get them to BLOCK, and take our running backs and get them to run vs. fall over, and the D-line and D-Backs move to the next level, we just may win something.
I said it last year and I will say it again this year. I am still way more worried about the defense or lack thereof.
We need a Martz offense to put up massive points to keep us in games.
It's about time!
Just hire the guy already! It's getting way to late to sit around deciding who should be the OC and Martz is about as good as you are going to get at this point.
What is with all the "just hire Cowher" junk? Never happen. The McCaskets won't pay him what he wants, nor (and this is the real issue) will they allow ANYONE to have the kind of decision-making authority and freedom Cowher would want (example: Shanahan).
What makes all of us think that when the McCaskets fire the three stooges they won't just hire the next moronic trio?
Again, I say: Marinelli will end up DC and when push comes to shove (Martz won't take the job because mgmt won't allow synthetic turf) it'll be ol' Droopy (Lovie) as OC.
Betcha!
How do we know that Martz is where the Bears "began" in their search for an OC? Martz may have been the first guy to volunteer for the job, or the first one who was cited in the media as being a possibility, but I don't recall the Bears saying that Martz was their "first choice" or "where they began" their search for an OC. This is another NON-story filling space and posing as news. When the Bears make their choices for O and D coordinators, THAT will be news. Until then, read this drivel at your own risk.
Smith, Marinelli, Tice, now Martz. That's 4 head coaches on the team - losing head coaches. Disharmony anyone? Trying to get everyone under contract so it's convenient to interview after Lovie gets hung out next year?
I've said all season long the Bears's are geared more to run "The greatest show on turf" than Ron Turner's offense.
Philosophically, Ron Turner's offense was built around a bruising running back (A-Train or Benson) and a run-first dominant offensive line. Ron works around the concept of dominating time of possession to control the clock keep the ball out of the hands of the opposing team. In the passing game, receivers and QB had to 'think' on-the-fly based on the defenses' response to run a proper route to get open. If the receivers aren't very smart, or don't think like the QB, then the offense breaks down like what we've seen all season long in that receivers run the wrong route, or a different route than the QB was expecting him to run resulting in turnovers and lack of production.
With the roster turnover the past 2 seasons on offense, the Bears aren't equipped to run a Ron Turner style offense even if Ron Turner isn't the one running it. Forte isn't a bruising back who can bull through a line for a first down in goal line situations, he's more of the Marshall Faulk type where he catches and runs efficiently in the open field. Cutler has excellent physical skills in the passing game and can fire missiles with pinpoint accuracy, so having him hand off the ball 30 times per game is very wasteful of his skills. Bears receivers are very speed oriented now with not so much in the area of smarts or experience. They would function best in an offense where the routes are fixed and don't require much thinking. The likes of Knox, Hester, and Davis are not true receivers. To get them to respond requires a simple offense that takes advantage of their running skills in the open field.
The Don Coryell school of air attack which Mike Martz subscribes to is exactly what the Bears are currently equipped to run (coincidence or not)....with lots and lots of practice, of course. Not traditional Bear football for sure, but if doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result is the definition of 'insanity', aren't the Bears rather insane for sticking with the same formula for most of the past 70 years without much to show for it (Heck, fans still sing about the T-Formation - how old is that)? When averaged over that time, they've been in the bottom half of the league since the days of Sid Luckman - including many of his records still standing which is rather pathetic. Sure, we've had Payton, Sayers, Anderson, and a few other offensive gifts, but they've always been stuck in a predictable offensive that never really took advantage of their skills. It's time to try something different as we've already experienced Quinn, Krenzel, Douglass, Phipps, Burriss, and many others. A Martz offense may not be the "Greatest show on Turf" it was with the Rams, but it couldn't be any worse than what we've seen the past few decades.
Now that Kurt Warner is retired, how about the Bears give him the reigns of the offense? The Bears could get him cheap because of his lack of experience as a coordinator. Its obvious the Bears are looking for a stooge to call their customary 2 running plays followed by a short pass and then a punt. Getting Martz would be the change that Ted Phillips called for. Handcuffing Martz with the stupid "run between the tackles" is what I expect the Bears to do if they hire Martz. I think Chicagoans have forgotten the Gary Crowton experience. Taking a journeyman QB in Jim Miller and having him put up 400 yards of passing a game must have given Michael McCasky high blood pressure. Ultimately, Lovie is a company guy spouting off the company line of we are a running team. Really? Last time I checked, this team is still using the playbook from 1985 and they have the Super Bowl shuffle playing as a ring tone to all of their phones.
I'm all for this, it's a win-win for us Bear fans. Either the offense will score a lot and be exciting, or the Bears will suck again, we'll miss the playoffs, and we can all hope it doesn't take as long to hire Cowher next year as it has taken to hire an OC/DC this year.
Dee said: Can someone please tell me what the knock on Martz is? His offenses score a lot (which was the point of offense last I checked), when he was with Lovie they led the Rams to the Super Bowl. I just don't understand why people are so miserable with him being hired. Just accept that the Bears aren't a running team anymore. The RB is even a better receiver then he is a RB.
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His offense requires deep drops (5-7 steps) that leave the QB vulnerable to hits. If you do not have a killer offensive line (we do not) your QB will take a lot of hits.
You also need WR that can stretch the field consistently. We do not have any.
The TE is lost in this offense and never gets used.
Can someone please tell me what the knock on Martz is?His offenses score a lot(which was the point of offense last I checked),when he was with Lovie they led the Rams to the Superbowl.I just don't understand why people are so miserable with him being hired.Just accept that the Bears aren't a running team anymore.The RB is even a better receiver then he is a RB.
I hope he puts a dagger into the "get off the bus running" idea. How about just get off the bus and win the damn game anyway you can.
This is terrible. Marshall Faulk, Kurt Warner, Tori Holt, Isaac Bruce. Ron Turner could have coached these guys. Well maybe not, but you get my point. What did he do when he had mediorce talent like the Bears have? Squat!
This a even more clear indicator that Angelo and Lovie are not getting along......
This is Lovie's rights hand guy, Lovie wanted him from square one...can you imagine how bad the draft room must be?
I called this in the first week of January. Martz = OC, Marinelli = DC. They're getting the band back together!
Martz will get the job because he's Lovie's buddy and then him, Lovie and Marinelli can all be fired together at the end of the season.
Dear Mike Martz,
Please apologize to Brad Biggs for calling him an irresponsible journalist when he reported in October that you were interested in becoming the Bears OC.
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It should be interesting to see how Martz would handle the Bears. As bad as Cutler was at times last year, he'd be the most successful quarterback Martz ever inherited (Warner wasn't successful before Martz...) Been curious about this possibility for a while now. If nothing else, the offense should be exciting -- PASS, PASS, PASS, PUNT...
well, I guess this means they are done interviewing 2nd and third choices. They will now hire the guy they were going to....that is why he has not taken a jo anywhere else...this is where he is going. Now, about that D.C.......is it still
Lovie? Have they even interviewed anyone?????
This is a bad, bad sign. There is a reason that Martz was unemployed for all of last year. He was an awful OC for both the Lions and 49ers and they couldnt wait to get him out of town. He's only good for a complete offensive team that plays in a dome like the Rams were in that time period.
Boy, how awful it would be to have an OC whose teams have consistently scored a lot. Just wouldn't be very Bear-like. We're supposed to run on 1st & 2nd, then finally pass on 3rd and long.
Seriously, can we just hire Martz instead of looking at random QB coaches out there? This should be a no-brainer.
This was the plan all along. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. Look for Marinelli to be named DC next.