Mike Martz: Pack Your Bags, It’s Time To Go
Published by Kevin OBrien on September 27, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
When the Chicago Bears hired Mike Martz before the 2010 season, I initially held out some high hopes that this would be the end of the horrific offensive ineptitude that has plagued the Bears for too many years.
Right now, I almost wish they could bring Ron Turner or John Shoop back for an encore.
All kidding aside, Mike Martz has been a complete disaster since he started in Chicago. I’m the first to admit that the offensive line is not very good and even pathetic at times. We as fans can see that. Jay Cutler will be lucky if he lasts until Week 8, and that’s being generous.
Yet, there are issues with Mike Martz that go beyond the offensive line’s problems. Martz simply refuses to run the ball with any sort of conviction. I understand the Bears were down quickly to the Packers in Week 3 14-0, and that caused the game plan to change a bit. Fine. Let’s move on to the next problem with Martz…
Mike Martz’s offensive schemes have always revolved around his patented seven-step drop with the receivers being in a certain place at a certain time. This philosophy, for one, will get Jay Cutler in a hospital bed, but it also is the opposite of all the things Jay Cutler is successful at doing as a QB. Jay is at his best when he can roll out, move around and find a receiver. Jay is also athletic enough to roll off some nice runs with his legs. Martz’s offense allows none of this. It is not a good fit, and the sooner the Bears realize this the better.
When the head coach of your team has to reel in the offensive coordinator at least six times in the last two seasons because he went totally insane with his pass-to-run ratio, there’s a problem. This shouldn’t be a continuous problem, but it is. Let’s be honest, every time we watch a Bears game we all wonder if this is going to be another game where Martz loses all sight of what makes this team win offensively. Shame on Lovie Smith too for letting Martz stick to this type of game plan. He is the head coach in Chicago, not Martz.
This reminds me a lot of the Bob Babich situation a few years ago when he was promoted to defensive coordinator. It was obviously a mistake, but Lovie didn’t want to do too much about it, even though he was more than capable of calling the defensive game plan himself. I’m not relating the offense to the defense, just making the point that we’ve seen this rodeo before.
It’s obvious to me and I’m sure a lot of other Bears fans watching this mess of an offense that they should promote Mike Tice immediately and send Mike Martz packing now. Who really believes he has any intention of staying next year, willingly or unwillingly? It is not going to happen, so why keep this going on any longer?
The season is still young. The Bears team isn’t anymore. Make the necessary changes now. Send Mike Martz packing pronto.
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