Martz Arrives in the Midway

The Chicago Bears have decided to shake things up by hiring offensive guru Mike Martz—who engineered one of the greatest offenses in NFL history—as their new offensive coordinator last week. Comments on the Bears website have been mixed to say the least, with some claiming that Martz’s hire will compound the Bears’ current offensive woes. Given the team’s desperate need for receiving talent, they may be right.
I prayed during last year’s offseason that the Bears would not only trade for Jay Cutler but also give a second round pick to the Denver Broncos for receiver Brandon Marshall who, despite the promise Johnny Knox and Devin Aromashadu have shown this season, would be an instant upgrade over the other Bears wideouts based on talent alone (without even mentioning his previous experience with Cutler). Unfortunately, that trade didn’t go through, and now everything is peachy in Denver between Marshall and Josh McDaniels.

I honestly hope that Martz can help the Bears get better, but it’s hard to see this as anything more that a contradiction of philosophies. As if Bears fans needed more proof that Lovie Smith is throwing in the towel for the running game despite his insistent calls for sticking with the run, Chicago hires a coach infamous for his offensive philosophy which, in a nutshell, resembles “pass first, pass later, then pass some more”. Admittedly, Martz’s system performed superbly in St. Louis (where they have been 18-51 since his departure from the head coaching position), where it was hailed as the “Greatest Show on Turf”. But the current Chicago Bears do not compare favorably to a Rams squad that featured a franchise tackle in Orlando Pace (who is on the Bears roster but a shadow of his former self), two fantastic receivers in Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, and a Hall of Fame tailback in Marshall Faulk, proving that the system is not a panacea for the Bears. Significant funds must be invested in the offense before the real results can be shown.

In the meantime, I fear the Bears may end up looking like the Detroit Lions of 2006-07, who were among the league leaders in passing yardage but had little to show for their productivity. I have no doubt that Cutler is a superior player to Jon Kitna, but he has already led the league in interceptions once. May Bears fans pray that he doesn’t do it again.