As the Bears continue to swing and miss in their effort to find a new offensive coordinator, it appears that the name “Mike Martz” never will percolate to the top of the list.
Neil Hayes of the Chicago Sun-Times adroitly makes the case for Martz, without obviously making the case for Martz.
But here’s the reality — if Martz has yet to get the job, it means that he already has been ruled out.
So why has Mike Martz been blackballed by the Bears? It might have something to do with defensive line coach Rod Marinelli, who worked as Martz’s boss in Detroit. Martz joined the Lions after being fired as head coach of the Rams. It widely was believed that Martz viewed the job as a stopover on his way back to a head-coaching gig.
In the days following Marinelli’s departure from Detroit, Marinelli essentially confirmed that perception.
“The fits just weren’t always right,”
Marinelli told the Chicago Tribune. “Sometimes you think
everybody’s like yourself — you know, if there’re 10 mops, I’m going
to grab one and start mopping. But that’s not always the case. Guys
are looking at the next job, or egos. All those things are tough.”
Our guess, then, is that Marinelli has told Smith to avoid Martz like a pizza topped with poison mushrooms and three shakes of H1N1 parmesan.
That’s why Martz isn’t getting the job in Chicago, and it’s why he might never get hired by any other NFL team.
Meanwhile, the aimless search for an offensive coordinator continues, hampered by the fact that, if the new offensive coordinator fails to make quarterback Jay Cutler into what he was in Denver, everyone is getting fired.
A non-playoff QB who chokes away opportunities to win big games and whose TD/INT ratio sucks?
I thought the Bears already had the same guy the Broncos had?
I heard Jim Mora jr. is available?
I think Martz would be a good hire for them , Martz made jon kitna look like a pro bowler in the time he worked with marinelli.
Marinelli should have no say I’m suprised somebody gave that guy a job.
What a joke! I am embarrassed to be a Bears fan. Not sure if I want to be on the season ticket waiting list anymore…
that’s nice but marinelli did worse without martz in daytwa.
they needed to run the martz O cause marinelli’s D wasnt going to stop anyone, especially anyone who could run the ball.
martz + marinelli = 10-22
only rod = 0-16
i think martz could do a lot of good with chicago’s wideouts etc. their OL sucks but i think that offense could be what cutler needs.
and if it gets lovey canned… well if he doesnt do better in 2010, he is gone anyway. and the tsunami will sweep martz and rod out too.
I wonder what has a better chance to happen first: Brett Favre announcing his intentions for next season or the Bears signing any coordinators for next year, because Lord knows they won’t spend it on free agents…
screw you and all bronco fans ncm42. yea it was his fault they never made the playoffs even though the offense scored a ton of points and he threw for 4000 yds. with them. so what’s the excuse this year since you got rid of him?think he could not do it again if they had a offense that played to his strengths instead of that pitiful excuse of one they run in chicago?it’s almost to bad they finaly let him do what he does best the last 2 games because it saved smith and angelo’s jobs. but it showed he is still a good qb if they let him do what he does best and move around in the pocket.
More dots need to be connected here…. Lovie Smith and Rod Marinelli have the same agent…who used to be Martz’s agent until replaced…Martz left Detroit in mid season and “came back” got the picture now!! Tom Walsh (Art Shell’s coordinator) has a better chance if business is slow at the bed and breakfast!!
@ slipkid
you are totally off base. martz’s offense is sooo complex that cutler wouldn’t be able to figure it out. what wideouts are you talking about in chi-town? cutler would take a beating week in and week out with that o-line!
“screw you and all bronco fans ncm42. yea it was his fault they never made the playoffs even though the offense scored a ton of points and he threw for 4000 yds. with them.”
Bears scored more points than Denver did in ’08.
Cutler is exactly the same guy in Chicago that he was here.
If this rumor is in anyway rooted in some truth, Lovie Smith is an idiot and should be getting a pink slip now. Take advice from a guy who accomplished absolutely nothing except the first 0-16 season in NFL history to keep away a very good offensive mind, which you sorely need in Chicago. That’s sound judgement. Especially since nobody apparently wants the job, and Martz outright asked for the opportunity.
Lovie Smith and Mike Martz have already worked together in St. Louis. He knows Mike well after working with him side by side for 3 years. I’m sure he’s formed his own opinion.
Besides Martz sucks. He’s arrogant, inflexible and tries to make his players adapt to his system regardless of whether or not it plays to their strengths. If you don’t have exactly the right personnel in place, you can’t run his system. That would be why his last few stops as a coordinator have been a quick cup of coffee, followed by a “Oh, look at the time! You’d better be going.”
# Cecil says: January 26, 2010 10:09 PM
Cutler is exactly the same guy in Chicago that he was here.
—————————————————–
Did I miss the Broncos making the playoffs this season?
And Orton was the same guy in Denver that he was here…. only now you get to pay him like he is a star QB.
Which he is not but I believe that you found that out already.
Martz sucks…used Vermils team and has done absolutely nothing since but go to random teams, do squat and then get fired. He’s cocky for no reason. I hope he never gets hired in the NFL again. Waste of time.
Instead of whinning about Martz, Marinelli should have grabbed a mop in DET and stayed away from coaching.
That might have prevented a 0-16 season!
Won’t matter who the OC is as long as the Bears have Jeff George Jr. as QB.
Everyone’s getting fired no matter who they get for OC. Cutler will always be an immature jerk whose talent will never offset the fail his tiny brain represents.
“Did I miss the Broncos making the playoffs this season?”
Jay Cutler didn’t make the playoffs in Denver. I guess I don’t understand the connection.
“And Orton was the same guy in Denver that he was here…. only now you get to pay him like he is a star QB.”
He’s been much better. And he’s still only likely to receive a mid-range starter’s contract (which is what he deserves).
“Our guess, then, is that Marinelli has told Smith to avoid Martz like a pizza topped with poison mushrooms and three shakes of H1N1 parmesan.”
Seriously? Beyond cheesy, no pun intended
“….to avoid Martz like a pizza topped with poison mushrooms and three shakes of H1N1 parmesan.”
Sounds like someone has been getting on the shnapps and making weird analogies again.
Cecil- you can have Orton all you want. I’d rather have a QB with upside, not one who’s already reached his ceiling.
If Smith and Marinelli are steering the ship, best to stay off it.
“I think Martz would be a good hire for them , Martz made jon kitna look like a pro bowler in the time he worked with marinelli.
Marinelli should have no say I’m suprised somebody gave that guy a job.”
——
You do realize that Marinelli was a very highly regarded, and still is, defensive coach before his time with the Bears, right?
“A non-playoff QB who chokes away opportunities to win big games and whose TD/INT ratio sucks?
I thought the Bears already had the same guy the Broncos had?”
————
and the Bronco’s D or lack of a good running game had nothing to do with it right? I’m guessing Cutler was giving up over 25 pts a game on D with the Broncos, right?
And he was loaded with so much talent on the Bears?
The way he gets bashed on here, you’d think he was molesting altar boys, and killing dogs in his backyard.
Let’s list all of the criticisms leveled at Martz:
It’s his system or bust.
He doesn’t adapt to his players and forces the team to pick guys who fit his scheme.
He has a rigid system.
He takes away decision making from the QB and puts it squarely on his system.
His system is overly complex.
He’s a difficult, arrogant personality.
He’s constantly angling for power.
He doesn’t put enough effort towards protecting the QB.
So what?
You can take all of these criticisms and look at them through another lens:
He has a clear vision.
He knows exactly what type of players his system needs.
There’s no ambiguity in his scheme.
He treats the QB as just another piece on the chessboard and doesn’t need a highly touted one to succeed.
He requires intelligent players.
He has faith in himself.
He wants to control both the recipe and the ingredients.
If his players don’t play the way according to scheme they are at risk of greater injury.
Each one of the above also apply to Bill Belichick, Marty and Tuna. How awful.
Now let’s move to the more important question. Does it work? Does he know how to win?
Yes on both counts. His numbers tell the story.
It seems to me that even if all the monstrous complaints against Martz are true, and there’s good reason to believe they aren’t (since when has groupthink ever been completely accurate??), he’s capable of achieving a level of success that is rare amongst head coaches. I tend to think that when you’re a certain personality type that doesn’t hew to standard agreeable behavior and who doesn’t play politics (yes you read that correctly) you will be used as a pincushion and fall guy by other more scheming participants. In fact I’m 100% positive this is what happens.
Whatever his faults are I’m also sure that they are exaggerated. When I see people vociferously putting forth the same hackneyed excuses, which don’t jive with observable fact, I tend to think I’m watching propaganda. If you pay attention you’ll see this type of thing happen everywhere. He’s definitely not the first to be in that position. I would also take a guess there’s an owner out there who is an independent enough thinker to put the facts together, analyze them without fear or predisposition to what the results might be, who will see the same thing I do. Then again maybe there isn’t – it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had my doubts of the intellectual honesty of most people be confirmed.
So that’s where it’s at. Even on his worst days Martz isn’t the monster he’s spun as. He’s just like everyone else – he’s complicated and has good and bad qualities. Demonizing this guy just happens to be a convenient way for someone to buy acceptance into a less than honorable crowd. And when you consider that the worst thing that can ever happen by making the decision to hire him is having to fire him (which happens all the time), and he best is a long run of success (the more probable scenario if you look at his history) the failure of someone to realize that he’s actually not that bad, and probably quite good, is mindboggling.
without Cutler the Broncos probably would have gone 4-12 in 2008…he pretty much carried them against New Orleans, Cleveland, NY Jets & San Deigo (with an assist from Hochuli )
Rod Marinelli is an idiot and sucks as a D-Line coach. Anyone who guided a team to 0-16 should be considered an obvious moron!!!
This guy fired someone who had the Lions throw for over 8,000 yards over two years and kept a defensive line coach who was better at driving naked in a Wendy’s drive thru than actually coaching defensive lineman.
Mike Martz was the last good thing the Lions had!!! They were 7-9 in 2007 with Martz. If my team were 0-16, I would take a 7-9 any day of the week.
turn cutler to what he was in denver??? hes exactly what he was in denver…hes a strong arm qb who throws more pics than td’s…people act like he was joe montana…dude is what he is.
told Smith to avoid Martz like a pizza topped with poison mushrooms and three shakes of H1N1 parmesan.
- i agree with BigMikey lame mike lame i expect better out of you
“martz + marinelli = 10-22
only rod = 0-16″
Martz = a SB run and record offense. , and a probable win vs. Pats if not for those non-calls against their DBs
wtf is Marinelli saying – he went 0-16?! After Bears missed on Hue Jackson, they need to rush to hire him.
Martz had basically NOTHING in Detroit. S.F. is where he stunk up the joint
It’s a shame that Martz is not in coaching. He always makes things better when he arrives, and the team drops off when he leaves. He makes his fellow coaches and managers look bad — when Marinelli ditched Martz, we see what happened. In St. Louis, Zygmut and Armey were jealous of his success, forced him out, and bad-mouth him to this day. And we see how that worked out.
Martz wins. There have been bigger assholes out there. Not many of them win like Martz.
Maybe they are waiting to interview everyone they are interested in. duh.
jbeatzz says: “turn cutler to what he was in denver??? hes exactly what he was in denver…hes a strong arm qb who throws more pics than td’s…people act like he was joe montana…dude is what he is.”
Fact is the guy throws way too many picks. I watched every one this year and I’d say 10 or so weren’t his fault… but let’s get our facts straight here. his TD-pick ratio has been:
2009 27 -26
2008 25-18
2007 20-14
2006 9-5
So no, he isn’t a strong arm qb who throws more picks than td’s. He’s actually a pretty accurat passer, but took pretty big risks too many time. Sounds like a guy in need of a decent QB coach and/or O.C.
There’s a lot more that goes into comparing QBs than passing yards and the number of points a team puts up, so I won’t bother with those comments. I loved Kyle Orton because he played smart, but he isn’t a playmaker downfield and that’s what the Bears traded for. If they had a decent O line Cutler would look much better.
All the same, over 15 picks is a disappointment and over 20 is an embaressment… for the team, regardless of who you blame. That’s the Bears are shooting for every QB coach they can, and why they hired Tice for the O line first.
The OC this year is going to have to work on making the most out of Cutler and his receivers (I don’t care what any of you say, they have talent there). I doubt anyone will save Lovie’s job, but they may be able to find themselves a place in the next system if they do well. This is why Martz is the wrong guy for the job.
a) He doesn’t put a premium on protection schemes, or biggest flaw, and would clash with Tice
b) He doesn’t run a balanced offense and would underutilize Forte and our TE
c) He would be coaching for the opportunity to take over for Lovie in 2011, a conflict of interest and a threat to Smith. Friend or no, Lovie’s not gonna go for that.
Then again, this is the Bears and they always surprise me with awful offseasons… thank God for the Hawks and Bulls.
Mike Martz would get Cutler and his receivers “dailed in.”