APMike Martz’s tumultuous tenure with the St. Louis Rams ended following a 2005 season that saw him miss 11 games due to a heart infection. The man who won a Super Bowl as offensive coordinator of the Greatest Showoffs on Turf and appeared in another as the team’s head coach embarked unabashedly on working his way back to one of the top 32 jobs in the sport by proving that he could still make the O’s run circles around the X’s.
After failed stops as a coordinator in Detroit and San Francisco, Martz’s days as a head coach appeared to be over.
But now that Martz has helped lead the Bears to the playoffs in his first year with the team, he’s thinking once again about being a head coach.
“Sure,” Martz recently said of his interest in reclaiming such a title, according to Neil Hayes of the Chicago Sun-Times. “If the opportunity were to come up again, who knows? Shoot, I’m 59 years old. I’m very happy with what I’m doing right now. And if that’s it for me, I’d be the happiest guy in the world, too.”
In Chicago, Martz is working under coach Lovie Smith, who was Martz’s defensive coordinator in St. Louis, and with defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, who was Martz’s boss in Detroit.
Given his role at the center of a storm of in-house squabbles and controversies in St. Louis, it’s hard to imagine Martz getting another shot at being a head coach. But NFL owners want to win, and they tend to acquire fairly short memories once a guy becomes a hot candidate.
It’s unclear how hot of a candidate Martz is or will be. Much of it depends on how his offense will perform in the 2010 postseason — and whether the available jobs will be filled before Chicago’s run has ended.
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and I want to be a train conductor but that ain’t gonna happen either
Quit working Mike!
We love ya for it but go play Santa and drink some Egg Nog Brotha!
Will. Never. Happen.
No one is going to give Martz that much control again.
Whoa! Slow down, homeboy!
Wonder how well he’d do vs. Mangini, who likely is gone?
A number of good names out there at the end of the season and there’ll also be some firings in 10 days.
Martz is definitely more qualified to run a team than Marinelli, but that’s not really saying much.
Martz is a long shot, but a few candidates would be
Mike Zimmer – in house in Cincinnati, if they buy out Marvin Lewis
Ron Rivera – strong rooney rule candidate maybe a fit in defensive minded places like Carolina or Cleveland
from the college ranks
Chip Kelly – did wonders with the fast and furious Oregon attack, but college coaches havent translated to well in NFL since Jimmy Johnson
Jim Harbaugh – either goes to Michigan or will get a kings ransom at S.F., because Andrew Luck would be in play (definitely gone if Harbaugh leaves.)
and of course the usual suspects Jon Gruden – Denver, Cleveland (links with Holmgren) Leslie Frazier back at Minnesota, and may go to Miami if Minnesota goes another direction as Sparano might not be safe there.
Bill Cowher – Carolina, but door is closing.
if Martz has a chance, he has many candidates in front of him.
If Martz had not been booted in Detroit they wouldn’t have gone 0-16 (but Rod wanted to run the ball more- he had a GM too stupid to realize he’d built an offensive line for pass blocking and that might not be a good idea, especially with a porous defense that gave up lots of points, but I digress). If St. Louis hadn’t stabbed him in the back while he had his heart problem would they have sunk so low. San Fran boots him and can’t find an offense even with Frank Gore and Vernon Davis. Now he’s doing it again in Chicago with a crappy whining QB and mediocre receivers (like he did in Detroit with Kitna and Roy Williams).
Martz would do fine in either Cinci or Carolina.
what a shock!
Once again this is taken out of context. I heard the interview and Martz wasn’t lobbying for a HC job, he was asked a question and answered honestly. He didn’t bring the subject up.
Of course he wants to be a HC again, who the F wouldn’t?
If the offense continues to grow and improve in 2011 he might get a shot in 2012.
Bye bye Mike Shanahan, hello Mike Martz.
Come on, you can see Daniel Snyder doing something this stupid right?
joewilly, educate yourself fool.
Cowher needs a spotlight,,,, not a flashlight….
Dallas maybe,,,,,, Carolina never…..
Houston,,,,,????? Hmmmmm……
Martz would be a great fit in Minnesota!