Mike Martz Hired By Da Bears: What Does This Mean?

Tab Bamford

Feb 01 |15:59 PM

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The Chicago Bears have hired Mike Martz to be the Offensive Coordinator in 2010, ending a search that took as many turns as a San Francisco side street. Finally, the Bears have made a decision.

But now the question becomes what Martz means for the Bears moving forward.

Martz has a pretty impressive resume... up until the last few years. He was the coordinator running the Greatest Show on Turf in St. Louis under Dick Vermiel, and then replaces the crying legend as the head coach of the Rams from 2000-2005. During that time, he took the Rams to a Super Bowl (which they lost to Tom Brady's Patriots in 2001) and had the top-ranked offense in the NFL for two of the six years.

Cutler should be happy.

This is a great move if you're on the Jay Cutler Bandwagon. During Martz's time in St. Louis as head coach, the Rams never ended a season ranked lower than fifth in the league in passing. He had happy-chucking quarterbacks named Kurt Warner and Marc Bulger with the Rams, so he had the requisite experience with a quarterback who loves to throw.

My biggest concern with Martz, though, is that his success came in a dome. The weather at Soldier Field from mid-November until the end of the season isn't what you would call "perfect" by any stretch of the imagination. Martz did spend one season, 2008, in San Francisco, but failed to bring his stretch offense to the Bay effectively.

Martz's sytem is predicated on timing routes, and, when it was at it's best in St. Louis, was very similar to the 49ers of the 1980s. Lots of slants, lots of quick-hitting passes, and lots of adjustments at the line.

Cutler could be fantastic. Could.

This could also be a great scheme to incorporate the Bears young receivers, getting them into space quickly and getting the ball into their hands. The trouble, though, will be the Bears receivers finishing their routes. Cutler had a handful of interceptions in 2009 that were caused by receivers bailing on their routes, and Cutler throwing the ball to where they were supposed to be; in Martz's offense, if the receivers don't finish their routes, it could get ugly again.

Martz could also cut back Matt Forte's exposure in the offense as well. Forte's ability to catch the ball out of the backfield will be a plus, and it will be interesting to see how the Bears wanting to maintain their identity as a "running team" co-exists with Martz's pass-happy playbook.

The intriguing part of this signing is that Martz, who was out of the NFL in 2009 working for the NFL Network, was critical of Cutler at times, especially after his Week One disaster in Green Bay. Martz reportedly travelled to Tennessee to spend time with Cutler, recruiting himself (?) for the job, in the last week. Hopefully he and Cutler will be on the same page.

This will be a change from Ron Turner, and I'm one fan that thinks this change will be good for the offense. However, how Martz deals with young receivers and the Chicago weather will determine how the Bears end up in 2010.

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