Bears Finally Find an Offensive Coordinator

The Bears finally ended their long and painful search for an offensive coordinator by choosing the person that many thought they would end up choosing all along: Mike Martz. 

Martz has been a head coach for the St. Louis Rams before and had even taken that same team to the Super Bowl.  He has also been an offensive coordinator in both San Francisco and Detroit where he had very little success.  Both Martz and Chicago Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith coached together in St. Louis when Martz was in charge of the Rams.

Will this end up being a disaster for Chicago or will Martz and his high powered passing offense help save the Bears and Smith’s job? 

Martz’s offenses are known to be some of the most “pass-happy” offenses in recent NFL history.  They tend to put aside the running game in favor of dropping back to pass and keep the ball moving down the field.  They also do not include the tight end as a pass catcher that much; instead they have the position as more of a blocking position.  This scheme also requires that the offensive lineman pass block much more than they run block...meaning that if there is a player who isn’t that good of a pass blocker, there will be a weak link that could end up getting the quarterback hurt.

Some of the quarterbacks that have worked in Martz offenses include Kurt Warner, Jon Kitna, and Alex Smith.  Of these three, only Warner appears headed to the Hall of Fame and only Warner is the proven winner of the group.  Kitna ended up getting beat up in Martz’s offense while Smith performed poorly and didn’t last (although he has come back now in a new offense and is performing pretty well). 

So what does this mean for the Bears?

If Martz keeps the same kind of offensive strategy, we can expect to see less of the running game and much more of the passing game.  The offensive line will be required to pass block a lot more and tight ends will be required to block much more than catch passes.  Tight ends Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark could be seeing the last of their big pass catching games in Chicago and running back Matt Forte will have to work on his blocking skills because he is going to be doing a lot of blocking.

Chicago’s wide receivers are also going to have a lot to learn this offseason as Martz’s offenses are complex with precise timing routes the name of the game.  Will guys like Earl Bennett, Johnny Knox, Devin Aromashodu, and Devin Hester be up to the challenge?

Needless to say it’s going to be an interesting 2010 for the Bears.  Will they finally be able to turn things around?