Chicago Bears Plus Mike Martz Equals Victory or Complete Disaster?

The quarterback known as a coach killer meets the coach known for killing his quarterbacks.

The Chicago Bears’ hiring Monday of Mike Martz to oversee the offense run by quarterback Jay Cutler brings together both explosive potential and the recipe for a meltdown rarely seen in the NFL.

"Mike can help Jay in a lot of different ways from fundamentals to decision making to getting ready for game day," Bears coach Lovie Smith said.

The trouble is, Martz can also help get Cutler on injured reserve while also helping him set interception records.

Think of it like a truck full of rocket fuel driven by two Nascar drivers. The truck is either going to reach its destination in record time or it’s going to go up in the biggest fireball since Nagasaki.

Martz’s offenses were prolific at the outset with the Rams, as they finished first in yardage, first in passing yards and first in scoring three straight years.

Martz has been responsible for 10 NFL offenses either as head coach or offensive coordinator, and his teams have finished in the top-10 nine of those 10 years in passing yards. They were in the top-10 in offensive yards six of the seven years he coached in St. Louis.

“We wanted to make change, wanted to be something different than what we were, and we just felt that Mike really presented what we considered the best plan for us,” general manager Jerry Angelo said during a conference call with media Monday.

Change isn’t always better. In Martz, there is certainly the potential for disaster.

While Martz’s teams have been explosive, they also explode. And it usually involves getting the quarterback sacked and intercepted while the running game struggles.

• Martz has been in charge of 10 teams’ offenses, either as offensive coordinator or head coach: In each of the last seven years his teams ranked sixth or worse in giving up sacks. They were worst in the NFL at San Francisco in 2008 (55 sacks), second worst in Detroit in 2006 (63 sacks) and third in 2007 with Detroit (54). They were fourth, fifth or sixth with the Rams every year between 2002-05.
• His quarterbacks have ranked sixth or higher in throwing the most interceptions during each of the last nine seasons. They threw the fourth most interceptions or worse from 2002-2007.
• After his first three offenses finished first in scoring, he has had only one offense that ranked higher than 11th in scoring and every one of them except the 2005 Rams ranked 16th or worse.

Ultimately it comes down to having the talent to run an offense which has been called twice as complicated as the average NFL attack.

Martz thinks the talent in Chicago is closer to what the Rams had, and praised Cutler following a meeting the two had in Nashville.

"There was an instant connection," Martz said. "That happened to me with Jon Kitna the first time I met him, too. ... This was very interesting because we were on the same page on so many things."

It’s an offense known for quarterbacks throwing a lot of interceptions and touchdown passes melding with a quarterback known for throwing a lot of interceptions last year (26) and touchdown passes (27).

Although it’s also known as a complicated offense, the Bears think they have players who can handle the change.

"Perception and reality are two different things," Smith said. "We'll have our offense in place by the first game. It's not so complicated where we can't do that. I think that's a misconception for people to think that."

Martz’s offense requires speed like he had in St. Louis, but he said he sees that with Devin Hester, Devin Aromashodu, Johnny Knox, Earl Bennett and Juaquin Iglesias.

“I think there’s plenty of talent there,” he said. “I’m real excited about their speed and the potential. “What we’ll do is give them every opportunity to explore that and that can make a definition on what any one of those guys can do, but let them prove to us and put no limits on them.”

Martz’s offenses never produced big seasons by tight ends and usually ignored the position, but he promised that won’t be the case with Bears tight end Greg Olsen. He said his other teams always had tight ends who were bigger and usually better blockers but not especially down field receivers, but Martz called Olsen more of a “Kellen Winslow" type from the Don Coryell offense that actually spawned this offense.

As for the lack of a rushing attack by his teams, Martz called this a myth.

“You tried to take advantage of the talent that you had," Martz said. "We were always a top-10 rushing team, those first three years particularly, and we ran it very effectively.”

The Bears better hope Martz’s production is better than his memory. He had two teams finish fifth in rushing when he had running back Marshall Faulk, but even when he had Faulk and in every subsequent year his teams have been 22nd or worse in rushing. Four of them were 30th or worse.

No longer will the Bears be able to call themselves a team that “gets off the bus running,” as Smith says.

They have the change Angelo spoke about, but the question now is whether it’s positive change or a disaster.