Chicago Bears: Is It Time for Mike Martz to Move On?
Published by Bryan Dietzler on September 28, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
When the Chicago Bears hired Mike Martz, the architect of the “Greatest Show on Turf,” it was thought that the Bears offense finally would be one of the best in the NFL. It’s been two years now and fans, as well as those members of the team, are still waiting for this explosive offense to develop. Is it possible that this is never going to happen?
There were times in the Bears’ game against the Packers where the offense looked unbeatable. They marched right on down the field to score, giving fans hope that they would be able to rack up a lot of points on their way to a win. But more often than not, the offense was foiled and spent more time going three-and-out than they did gaining yards and scoring points.
Is the Martz offense ending up being a failure or is it those players that are relied upon to execute the offense failing? Is this offensive scheme too much for the players that the Bears have? Is it time for the team to find someone else to call the offensive plays?
You can argue for both yes and no on that last question. If the offense isn’t fitting the players that the Bears currently have, then something needs to happen. And it probably would be much easier to get rid of Martz than it would be to get rid of the players.
The biggest problem with Martz is that he doesn’t seem to like the running game. If he sees that the running game doesn’t work after a few tries he isn’t willing to stick with it to make it work. This was evident in their games against both the Saints and the Packers. When the Bears run the ball they win but for some reason, Martz doesn’t want to run the ball.
Martz had this same issue in the places that he had stopped in the past and liked to pass the ball much more than he liked to run it. The problem with the Bears is that they don’t have the personnel to throw the ball all the time so they have to run it often. And Martz just doesn’t see that.
Last year, after having a somewhat rough start, the Bears came out of their bye week running the ball much more often and that gave the Bears a lot of success in the second half of the season. The exact same thing is going on right now. The passing game has become ineffective and the Bears aren’t running the ball nearly as much as they should.
If Martz refuses to do the one thing that can help the Bears win games then why does general manager Jerry Angelo keep him as part of the coaching staff? Shouldn’t the Bears consider bringing someone else in to help run the offense? If Martz isn’t going to change and utilize his players correctly, then why would they keep him?
Of course it’s still early in the season so it’s unlikely that the Bears will let him go during the season, but when the season comes to an end the Bears may want to go with another option at the position. Remember, he didn’t sign a contract extension this last offseason so if the Bears don’t want to keep him past the end of this season, they have no financial ties with him. And who is to say that Martz will want to come back?
The great Martz experiment isn’t working. Perhaps it is time for a change?
Read more Chicago Bears news on BleacherReport.com
