Chicago Bears fans, get off Mike Martz's case

I have never really liked Martz and was on the “Fire Martz” bandwagon not so long ago. But he HAS tweaked his scheme, my major complaint with him, and it’s been working. He may be prone to calling a bad-play but this Bears offense has been scoring and moving the ball up and down the field a lot more efficiently since Martz changed up the play-calling and it’s a bit ridiculous that that is being completely overlooked all because of 1 bad play-call and even worse execution.

but a lot of people expect every single play called to be successful. On a dropped pass, somebody sucks. Whether it’s the WR, OC, WB… doesn’t matter. A run up the middle that loses a yard? Someone sucks and needs to be fired/cut/traded. Every play must work, or else hyperbole.

I’ve mentioned it before, but a lot of the plays an OC calls during the course of a game they know will fail, but they call it anyhow to set up something else down the road. Prime example: Bears fans wanted Martz fired repeatedly this season for calling that Hester reverse that never works. But, he kept calling it. And look what happened against the Raiders… They called that same reverse to Hester, but this time it was a play-action fake to him, with Hanie pulling up to throw downfield. The safety bit on the play, undoubtedly because they had seen that play run a dozen times on film, and KDavis was wide open downfield. Unfortunately, a LB blitz wasn’t picked up, and Hanie was hit as he threw the ball.

I agree with your post, and think it’s more just trendy to criticize Martz at this point. Has he been bone-headed his share of times? Sure he has, just like every other coordinator in the league. But does he make this offense pretty decent considering the below-average OL and the average WRs? I think so.

But neither Caleb Hanie’s nor Johnny Knox’s respective play did not help matters at all on Sunday. Hanie made some very poor throws which resulted in a couple of ints. Johnny Knox dropped a few key passes. You can only blame a coach for so much until you look at the poor execution from the players.

The Bears were fortunate to be down by only 2 with the half coming to a close. The smarter move would have been to wind the clock and settle (presumably) for a 1 point halftime lead. Why unnecessarily challenge your backup QB, in his first start, on the road, after having already thrown two very bad picks? I just don’t understand the need to get too cutesy under the circumstances.

I’m just glad Lance didn’t break his finger making the tackle.

Martz likes to make ballsy calls at the wrong points in the game. Sean Payton has the same style of unconventional plays, yet he modifies them to personal.

Every year we seem to drop 3 winnable games simply because Martz couldn’t reign himself in and run the ball. He seems to have trouble adapting his play calling to the offensive personnel he has. It’s one thing to have only a decent oline, but to continually put your QB at a disadvantage due to schemes (by which I mean 11 step death drops without a TE chipping) is certifiably insane.

With Martz there games of lucidity and insanity. With this team being on the bubble, the Bears can’t afford ANY insanity games to reach the SB again.

but the solution to this mess is going to have to come on the better discretion of Martz and not Hanie. Yes, Hanie needs to make better decisions and execute plays with a greater degree of competency, but that is putting the cart before the horse. Martz needs to take the first step toward making Hanie’s decisions less detrimental to the team. Martz, IMO, gets a little too wrapped up in his “genius” and tends to expect more than he’s likely to receive from his players. It may not be glamorous or sexy, but ugly wins with the back-up QB are sufficient for now. Start small and work toward greater complexity based upon gradual improvement. I am fine with the expectations Martz has for Cutler, they should be commensurate with Jay’s salary and capability, but the TEAM needs to win games and for the sake of team victories, Martz has to be the better man and rise above his ego and just “manage” his QB/offense for the overall success of the team.

As I wrote somewhere else:

 Mike Martz doesn’t care who the QB is under center, he’s going to call his plays no matter what. That’s what hurt Hanie. He’s been learning this offense for two years, yes, but there’s a big difference between reading a playbook, throwing some passes in practice and actually playing in a full-speed game.

Martz doesn’t take any of that into account. He has the plays he wants to call that he believes can beat the defense he sees on the field and he’s going to call those plays. Doesn’t matter whether it’s Kurt Warner, Mark Bulger, Jon Kitna, Alex Smith, Jay Cutler, Caleb Hanie or Todd Collins. Doesn’t matter whether the QB has the mental or physical capability of completing the play. Martz is calling the same plays for all those QBs regardless of their different talents and skill sets.

It’s his major failure as a coordinator. He just doesn’t seem to take into account personnel. It’s more than just this one play, it was the whole game.

I also disagree that it was a balanced game. 23 run plays and 44 pass plays. If we were down by two or three scores most of the game, then that would be reasonable. Down by 5 most of the game with your running game averaging 5 yards per carry and your QB playing too nervously? Run the ball.

I already argued with Kev last night so don’t want to rehash. But I don’t have an issue with margarine playcalling with cutler in, I just think he didn’t put janie in a position for success most of the time. I agree with some of what wilt is saying but if you are going to run playaction throw the curl in to knock or Roy (hardly say this at all).what happened to the counter behind Louis? Run it once for 33 yards and then abandoned that play for forte? I think Hanie didn’t play well but improved throughout the game. Little safer passing game and less bonehead qb will spell victory. Kev I still heart you…

There’s way too much Confirmation Bias going on towards Martz. It’s good to hate him, it fits my narrative.

It’s the exact same thing that really plagued Lovie over the past… oh… 3 years? 4 years?

I’m not saying he’s the greatest OC ever, but he’s more than serviceable, and can call good games that make me feel comfortable in the offense of the Bears.

i remember a very similar play being run and cutler overthrew a wide open davis. so cutler failed on the play when it was wide open. its on film. you have ur back up quarterback in a position where a turnover takes points off the board. bad call at a bad time. enjoy tempe.

The whole team sucks. Trade Cutler for a 3rd round pick and Orton, and release Forte cuz he aint been as good as he was earlier! He sucks! Barber can stay cuz he’s the meaty bruising running back the Bears need! Fire all the Coaches and promote Tice! He’s never called an offensive play , but he coached the worst oline ever assembled so that counts for something! He will run Barber 57 times a game! Ddduuuhhhhhhh

That’s an eternity in football, especially versus one of the worst run defenses in the league (27th). The call was an unnecessary risk to take, and it probably cost them the game.

Taking the lead after sucking it up in the first quarter was paramount. Momentum/lead was there to be had (Hanie needed confidence!), and Martz pissed it away.

Bears win the game hands down if they score a TD. Up five heading into the second half, while the least disciplined team in the league hang their heads going into the locker room.

Horrible call; for me, Martz’s worst as a Bears OC. All risk and very little reward based on Curry’s explanation on the play and Hanie’s inexperience as a starter.

but it doesnt take into account Martz’ run-pass ratio calls. Forte had what, 10-12 carries for this entire game? WTF.

Last night on ESPN Radio in Chicago, Hanie said the lineman should have picked up Curry. That would be LT J’Marcus Webb who pass blocked then released downfield to block. If Webb get’s a piece of Curry after he released then it wouldn’t have mattered if Hanie located the OLB before the throw.