List of candidates is growing short, so how about an interview? Matt Bowen
I’m starting to wonder if the Bears’ fallback plan of hiring Mike Martz could actually become a reality for the club’s vacant — and unwanted — offensive coordinator’s job.
As the NFP’s Brad Biggs wrote Monday night from the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., Bears GM Jerry Angelo and head coach Lovie Smith may have to start checking out some college coaches because, well, they’re really starting to run out of options.
Reports from multiple outlets today say that Ravens QBs coach Hue Jackson is taking the OC job in Oakland. He was scheduled to meet with Bears brass today to discuss the team’s OC opening, but that’s now another “what if” for Lovie and company.
I wrote a while back that this would be a tough sell for the Bears, especially when they set their sights high on USC’s Jim Bates, who followed Pete Carroll to Seattle. How do you hire a coach with the job security of the head coach — and the front office — in question? How do you spin it? And how can you convince them that the offense must revolve around QB Jay Cutler?
Biggs wrote that there’s talk — negative talk — about the idea of working with Cutler. Not good, Bears fans.
It’s a tough situation, and the Bears are being treated like they have the plague.
Tom Clements, the Packers’ QBs coach, was considered an option — but Green Bay told the Bears no thanks. Bates was talked about, but Lovie and Angelo never even got the chance to talk with him before he signed on with Carroll. Ken Zampese and Rob Chudzinski both were candidates for the job, but they’re no longer in the plans.
So who’s next? And do the Bears finally have to give Martz a look?
I’m a big supporter of coach Martz when it comes to offensive football in the NFL, and I honestly think he would be a good match for Cutler. He’s demanding, and he can clash with his players, but I don’t see any way he would back down to a QB when it comes to his offense.
Make the call, Lovie. An interview isn’t going to hurt.
Beyond the drama on the offensive side of the football, let’s not forget about the defense — because there’s an opening there as well after Perry Fewell chose the Giants over the Bears.
The Senior Bowl has started, the combine is next month, and then it’s on to free agency. Time to get some coaches established here in Chicago.
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picking the raiders over the bears? a new low for chicago?
The Bears should be able to improve themselves with the draft this year. oh that right.....no first and 2nd round draft picks.
The winning is just beginning guys....somewhere else! Welcome Mike Martz to one year of offensive behavior called the Chicago Bears!!!!
Chicago, please do pass on Martz; we'd like him back in St. Louis.
Chicago, please do pass on Martz; we'd like him back in St. Louis.
It looks like the Bears could be headed for last place in the North. If Favre comes back and the maturation of the Lions, then it might be difficult to win more than two division games. Martz could help, but he would need two years to get this offense running smoothly. I just hope Martz is available in a year or two when Atlanta has a need for an OC.
Hey Matt, I am all for it at this point, We are like the last person at the prom--standing alone with no date. Did we hope for better than martz? Of course, but right now, he is looking like a good idea and is one of the few coaches that wants to work with our baby QB.... Cutler.
Another self-defecating PR disaster from the organization that can't shoot straight. Martz openly asked for the job, but no, the Bears could have hired him right away, proclaimed it a coup and went on to get their DC. But no, is their typical Bizarro world fashion, they waited until now, when they look like the desperate dysfunctional bunch of boobs that they are - the one that always hires the coach and GM that was on absolutely no one else's radar (see: Dick Jauron, Jerry Angelo, Lovie Smith).
It's getting tougher by the year to be a Bears fan and say you are with a straight face. Look, I'm not one of those delusional Bears fans who DEMANDS that the McCaskets sell their team, because this is America, where any bunch of morons with enough money can own a team. I'm just a realist and I know we are screwed. I just have to wear it.
Unless I get the NFL Ticket and decide to follow a real team.
I think this is overblown. Apparently there are only a couple of qualified and potential OC candiates this year. Just because no one else is on the media's hot list doesn't mean there aren't other possible coaches that could have sucess with the Bears and Cutler. It's obvious they missed out on some of their top choices, but its actually a good thing for them not to have knee-jerk reaction. They didn't get who they thought they could, so re-evaluate and then make your next move.
I think the hesitation with Martz is that he has been very critical of Cutler's play as a member of the media, and that would create a rocky relationship right at the start. Martz offensive history has shown that he can overlook protection schemes, which would not be a good thing for the Bears right now, and that he doesn't look to establish the run, which I imagine the Bears would like to do to get some pressure off Culter. I don't like the fit with Martz and the Bears.
How stupid am I? I actually defended the Three Stooges (Phillips, Angelo and Smith) when they claimed at their press conference a few weeks back - we need change, but really we are fine, blah,blah,blah - that coaches would line up to want to work here.
Now I feel like the undertaker in the Godfather who utters in anguish, "The judge, he letta those boys go and I stood there lookin' lika fool."
And like the undertaker, I can't get the revenge I want because they didn't murder anyone - except a once proud franchise that has broken my heart more times than I care to admit.
The Bear market, looking very Bullish, or very BS? Can nobody want a job that is one of only thirty two of them in the world? Martz is the CEO of throw, time to purchase that upgrade.
OK, I had my WTF! panic attack and I'm over it.
I'm with you Murder. Pick up the phone, call Martz's direct line. Do it now.
One particular piece of b.s. I don't believe is that Cutler is a prima donna, uncoachable and unreachable. That arm, that mobility, that athleticism keeps coaches up at night dreaming about the possibilities. Well, maybe not Ron Turner. He never woke up from the slumber that the plodding, downfield challenged Kyle Orton produced and kept drawing up plays like Neckbeard was still behind center.
Terry Shea, John Shoop, Ron Turner - Martz sounds like an upgrade to me.
Minus the 85 Bears and going back to the days of the caveman what has Chicago ever done? No ownership in the NFL has been cheaper, they have never had a QB and when they did have a great team 85 Bears they let them all go because of being to cheap to re-sign them.
The Raiders may have had a bad few years but the owner is not cheap and puts his money where his mouth is. The Raiders NFL Record (14) AFC Championship Games played in to date with (5) Super Bowls winning (3) when held up next to the Bears is like talking Man O War and a cheap 2000.00 claimer running ion some bush track in Idaho.
And here is a little NEWS FLASH for Bears Fans, it is hard to fall from the level you were already at, from the comments above you hold the Bears organization in much higher terms than the rest of the World LOL.
@Diana - I don't know what team you root for - care to disclose?
It's hard to decipher what you mean by "...from the comments above you hold the Bears organization in much higher terms than the rest of the World LOL."
Bears' fans don't need cheap shot outsiders like you to remind us of our problems. Living in a big boy city, with our share of winners and losers, we are well aware of the issues involved with our organization. If anything, you'd be hard pressed to find any defenders of the current regime. And ownership is generally held in the same esteem as al queda - though like I said the only blood on their hands is the murder of one of the foundations of the NFL.
Don't know how old you are, or what you know about history, but it actually started before the Super Bowl. And that history tells us that the Bears are second only to the Packers in championships and number one in Hall of Famers. You can look it up, if you can get your head out of your arrogant behind long enough to make an intelligent statement.
Not to help the Bears or anything (hehehe) but I personally would highly recommend that the fan base start getting more vocal about giving Martz a shot. Yes, he's a bad fit with Marinelli but Chicago can be a pretty loud place when the fans get riled up. Set-up a website, organize folks to call in to radio stations, get with the local media sports departments. To get the most out of the Cutler trade, which is imperative, you need a veteran coach with the ability to train a throwing QB.
Uh, just going to point out the obvious here concerning Martz... He did make competent quarterbacks out of Marc Bulger and Jon Kitna. Yep, those guys. Didn't Kitna throw for over 4,000 yards for two years in a row with Martz? I think Bulger was so good he pushed Kurt Warner out the door. Without Martz, neither player has been the same.
As a Packer fan, I hope that the Bears DO NOT contact Martz. I'd hate to give Cutler a real offense to run.
Saying yes to the Bears is like signing on with the worst company in town. The one with poor morale, bad benefits and the threat of the plant closing and the jobs moving to Mexico. Who would want to work for them other than someone who couldn't get a real job, someone desperate or someone who sucks? Martz hits on all three counts. The Bears leaders got into this mess. Using MBO (Mgt By Orgasm) they came up with this plan, and clearly didn't think it through. I'll bet they hadn't even done basic checking into the the coaches they may have wanted before reaching their decision. Classic Bears mgt. process. Right now they may end up having to dig up Papa Bear to coach. Poor leadership from a team that really, really needs a total overhaul, from the top down to the lowest special teams back=up.
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Jan 26, 2010
11:59 AM
This is how bad it is : Hue Jackson turned down the Bears, Lovie Smith and Jay Cutler to work with the Raiders, Tom Cable and JaMarcus Russell. That's bad.
"How are we going to convince someone to come here?" Smith said last week, apparently upset over a question about whether his uncertain job status might affect the team's ability to attract assistant coaches. "Believe me, people will want to come here. Coaches don't deal in long-term
commitments and things like that. It's about getting the job done right away. There will be a lot of candidates that will come and want to be a part of what we're going to do next year."