Chicago Bears Settle On Martz As OC

NFL News - February 1st, 2010 - Written by John Ritter

The Chicago Bears were in their eleventh hour to find a suitable offensive coordinator, and finally agreed to terms with Mike Martz on Monday.

Martz seemed to be the likely candidate after several potential candidates either declined the job or wouldn't interview. He wasn't the team's first choice because of his public criticism of quarterback Jay Cutler, but General Manager Jerry Angelo finally buckled to the pleas of head coach Lovie Smith.

Smith was one of the few members of the Bears staff in Martz's corner throughout the process, and was reported to have lobbied to Angelo for the hire. Martz and Smith worked together as members of the St. Louis Rams staff in the early 2000s. Martz was the offensive coordinator when the team won it's only Super Bowl in 2000, and was head coach when it lost the championship two years later. Smith was the team's defensive coordinator.

"Even though I've never worked with Mike Martz, I'm in favor of the Bears hiring anybody that can get us back on the right track, and hopefully back to a Super Bowl," Bears tight end Desmond Clark said. "Mike Martz has a great track record, and I'm excited to see how this offense could grow in 2010."

Per ESPN, Martz traveled to have dinner with Cutler in his hometown of Nashville this past weekend to patch up any open wounds made when he said the quarterback "just doesn't get it" during an NFL Network broadcast.

"He doesn't understand that he represents a great head coach and the rest of those players on that team," he said. "Somebody needs to talk to him."

Although he his image has cooled since the remarks, Martz is still remembered as the engineer to the "Greatest Show on Turf", the nickname given to the Rams' offense early in the decade. Kurt Warner became famous in his offensive system, throwing 41 touchdowns in his first year as a starter and winning the regular season and Super Bowl MVP awards.

Martz was 56-36 as a head coach in St. Louis.

He has been an offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers since then. Then-Detroit quarterback Jon Kitna threw for a career-high 4,208 yards when Martz was the coordinator in '07.