Inside the Bears

Mike Martz was interviewed extensively on the "Mully and Hanley Show this morning. Here are the highlights:

Earl Bennett stopped to see Mike Martz on the new offensive coordinator's first full day at Halas Hall on Monday, according to a story on ChicagoBears.com.

If the Bears are interested in Torry Holt, they will have to wait until the veteran receiver becomes available.

Richard Dent has to keep on waiting.

The former Bears defensive end was not elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday evening for the eighth time. This year's class hasn't been announced yet, but Dent won't be among the inductees.

According to Hall of Fame voter Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dent was eliminated in the cutdown from 10 to five, along with Cris Carter, Shannon Sharpe, Andre Reed and Cortez Kennedy.

Dent's old head coach certainly thinks he belongs.

"What makes any Hall of Fame football player?" Bears coach Mike Ditka said Friday night. "I think he made the game better by playing. He made our team better by winning. He made the people around him better.

"He was a force to be reckoned with every time he stepped on the field."

When he retired in 1997, Dent's 137.5 career sacks trailed only Bruce Smith (200.0) and Reggie White (198.0) among defensive ends. But the decorated Dent - he was a four-time Pro Bowl selection - was one of only six defensive players ever to be named a Super Bowl MVP.

In Super Bowl XX, Dent had three tackles, 1.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. In the NFC Divisonal playoff game against the New York Giants, Dent had seven tackles, 3.5 sacks and two forced fumbles.

The Bears decided not to seriously pursue Torry Holt last offseason. However, that may change now that Mike Martz has been hired as the team's offensive coordinator. Holt and Martz enjoyed much success together in St. Louis and the veteran receiver might be able to help the Bears' young receiving corps learn the nuances of Martz's system.

The Bears' long and often-criticized coaching search ended Friday with big changes on offense and a reshuffling of the defensive staff.

The Bears ended their coaching searches with a series of hires.

Rod Marinelli has been promoted to defensive coordinator/assistant head coach. Eric Washington will be defensive line coach, Shane Day as quarterbacks coach, Andrew Hayes-Stoker as offensive quality control and Mikal Smith as defensive quality control.

Shane Day will become the Bears new quarterbacks coach later today, according to multiple league sources.

Here we go again with Richard Dent.

The guy belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was a better player than Howie Long, and Long has been inducted.

Hopefully, justice will be served and Dent will be elected Saturday.

Here is Dent on WMVP's "Waddle and Silvy" on Friday.

He had college head coaching experience. He had been a successful offensive coordinator in the NFL.

The longer the Bears search dragged on, the more you wondered when Lovie Smith would come full circle and interview ... Ron Turner.

Linebacker Lance Briggs appeared with "Waddle and Silvy" on WVMP (1000-AM) this morning and had some interesting things to say about his season, the Bears' defensive scheme and Jay Cutler.

Here's the transcript:

Coach Lovie Smith wants a defensive coordinator who buys into his cover-2 schemes. He needs somebody that doesn't mind working on a staff that includes the Bob Babich and Smith, who each tried unsuccessfully to coordinate the defense the past two seasons.

Then there's Rod Marinelli, the former Lions coach who has 34 years of coaching experience.

In other words, the team's new defensive coordinator won't lack experienced assistants who know the cover-2 inside out.