Despite all the advance billing, ''The Greatest Show on Turf'' won't be opening in Chicago this year. With cold weather on its way, Jay Cutler won't be starring as Kurt Warner, and Matt Forte won't play Marshall Faulk in the sequel anytime soon.
Mike Martz is still directing, but this is a different production with a different cast.
These Bears continue to reveal themselves week by week. What we learned Sunday in the 22-19 win over the Bills in Toronto is that this offense is never going to be the unit everybody hoped it would be -- not this year, anyway. Maybe not ever. But that doesn't mean Martz can't put his own stamp on it and lead the Bears to the playoffs.
One of the things that has separated Martz during his career is his creativity as a play-caller. We saw that ingenuity Sunday, and we'll need to see more of it because if this offense couldn't break out against the winless Bills inside on turf, it's not likely to have wide-open receivers running all over the field against the Vikings, Jets, Patriots, Eagles or Packers in coming weeks.
The offensive line turned in by far its most coordinated effort against the Bills, but tougher tests await. It's going to take some smoke and mirrors in the form of creative play-calling for this offense to help the Bears get where they want to go. It's going to take a commitment to the run and to rolling Cutler out of the pocket, where he is more effective. It's going to take continued improvement from the offensive line.
Most of all, it's going to take Martz keeping defenses on their heels from the sideline.
''I always loved playing against him as a play-caller because it was such a great challenge to see where he went next,'' former Seahawks and Falcons coach Jim Mora said.
''He has less concepts than coaches labeled 'gurus.' What he does a great job of is disguising his looks with formations and motion. He'll run the same play five times, and you won't recognize it because they operate it at a quick tempo and they do a great job at substitution. They run the same play using multiple position groups. It's really, really difficult to figure out what's going on.
''I always felt like I got behind on him. He works faster than you. He's out of the huddle before you're ready. He makes you go simpler defensively, and then he has got you.''
A tweak here, a gimmick there
The Bears don't need to score 33 points per game like Martz's 1999 Rams did to be successful, not with the defense allowing 16.6 per game, which was the third-lowest average in the league heading into Monday night's game. This is where Martz and his play-calling enter into the equation. If you're having trouble blocking, a misdirection flip like the one to Forte that produced an 18-yard touchdown run against the Panthers, might be in order. Receiver Earl Bennett got a carry against the Bills. Forte scored on a two-point conversion with a well-executed shovel pass.
''What Mike has always been so good at is he does a tremendous job of getting mismatches with his personnel,'' said Titans linebackers coach Dave McGinnis, who wanted to hire Martz as the Bears' offensive coordinator before chairman Mike McCaskey botched McGinnis' hiring in 1999. ''He does that better than any offensive coordinator I've gone against. The other thing he does is he gets to the same scheme in so many different ways with so many personnel groups.
''What's also difficult about defending his offense is they are so fast-paced. You feel like you're chasing the previous play, and that's not good. It's like a chess match. Sometimes you can tell when you're chasing your opponent. You can also tell when you are a move or two behind. A lot of times, I felt like I was chasing the play.''
Flexibility is the answer
Martz's cavalier attitude can be refreshing when he has players with the skills to make his offense most effective. It has been painfully obvious that he doesn't have the full complement of pieces in place in Chicago, which means he must continue to adapt to put these Bears players in position to succeed.
''This might sound wrong, but I love his arrogance,'' Mora said. ''I respect his arrogance. 'My stuff is good. I don't care what you do. I'm going to beat you with my stuff. It's proven. I've won a Super Bowl with it. I'm going to beat your ass with it.' I love that he's always attacking.''
What makes Martz unique and controversial also put a Super Bowl ring on his finger, but what the Bears need now is for an already creative play-caller to be more creative than ever.
I coudln't agree with you more. Mike showed his creativity within a smaller box of plays than he normally works with and won. IMHO the key to the Bears season is for Martz to stick to 3-5 step drops the vast majority of the time on pass plays and have a pass/run ratio of 60/40 on the high end of pass ratio. In the last two games when the oline started to improve very bad things kept happening on 7 step drops. The pick 6 vs the Skins was a 7 step drop, take that play away and the Bears win. I am pretty sure the Cutler fumble this Sunday was on a 7 step too. I wish someone would mention this to Martz. Presumably he knows but it would be nice to confirm he knows this given that the foundation of his offense is predicated on 7 step drops. Maybe use the 7 step on first down or 2nd and short when the defense isnt expecting it. I believe if Martz uses his creativity and sticks to mainly 3-5 step drops Jay can get his mojo back and the Bear offense can win games for the team.
I absolutely loved that shovel pass on the conversion. No way would I have ever seen that coming if I was the defensive coordinator.
Hahahahaha, he is so great that he got fired from 3 jobs. Why do you think that is? Why do you think the Bears where the only team to come knocking on his door? He has never done jack without a totally loaded offense in terms of talent. Never. Was that a vreative offense in Buffalo? It looked pretty conservative. Was that the genius of it he became more conservative against a really bad defense and the game winning TD was on a broken play. Was that the secret plan.
Last I checked when Dick Vermeil went to KC after he retired from the Rams his first year the team was mediocre but the following three years 2002, 2003, 2004, they had the number 1 ranked offense in the nfl. The Martz offense which was still loaded with al lthat talent ranked 13th 9th and 6th, and in points they where 23rd, 2nd and 19th. Intresting enough it was the same playbook, but the Vermeil offense ran the ball number 1 in rushing TD's 3 years in a row, top 5 rushing offense twice.
Honestly I think Martz has a nice playbook, I think Martz is a great X's and O's guy. But his play calling is crap, it's his biggest flaw. It took him 8 weeks to actually let Cutler move around a little. 8 weeks 1-11 on the 1 yard line, 8 weeks to solve that against the Bills. 8 weeks to figure out he needed to take pressure off Cutler and the line by running the ball even if it wasn't effective in yardage. I can name 3 fans on this site that said he should be doing this 5 weeks ago. I can name one that said he would need to do this before they even hired him. This guy is a genius? I don't think so. This is not the greatest show on turf team and it took him 8 weeks into the season to realize that.
Perhaps Martz has shown his "creativity". ... But, he sure hasn't displayed his "intelligence".
It took a definitive stance from the Zombie Head Coach, Lovey to get the "message" to Martz to stop calling all of the nonsense that WASN'T WORKING!
The pathetic game planning during this joke of a season seemed to be apparent to everyone EXCEPT Martz.
OMG!! Did anyone see this football play?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UIdI8khMkw&feature=player_embedded
This is HUGE!!!! The Bears need to use this every game, and because all the other NFL teams can't ever approach the greatness of the Bears, they'd never catch on!
The Bears are predictably unpredictable. I picked them to lose to Det, Dal, and GB. Of course they won all those games somehow. Then I got cocky, and picked them to beat a stuggling NYG team, and they got killed. The only 2 I got right so far this year are Carolina and Buffalo.
I like the defense. They don't get the sexy stats, but they are good at keeping teams off the scoreboard.
The offense? I have no idea what to expect week to week, except that the O-line will suck again. Creativity doesn't matter when you suck at the LOS.
Hate to get off the subject, but I just read (on ESPN) that Goodell is meeting with the NFLPA about expanding the season to 18 games. The same day he tells the public that players received a special 11 page manual on how and what to hit, and what not to do while hitting. That has got to be the most hypocritical thing ever. How to make the game safer on one hand, and how to make players more at risk on the other with a longer schedule. Stupid. No, not stupid. It's greedy.
If they want to add weeks to the season, then fine. But don't add games. Just add 2 more bye weeks for each team. People watch the NFL even if their teams aren't playing. It's better than having 4 or 5 pre-season games.
I think Martz is the problem, not the solution. How can you call him creative, when he has undoubtedly one of the three best tight ends in the game, and refuses to get him the ball more than 2 or 3 times a game. I would be using him like the Chargers use Antonio Gates or the Colts used Dallas Clark before he got hurt. Look at Clarks replacement. I dont even recall his name, and the guy got like 14 balls thrown his way. Meanwhile, Martz lets Olsen rot, when he should be leading the team in receiving. Heck, the touchdown he caught last week was a terrible throw, and he reached back and got it. And one of his other catches he had to dive out of bounds to get it. Give him the ball 14 to 15 times a game, and give Forte 25 carries, and youll see this team win a lot more ball games, and not get your defense so worn out by the end of the season.
Martz may have some other teams coaches sing his praise,but until he can crate a running game that will complement his passing game,Martz will be just an average offensive coordinator,fired after another pathetic season of predictable offensive play calling,and I do mean OFFENSIVE play calling LOL,
The Bears o-line has been terrible,Mike Martz has not helped out with this situation much at ALL!
Martz needs to know what his players strengths are, and play to these instead of knowing his fantasy plays and playing to those.He needs to develop running plays,it still blows my mind how Martz can be considered a genius and his offense can't even run the ball,what a joke.Look for Cutler to have another new offensive coach in the future.