NEWSLETTER
Just when I thought I was done with Mike Martz, I was reeled back in.
Martz, a former Bears OC, had some less-than-charitable things to say about Justin Fields in August. Even after seeing Fields and the Bears win in Week 1, Martz was still popping off on Chicago’s QB1. In figuring out if it was sour grapes, another example of an old man yelling at a cloud, or something more nefarious, I concluded Martz flapping his gums wasn’t worth our time. Can you blame me? There are so many quality quarterback evaluators, and we don’t need to dwell on the thoughts of someone like Martz. Especially when his evaluations are coming off as being out of touch (at best) and hot take-y (at worst).
However, I fancy myself someone willing to hear both sides. So I tuned in to ESPN 1000’s Waddle and Silvy program to hear Martz try to set the record straight. After all, you had to know he would have something to say after the backlash his commentary caused in Chicago. And in a bit of a surprise, the coach-turned-analyst offered up somewhat of a mea culpa:
All right. So Martz claims he was misquoted with his assessment that Fields’ performance “really deflated the football team” and that he was talking about Trey Lance when making those comments.
“Yeah, I was talking about Trey Lance,” Martz clarified. “He played so poorly, they couldn’t do anything the first half. They were good on defense, and when they don’t think you can score, things kind of really go bad fast for everybody. It just seemed like the second half was a hopeless situation for them.”
Martz didn’t stop there with the clarification comments. And why would he? Martz has often taken the blame for the Bears trading tight end Greg Olsen to the Carolina Panthers because there he wasn’t a scheme fit. Not only that, the long-time word in Chicago was that Martz was instrumental in orchestrating the move. Instead, Martz claims innocence:
So … now we’ve got Martz’s word against the word of former Bears Scouting Director Greg Gabriel. That’ll be a doozy.
Because not only does Martz say he wasn’t the one pushing the team to trade Olsen, he adds he didn’t feature him in the offense because the offensive tackles were so bad that he had to use him as a blocker. Uh … what? I mean, I’m not debating that Bears linemen were riding a struggle bus at the time. But why wouldn’t the Bears acquire better tackles to use Olsen properly? Maybe this is Martz just covering his behind. Or perhaps this is a snapshot of the organizational ineptitude that helps explain why the team has made just one Super Bowl appearance since its title-winning experience in January 1986.
Whatever it is, it needs to be water under the bridge. Getting clarity is nice, but I’m so over anything Martz related. Is it Sunday yet?
