Has anybody noticed what the Chicago Bears have been doing with Mike Martz as their offensive coordinator. They are pretty much one of the only teams out there that have been lining up with a fullback and tailback and running right at defenses. It might seem strange, but with defenses evolving to be able to cover the spread offenses as well as more athletic quarterbacks, they have become more susceptible to stopping the boring old run game of the 1980's. I have never been a huge fan of Martz, as I feel he has too much ego, but this is pretty impressive especially since he was the offensive coordinator of the greatest show on turf. This makes sense to some degree as they don't have the receivers to run that offense and this defense is pretty solid.
The biggest problem I find with this approach is that they are accepting mediocrity as this is pretty much what the Falcons did minus the fullback. This type of team can make the playoffs, but can not hang with the many explosive offenses. So as much as I can appreciate watching Martz evolve as he ages, he has a solid team that was just in the NFC championship last season. Right now it seems that the Chicago coaches are happy protecting their jobs and are happy to be in the pack as opposed to finding a way to get over the hump and do some real damage. It is okay for a team like the Raiders to do this as a 9 or 10 win season and maybe even a playoff game would be akin to winning the Super Bowl for their fans, but the Bears have smelled some success and should be thinking bigger.
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