After two pathetic loses to the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers, the blame for the Bear’s problems is going around. One of the main targets of the blame is offensive coordinator, Mike Martz. The past two weeks the Bears have had a very unbalanced offense with a lot of passing and very little running. But is this Martz’s fault? On Sunday, Martz tried to run the ball but the line continued to collapse. So why waste a down running the ball for little or no gain? Perhaps the blame should go to the man putting the team together, Jerry Angelo.
Angelo has been responsible for the much needed traded for a star quarterback, Jay Cutler. However, since the trade Angelo has left Cutler out to dry. One of the sore spots of Angelo is his drafting ability. Offensive draft picks such as Cedric Benson and Chris Williams have failed to produce. In week two against the Saints, the offensive line played horrible. But the line made improvements in pass blocking. But then the receivers were a major problem. Many times Cutler had no where to go with the ball because of the receivers inability to get open. To make the situation even worse, when they did get open they dropped the pass. Cutler is obviously not the person to blame for the lack of production for the offense.
The lack of a “go-to” wide receiver has been present since the first departure of Marty Booker in 2004. The Bears have tried to fill this position but have continued to fail. In 2005, the Bears signed star wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad. Unfortunately, Moose was aging and did not become the explosive target the Bears had hoped for. Next came Bernard Berrian who had two productive season in 2006 and 2007. But then Angelo and the Bears organization let Berrian walk.
Over the past few years, pro bowl wide receivers such as Anquan Boldin and Brandon Marshall have been available on the trade market. But the Bears passed up on the chance to give Cutler that “go-to” man.
This past offseason, the Bears continued to ignore the hole. In fact, some would argue that Angelo made the team’s skill at the position even worse by adding Roy Williams. Williams drops more passes then he catches and more often than not runs his routes at about 50% or less effort.
This upcoming draft, the Bears will have a golden opportunity to add a great young receiver. Alshon Jeffery from South Carolina, Michael Floyd from Notre Dame and Justin Blackmon from Oklahoma State are all expected to be star receivers one day in the NFL.
So perhaps the blame going to Cutler and Martz is very undeserving.