Mike Martz Wrestles Bears Offense

Mike Martz Wrestles Bears Offense

There are some pros and cons associated with Mike Martz taking over the Offensive Coordinator position in Chicago.  Most notably are the pros that Martz himself will benefit from by turning around an offense that did not live up to its high expectations last year.  Martz may be in a similar position as another Mike, Mike Nolan, who was in Denver last year.  Turn around an underperforming unit and then move on to another organization that may be a better fit for you.  Or in Martz’s case, take over the Head Coaching position for the Chicago Bears if and when Lovie Smith is let go.

Martz is a great coach and has done some wonderful things statistically for different organization.  He even made Jon Kitna look like a Hall of Famer in the time he spent as the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions.   Martz will no doubt implement a high flying offense that will greatly improve the statistics of most of the offensive skill players.  However, there will be a large learning curve for this new complex offense and most notably the Bears will have to greatly improve their offensive line play if they intend to keep Cutler upright for the majority of the season.

The concern for most Bears fans will be how will this new hire translate to more points on the board and overall contribute to more wins for the team in 2010.  However, to the majority of NFL fans, the big question is how will the hiring of Mike Martz as the Bears new  Offensive Coordinator  affect the value individuals from a fantasy football viewpoint.

Lets start the fantasy analysis be starting with the position that will greatly benefit from the Martz hiring, the quarterback position.  Last year Jay Cutler had a terrible year.  He threw too many interceptions (26) and was unable to keep his team in a position to win.  Most importantly has fantasy numbers were not where owners expected them to be.  With Martz calling the plays I expect Cutler to rebound nicely in 2010 and become an every week starter for a fantasy team.  I would expect someone to take a shot on Cutler somewhere in the 7th to 8th round of a standard league setting.

The next player that I feel is going to benefit greatly from the Martz hiring is Devin Aromashodu.  He came on strong at the end of last year and began to build a strong connection with Cutler.  Particularly, in the last four games of the year Aromashodu was extremely impressive.  In these four games he was able to haul in 22 catches on 39 targets for 282 yards and 4 touchdowns.  Imagine what this youngster can do starting a full season and having a pass happy coordinator on his side.   Expect Devin to take over the #1 WR position from the other Devin and to be taken somewhere in the late 8^th to early 9^th rounds of fantasy drafts.  As I have experienced there is always someone willing to take a shot on a player that exploded at the end of the past season and has breakout potential.

On to a position that I feel will be neglected by Mike Martz.  That is the tight end position.  Greg Olson has been steadily improving every year since his rookie year.  His stats have been steadily improving and there would be no indication that this shouldn’t continue to be the case.  Except that the bears hired Mike Martz and he tends not to look to the tight end very often in his offense.  Olsen will more than likely be required to stay in and block more in the Martz system and this will cut into the fantasy value for Olsen in 2010.  Olsen went from catching 2 touchdowns in 2007, to catching 5 in 2008, and finally hauling in 8 touchdowns this past season.   With Martz calling the plays expect Olsen to see fewer targets and his yardage and touchdown totals to drop off in 2010.  Although with not a huge range of talent for receivers on the Bears squad, an interesting training camp will be the ultimate test. It makes no sense to waste Olsen’s skills as a just a blocker. Greg Olsen is a good candidate to take a shot on late in the draft for deeper leagues in order to have someone to plug in on the dreaded bye week.

Another player that I suspect will be negatively impacted with the Martz hiring is Devin Hester.  Hester will be a better fit as a slot guy for the Martz offense and will most likely be asked to do different things on the field.  He will at times line up wide, line up tight, or line up in the backfield.  But, I suspect his touches will take a hit as Hester will be asked to be more of a decoy than anything else.  Also, I see Martz wanting to utilize Hester more at what Hester was most feared at.  Returning kickoffs and punt returns.  If this is the case then Hester will no doubt see less time when the offense is on the field in order to keep him fresh for special teams.  Be sure to follow the Bears mini camps as Hester’s potential to be used more as a return man would greatly affect his 2010 fantasy stock.

The final player that will be affected by the hiring of Martz is a player that many fantasy owners had expected to ride to fantasy glory in 2009.  That player is none other than Matt Forte.  Forte had a breakout rookie season and the outlook for his sophomore campaign was bright.  However, there were underlying injuries and poor offensive line play that contributed to Forte not living up to all the hype.  The fantasy outlook for Forte is much better in PPR formatted leagues as opposed to standard leagues.   Martz has been known to move his running backs around in order to show the defense new looks and exp

ose any weaknesses.   This is why I expect Forte to be used less in the running game this coming year and more in the passing game.  There is potential for Forte to put up decent wide receiver type numbers in the passing game.  Without question he will improve upon his receiving touchdowns from 2009.  He had a total of 0.  Many owners may shy away from Forte on draft day, particularly those owners that got burned by him last year.  As usual fantasy running backs will be coming off the board early and often on draft day, so expect Forte to be a late 2nd rounder to early 3rd rounder.

Overall, the hiring of Mike Martz as the new Offensive Coordinator for the Chicago Bears should be positive for the organization.  There is little doubt that that offense will improve as a whole and therefore lead to a better record for the team in 2010.  Only question is how long will Martz be the offensive coordinator?

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