If anyone can explain to me the direction the Chicago Bears are taking this offseason, then I’ll donate a week’s salary to your favorite charity. And “backwards” doesn’t count.

The Bears began the offseason by firing offensive coordinator Ron Turner and relieving head coach Lovie Smith of his defensive play calling duties. GM Jerry Angelo’s first choices as candidates to replace Turner and Smith were USC offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates and former Bills defensive coordinator Perry Fewell. But he lost out on both when Pete Carroll hired Bates to run the offense in Seattle and the Giants hired Fewell to run their defense in New York.

It’s an understatement to say that Angelo settled for Mike Martz in early February. Angelo had Rob Chudzinski, Hue Jackson and a host of others atop his wish list of offensive coordinators, but nobody wanted to come to Chicago with the possibility of Smith and his entire staff getting axed a year from now. Angelo was desperate, and so too was Martz.

Out of options again, Angelo promoted defensive line coach Rod Marinelli to defensive coordinator on February 5, despite the fact that Marinelli had no previous experience in that role. When the Bears hired Smith in 2004, he tired to bring Marinelli (his former staff member in Tampa) to Chicago to be his new defensive coordinator but the Bucs didn’t release Marinelli out of his contract. Seven years later, Smith is getting his wish.

With the coordinator roles finally settled, Angelo thought it would be wise to fire director of pro personnel Bobby DePaul on Monday. This is significant because DePaul was the man that orchestrated the Jay Cutler trade and had been with the Bears since 2001. That’s nine seasons of experience that Angelo just fired, not to mention the person responsible for pulling off the franchise’s biggest trade.

The timing of DePaul’s firing is perplexing. Most teams fire personnel people in May because at that point, the draft is over and free agency has settled in. Teams rarely fire the man responsible for evaluating players, managing scouting and preparing the club for free agency right before the NFL combine and the free agency period begins. It just doesn’t make any sense because scouting free agents and prospects is a yearlong process – a process that should be almost completed in mid February.

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The “Mad Scientist” is coming to Chicago: The National Football Post reports that the Bears have hired Mike Martz to become their next offensive coordinator.

What’s interesting about this hire is that Martz wasn’t GM Jerry Angelo’s first, second, third or even fourth candidate for the position. Angelo had Jeremy Bates, Rob Chudzinski, Hue Jackson and a host of others ahead of Martz on his wish list, but all of the candidates bowed out, presumably because head coach Lovie Smith is on the hot seat. Why would anyone want to go to Chicago if there’s a possibility that they’ll get axed in a year anyway?

Why would anyone outside of Martz, that is.

After serving as the 49ers’ offensive coordinator for just one season, Martz was out of football last year and was itching to get back into coaching. With so few options, it makes sense that he would jump at the opportunity to join the Bears.

They’re desperate, he’s desperate – it works.

But will it work? Martz was the same person that criticized Jay Cutler earlier this season for being immature following a loss to the Packers in Week 1. Martz reportedly got the Bears’ blessing to fly down to Tennessee over the weekend to meet with Cutler and clear the air, but will the marriage work?

Martz is still regarded as one of the brightest offensive minds in football and his track record speaks for itself. Anyone that can turn the Lions’ offense into a top 10 passing attack deserves praise, although the reason why he has been ousted everywhere he’s been is because he doesn’t run the football. He also has no use for pass protection and his quarterbacks are often sitting ducks because he always runs plays out of three and four receiver sets, thus leaving less linemen in to protect his signal caller. That’s not good considering how bad the Bears’ offensive line is and given that Cutler often forces passes when he’s under duress and doesn’t mind throwing as many interceptions as humanly possible during 60 minutes of football.

I see this union between Cutler and Martz ending in one of two ways: An explosive partnership that makes the Bears one of the most excited passing teams in the NFL, or a beautiful disaster that will be worthy of watching from the front row.

Either way, it should be a fun year in Chicago.

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To his credit, Lovie Smith has one Super Bowl appearance under his belt as a head coach. But how long should one Super Bowl appearance last someone if he fails to reach the playoffs the following three seasons?

After losing to the Colts in the 2006 Super Bowl, the Bears have gone 7-9, 9-7 and are now currently 5-9. Despite trading for Jay Cutler in the offseason, Chicago is regressing and what’s worse is that it doesn’t have a first round pick in either of the next two drafts and also doesn’t have a second round pick next year.

The Bears are floundering, not prospering. So where does that leave Smith?

For all intents and purposes, Cutler’s turnover woes, the offensive lines’ blocking issues and all of the injuries on defense aren’t Smith’s fault. He can’t run, tackle and punt for his team, so maybe it’s not fair for him to be fired at the end of the season when it’s clear that the Bears’ problems run deeper than the head coach.

The problem is that his players have given up. The 31-7 shellacking they took in Baltimore on Sunday was the fourth time that the Bears have been blown out this season. They’re just 1-6 on the road this year and the problems that haunted them in Week 1 are still haunting them in Week 15. That’s a problem – a coaching problem. Even the dreadful Browns and Redskins have cut down on the mistakes that cost them earlier in the season.

The Bears finish the season at home against the Vikings in Week 16 and at Detroit in Week 17. If Chicago shows the same ineptitude over the next two weeks as it has over the past couple months, even a cheap ownership like the Bears might decide that enough is enough and hand Smith his pink slip at the end of the season.

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Charlie Weis needs a job and the Chicago Bears need someone capable of calling more than screen passes.

Seems like Weis and Da Bears would make a perfect fit.

According to a report by the Chicago Sun Times, Weis would be interested in becoming the Bears’ next offensive coordinator if/when the job becomes available this offseason. Ron Turner currently holds the position, but he’s expected to be let go for the way Chicago has struggled offensively this season.

Weis failed as a head coach at Notre Dame, but his offenses were successful. He also had plenty of success as the offensive coordinator for the Patriots, so if the Bears did decide that he was a good fit, at least they would be hiring someone with experience.

That said, who knows if Lovie Smith will be retained at the end of the season. If the Bears decide to go in another direction, it would be up to the new head coach as to whom his coordinators would be. And even if Smith doesn’t get fired, there’s no guarantee that he’d work well with Weis.

Bear fans may crucify me for saying this, but the fact of the matter is that Turner isn’t the only reason why the Bears have been completely inept offensively this season. The additions the team made to the offensive line this offseason haven’t panned out and it has cost Matt Forte what was supposed to be a promising second season. Cutler doesn’t have time to throw the ball and even when he does, he forces passes thinking he has to make plays through the air because the running game is non-existent. Turner will essentially serve as the scapegoat to a much bigger problem.

We’ll see if this story develops, but as of right now it’s just a small rumor that may or may not grow legs.

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According to a report by the Chicago Sun Times, Mike Martz is a candidate to become the Bears’ next offensive coordinator.

”Martz would love to work with Jay Cutler,” said the source, who cited the close relationship between Smith and Martz in sharing the information.

Smith is expected to stay with the Bears in 2010 because of more than $10 million in walking-away money.
But offensive coordinator Ron Turner and at least part of his staff could be another story. The Bears (4-6) purged their defensive staff last offseason, and it might be the offense’s turn in January as Smith makes a final effort to turn around a franchise headed toward its third straight season of missing the playoffs. Since Turner was hired in 2005 after the firing of

Terry Shea, the offensive staff has been untouched. In that same span, Smith has changed seven defensive position coaches and moved the title of defensive coordinator from Ron Rivera to Bob Babich to himself.

This makes sense considering that the Bears have no interest in running the ball. Martz has always been able to get the most out of his quarterbacks (Kurt Warner, Marc Bulger, Jon Kitna, etc.) and could work well with Cutler. Of course, that could be a recipe for disaster given Martz and Cutler’s egos.

Still, Martz pass-happy system would be a great fit for Cutler’s big arm. But even if the Bears do land Martz, they still need to figure out a way to rebuild the offensive line or else Cutler will continue to struggle no matter what system he’s in.

This is an intriguing rumor.

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With their 10-6 loss to the 49ers in San Francisco on Thursday night, the Bears may have sealed their fate this season.

At 4-5, the Bears would almost have to run the table to make the playoffs this year, a task that seems impossible with teams like the Eagles, Vikings (twice) and the Ravens on their second half schedule.

With their loss last night, the Bears are now 2-4 in the conference, with losses to the Packers, Falcons, Cardinals and 49ers – teams they’re currently battling in the Wild Card race. A loss to the Eagles next week would be a final blow to a team that has been stumbling backwards for weeks.

Of course, breaking down their record and looking ahead at their schedule are two minute problems considering they can’t run the football, Jay Cutler is an utter disaster in the red zone and the team has little to no fight in them. One would have thought that with their backs pressed firmly against the wall, Lovie Smith’s squad would have came out with more passion and emotion last night (especially after they were blown out at home last week by Arizona). Instead, they made mistake after mistake and failed to cash in on the multiple opportunities that were awarded to them by the 49ers.

The Bears essentially had one chance to turn their season around and last night was it. If they can’t beat teams like the 49ers, Falcons or Cardinals, how are they going to beat the Vikings twice or an Eagles team that is hungry coming off a loss? It might be safe to stick a fork in Da Bears, because they’re officially done.

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When Chicago acquired Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos this offseason, it was all Bear fans could do from booking their plane tickets to Miami. They figured that since they finally had a franchise quarterback under center and that the offensive line had improved, there’s no way Da Bears wouldn’t challenge for a Super Bowl berth.

Then the games actually started and now they’re starting to realize that there’s a reason why the Broncos never got to the playoffs with Cutler as their quarterback.

Cutler threw a mind-boggling five interceptions in the Bears’ 10-6 loss to the 49ers on Thursday night. Not all of those picks were his fault, as Devin Hester fell down on one pass, the ref got in the way on another and San Francisco safety Mark Roman may have gotten away with interference on yet another.

But that doesn’t excuse Cutler for throwing two horrendous interceptions in the red zone – an area in which he continues to struggle this season – to kill drives. It’s almost like whenever Chicago reaches that spot of the field, Cutler breaks out into a cold sweat and forgets how to play. He’s so deathly afraid of the red zone that Lovie Smith might as well trot kicker Robbie Gould onto the field and take three points because there’s a good chance Cutler is going to throw a pick.

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