Blame game begins with Martz stepping forward

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Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011
Posted: 10:00 p.m.

By John Mullin
CSNChicago.com Bears InsiderFollow @CSNMoonMullin
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My bad.

That was offensive coordinator Mike Martzs mea culpa Wednesday for the playcalling fiasco in New Orleans52 pass plays, 12 runsthat left the franchise quarterback battered and the Bears with a defeat.

Martz insisted he was not disappointed with protection issues but instead declared that we need to mix it up a lot more than we did in that game, he said. We had a lot of pressure, more pressure than I think we probably suspected. It puts a lot of pressure on some of these protections.

Martz acknowledged lots of reasons for the breakdown but none of them are justification. We went into that game thinking we were going to run the ball more. We didnt do that.

Smith was questioned last year about not reining in Martzs passing propensities and didnt appear to demand a course correction until the off week, seven games in to the season. Smith could have intervened during Sundays game but its just not how we do things, Martz said. Lovie has great trust in what were doing and understands that. I think he understood, too, a lot of the issues that we were dealing with. If youre looking for blame, blame me.

The real issue

The point in all of this is not to replay and rehash the Saints game, but rather whether Martz can be relied upon to adhere to a change in philosophy that was successful last year but was ignored under pressure Sunday.

Last season, at Green Bay in a game against a desperate Packers team needing a win for a wild-card slot, and after winning seven of the previous eight games with Jay Cutler throwing more than 30 passes just once, Martz inexplicably called 47 pass plays to 18 runs.

Cutler was sacked six times, forced to run twice and the Bears lost 10-3 at a point in the season when a successful formula appeared to have settled in place.

Blame gaming

Failed execution, i.e., player error, received blame in last Sundays debacle. But both Martz and line coach Mike Tice used phrasing that suggested that all was not player-induced and that at least in mid-week the two coaches were on, at least, close-by pages:

Ultimately, what it comes down to is we didnt coach as good as we should have, and we didnt play as good as we should have, Martz said.

Tice wasn't standing far away on the practice field but sounding a lot like his coordinator.

Everybody across the board has to do a better job, Tice said. To me, being around as long as Ive been around, the blame should go on us coaches because we have a bunch of players willing to do exactly what we want them to do. Its our job to put them in positions to be able to look good.

When we dont do that, its embarrassing to us.

Good news, and bad

The good news, if it can be called that, is that the line in particular was on its assignments. The bad news was that they failed to execute them.

Guys we were supposed to block, sometimes we didnt block them so good, Tice said. But we were on the right guy. If we can do that again this week and get better, then well take a step toward making the offense a whole lot better.

Right tackle Gabe Carimi is expected to miss up to four games with a knee injury and right guard Lance Louis is still practicing on a limited basis with his injured right ankle.

Tice has one solution: I actually lost 12 pounds and Im trying my pads on tomorrow, he joked. I dont know if Ive got anything in me but the National Anthem, but Im certainly going to give it a whirl.

John "Moon" Mullin is CSNChicago.com's Bears Insider and appears regularly on Bears Postgame Live and Chicago Tribune Live. Follow Moon on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Bears information.

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