| 07 January 2010
The top candidate right now according to most insider reports is that current USC offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates is first in line to interview for the job with the Bears. Bates was Cutler's QB coach in Denver and the young 33-year-old has essentially been a NFL guy throughout his career.
Cutler is most comfortable with Bates and expressed his confidence in bringing Bates aboard if that decision is made. The two had a solid relationship in Denver together and Bates has a lot of respect from a lot of NFL coaches currently coaching or recently out of coaching.
Besides coaching at USC and Denver Bates spent most of his young career as an offensive assistant under Jon Gruden in Tampa Bay. One of the downfalls of possibly bringing in Bates is his relative inexperience as a coach. Bates has been an offensive quality control assistant and a quarterbacks coach, but beyond his one year tenure at USC has never been an offensive coordinator in the NFL. He has never really developed a QB professionally and would be a major risk to take with a player of Cutler's capabilities.
Another possible former Denver assistant being mentioned is current Minnesota Golden Gophers offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch who was the wide receivers coach in Denver. Fisch spent four seasons in Baltimore under Brian Billick before his tenure in Denver working with their wide receivers.
The third candidate being mentioned as a possibility is former 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Martz known for his extremely productive passing attack where ever he goes. Martz isn't big on running the football or getting the tight end involved in his offense which might further hamper the development of Greg Olsen.
It's hard to argue with Martz's resume however as he played a part in developing Kurt Warner who is arguably a future hall of fame QB. Martz has a very long resume but was recently criticized heavily by former Rams GM Charlie Armey. Armey made some very brutally stinging comments regarding Martz ruining Kurt Warner and running him out of St. Louis and that he would be a disaster for Bears QB Jay Cutler's development.
The very public criticism from Armey is probably some of the nastiest criticism I have heard in quite a long time. The comments even caught Martz off guard who chose to stay above the fray.
Of the three candidates mentioned right now I'd have to say I like Martz the most based on his experience but I have reservations about his offense in the cold windy weather of soldier field. I don't know if he'd dedicate himself to running the ball enough to take advantage of Matt Forte's talents or to please Lovie Smith who is a defensive minded ball control coach.
Part of the reason Martz was let go in San Francisco was because head coach Mike Singletary wanted a stronger presence in the game plan from the running game. Something that didn't go over well with Martz, who chooses to run his offense his way, a very prevalent theme amongst any coach at any level of football. Martz did do well with Marshall Faulk in St. Louis though as the Rams were consistently amongst the top-10 rushing teams in the NFL when Faulk was at his best.
Overall of the three candidates mentioned I don't like any of the three all that much. I would like to think the Bears could do better than to get a guy who could be considered a has been in many circles, or two guys who have yet to be and are only being mentioned as possibilities because of their time with Cutler in Denver.
I truly hope the list of candidates grows over the next few days because none of these guys is really that appealing. Bates if you really had to force me to choose from the three he might be the most ideal of the candidates to see if all the talk regarding his promise as a coach could stand up.
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