If Mad Scientists could have alter-egos, then the Bears’ offensive game plan against the Lions was Mad Martz’s version of Clark Kent.

Observations from the game:

1) First Down Performance – Just looking at Martz’s first down playcalling and the offense’s performance illustrated how erratic they were as a team. All of the following happened on first down:

• 15 Rush Plays versus 17 Passes
• Martz rushed more on first down in the second half (8 rushes vs 5 passes) than the first (7 rushes vs 12 passes) – demonstrating (I think, “wisely”) a conservative approach to the game (once it was apparent that Stafford wasn’t coming back in).
• 7 of the First Down Rushing Plays netted no gain or negative yardage (not including 2 sacks) & 8 rushing plays netted positive yardage (not including two good scrambles by Cutler). Again, consistently inconsistent.
• 10 of the 33 plays went for over 6 yards
• 3 Penalties put us in 1^st and long
• 3 Fumbles happened on 1^st down (2 after medium gains)

Some say that teams reflect their leadership. Hopefully Mad Martz’s unconventional mind isn’t creating havoc with the minds of his players!

2) Got everyone involved – From a playcalling perspective, I believe that Mad Martz accomplished some key things:

• He did a nice job of keeping a balance in his playcalling – across the receivers and the RBs.
• After a player fumbled the ball, Martz dialed that player’s number on the very next play, giving Forte and Olsen a chance to redeem themselves immediately after their mistake.
• And, on first down at least, he seemed to keep the Lions somewhat off-balance, by continuing to rush the ball, even though they weren’t having great success with it overall.

3) No early checkdowns – Cutler did not throw to any of his RB’s until 10 seconds were left at the end of the 1^st quarter, even though RB check downs were available most of the game. I believe this is an issue for Cutler; he doesn’t seem to “see” his outlet options. Martz picked up on this (I believe) and started calling screens.

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