The Chicago Bears didn’t have to spend too much time nor look very far to find Mike Martz’s replacement. The successor is a former Minnesota Vikings head coach who happens to be on their staff as the current OL coach: Mike Tice.
“(Coach Lovie Smith) and I share a similar mindset of what the Bears offense should look and feel like,” Tice said in a statement released by the team.
“There will be a toughness about us. We are going to be a powerful run team and we’re going to be able to mix in explosive pass plays. It will be important for us to utilize the talents of our players and exploit matchups each Sunday. We have athletes we can build with.”
Tice will become Smith’s fourth offensive coordinator since he became the Bears’ coach in 2004.
You may wonder why an offensive line coach should get this gig, given how bad the Bears O-Line has been. The unit ranked 27th in the league this season and 32nd a year ago. However, people within the team, and league think Tice has done a good job making the most out of a unit ravaged by injuries and lacking in talent, due to the fact that the now fired Jerry Angelo drafted most of them.