Sunday’s game between the Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49ers was a disastrous one for both offenses. Both teams had to deal with the tough weather elements at Soldier Field.
The turf was extremely wet on Sunday, resulting in a defensive battle that the Bears were able to win in a surprising upset.
Despite the Bears’ victory, led by starting quarterback Justin Fields, former St. Louis Rams head coach Mike Martz was apparently not very impressed with the young quarterback.
“You can only go up because you can’t get any worse than what he did today,” Martz said on Fields’ performance via The 33rd Team podcast. “I’m just shocked at the Bears. They went up to take this quarterback, and less than remarkable would be the kindest thing that you could say about him. I don’t know if I have ever seen such a bad performance by a quarterback, he was just completely awful. When you get a quarterback that can’t do anything at all, you kind of lose hope. Right now they are a team with no hope.”
Martz did not get any kinder when discussing 49ers quarterback Trey Lance, blasting him for his play in the team’s loss.
“I’ve never seen anything about this kid that has been encouraging at all,” Martz said about Lance. “He really has to plant himself to make a good throw. He is not a quick decision guy. He looked like a fullback stumbling around and trying to run around to me. He’s not a particularly good guy running with the football, I’ve never liked him, I still don’t like him. I’d like to know what he does so well.”
Former Super Bowl winning coach Mike Martz told @The33rdTeamFB that #Bears QB Justin Fields ”Can't do anything at all.”
And on #49ers Trey Lance: “He's not a great passer. Doesn’t have good skills. takes him a long time to set himself and throw the football.” pic.twitter.com/K1iDU07bbB
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) September 13, 2022
There is a lot to break down in these comments, but they definitely seem to be extreme overreactions coming from a game with conditions we haven’t seen in quite some time.
Most Bears fans believe that Fields is one of the few bright spots on their roster, so to say that he “can’t do anything at all” is completely incorrect.
As for Lance, he had a bad game, but many praised his ability as a runner from the quarterback position and believe that makes him a true difference-maker in the 49ers’ offense, which is something that Martz completely discounted.
Martz was previously known as an offensive guru in the NFL during his time in the league from 1992-2011, but it appears that he may be a bit out of touch with how much the league has changed and overreacted to a bad game from two young quarterbacks in their second NFL seasons.
