National Football League

Cutler, Martz spending honeymoon in Chicago

Published Jun. 30, 2010 8:13 p.m. ET

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Peter Schrager

Of all the high-profile couples captivating our celebrity-obsessed society today — Brad and Angelina, Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush (and now Cowboys WR Miles Austin), Danielle “Real Housewives of New Jersey” Staub and the great Danny Provenzano — there’s perhaps no more intriguing duo than the one currently picking daisies in Chicago this summer.

Yes, it’s the honeymoon period in Chi-Town, and everyone within a 50-mile radius of the Windy City is singing tunes of bliss about the Jay Cutler-Mike Martz marriage that’s supposed to catapult the Bears back from NFL irrelevance into Super Bowl contention.

Martz’s song to Cutler? It may as well be Sinatra’s “I Only Have Eyes for You."

Asked last week about what should make for the league’s most closely watched player-coach relationship this season, Martz gushed: "It's crazy, because he is everything you want as a coach. For me, there are no flaws. I don't know what the issues have been in the past. I don't really care what they were. Certainly, there aren't any issues here. We've connected right away."

As for Cutler’s feelings toward Martz? Well, the admiration is mutual. Actually, it’s a Boyz II Men love song, crossed with a Beach Boys summer ditty, tinged with a hint of that Taylor Swift teen innocence ... and that’s being conservative.

"He makes you want to come to work every day,” Cutler said of his new offensive coordinator last week. “He's so creative. He's doing fun stuff. He's finding ways to win. That's all you can ask for as a player, to have a coach that loves football and is going to do everything possible to be successful. I think that's what the great coaches are able to do and what Mike's done in the past."

Cutler then proceeded to carve a giant heart with the letters “JC and “MM” interlocked into a tree.

I’m kidding about the tree carving. I think. I actually have no idea, but the way the two men are talking each other up this summer, it’s entirely possible.

Amazingly, though, it’s also not the only case of Bears players breathlessly talking up a coordinator. Outside linebacker and 2009 NFL second-team All-Pro Lance Briggs emerged from a team workout last week singing the praises of first-year Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli.

“My best definition of Marinelli is that he is a tough SOB," Briggs said. "He is the kind of guy you want to play for. ... We are not the team that went to the Super Bowl. ... We have a different attitude, and it's going to take a new attitude for us to be successful. The goal for us is to get back to being the real Monsters of the Midway."

Briggs isn’t alone. Before the NFL draft in April, Brian Urlacher told reporters: "If you listen to coach Marinelli talk, you want to run through a frickin' wall for him. When he talks, people listen. I like coach Marinelli. He knows football. He knows how to get guys in position to make plays. And he motivates people. I have a huge amount of respect for him."

Martz and Marinelli? Really? These are the guys Bears fans and players are so juiced about?

Two years ago, Marinelli was fired as head coach of the Lions after guiding the first team in NFL history to an 0-16 record. That same season, Martz served as offensive coordinator of a San Francisco 49ers unit that finished the season ranked 23rd in total offense.

Though both men are respected tacticians, neither has worked on a staff with a winning record since 2005.

And for all that blue sky happiness between Martz and Cutler this summer, there’s a lurking suspicion around the NFL that this marriage has heartbreak and eventual bloodshed written all over it.

Cutler has a fiery, Type-A personality and has been questioned throughout his career for his maturity and decision-making under pressure. Martz, meanwhile, isn’t winning any Mr. Congeniality awards anytime soon.

Furthermore, Cutler’s propensity to throw interceptions (he led the league with 26 last season) could be negatively affected by Martz’s finely tuned timing scheme, if not mastered early on. And who’s playing receiver in Martz’s fast-break offense, anyway? Who’s going to catch these perfectly timed bombs and lasers constructed by the “mad genius” and thrown by the boy with the golden arm?

Devin Hester isn’t Isaac Bruce and Devin Aromashodu certainly isn’t Torry Holt. Hell, Rashied Davis isn’t even Az-Zahir Hakim. With multiple wide-out sets, the Bears O-line is going to need to play far better than it did last season, when Cutler was sacked 35 times, as well.

During Martz's first season as the offensive coordinator with the Lions in 2006, quarterback Jon Kitna was sacked a league-high 63 times. Alex Smith, Shaun Hill and J.T. O’Sullivan spent much of that 2008 campaign on their backs, too.

In short, Cutler could very well shine and flourish in Martz’s offense.

He could just as easily stumble and fall. Epically.

But maybe those fears are a bit overblown. In Aromashodu, Hester, Davis, Earl Bennett and second-year man Johnny Knox, Cutler actually has some fairly promising young WR talent. Greg Olsen’s reported pre-draft concerns about his production in Martz’s offense have been put to rest, too. And in Chester Taylor and Matt Forte, Chicago has two capable offensive weapons out of the backfield. Hey, maybe the tools are there, after all.

On defense, Chicago has even higher expectations to live up to. In addition to the return of a healthy Urlacher and new acquisitions Chris Harris and Major Wright at safety, the Bears brought in Julius Peppers, arguably the top D-lineman in the game. The early returns on Peppers are in, and they’re good. Very good.

"A 300-pound man that moves like a defensive back. That's what you're dealing with," head coach Lovie Smith told reporters earlier this week. "He's done everything we've asked him to do. It's hard sometimes for a guy to move into a leadership role that quick, but that's exactly what he's done. We can't wait to take the next step with him.”

There’s nothing but good feelings oozing out of Bears camp these days. That unbridled optimism is downright contagious, even convincing.

But all good things can come to an end. And if the Bears start the season with losses to the Lions, Cowboys, Packers and Giants in their first four games, that end could be both quicker and uglier than ever imagined.

With the big personalities in the Chicago locker room, the whole darn thing could be in ruins before October.

Those love ballads being hummed in high-pitched tunes this month? They can very well end up being heartbreaking songs of doom and misery this fall.

Hey, not all great romances work out.

In Chicago, they’re just hoping the Endless Summer of 2010 can extend itself a bit longer. Perhaps until February.

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