Sure, they want Mike Martz run out of town.
Just like Ron Turner before him.
And Terry Shea. They came after him with pitchforks.
John Shoop inspired venomous websites and signs in the stands that demanded his dismissal.
Gary Crowton’s last day couldn’t come soon enough.
There were high fives by the water cooler when Matt Cavanaugh was given the boot.
Greg Landry and Ed Hughes contributed to some great teams, but they had their fill of them too.
Ted Marchibroda and Ken Meyer (going back to 1978), they weren’t good enough either.
See, the most unpopular guy in Chicago is always the Bears offensive coordinator, usually because the Bears offense seems continually to be in a state of disrepair.
The Bears offensive coordinator serves one hidden function — promoting civic bonding.
Turner had his moments during his first go-around with the Bears, which he parlayed into the head coaching job at Illinois in 1997. But when he came back in 2005, Turner became a dartboard like all the rest.
We love to second-guess play-callers. Mike Ditka himself used to do it to Landry and Hughes, often usurping their authority though the glory years. The rest of us just follow his lead.
The fall guy is always the OC, not the quarterback who can’t throw straight, the receiver with hands as soft as marble, the running back who trips over his own feet or the blocker who spends most of the game on his back.
Every loss usually is traced to the play-caller.
When the halfback runs out of bounds as the team is trying to salt away the game in the final minutes, it’s the offensive coordinator’s fault. He should have called an inside running play (never mind that he did). He should have reminded the running back. He should have called for a pass.
But if he had called for a pass, they would have started an Occupy Halas Hall movement because the mad scientist had lost his mind.
Any play that goes awry is always the wrong play call, regardless of whether it was executed correctly. And if it wasn’t executed correctly, that was the offensive coordinator’s fault too. Why didn’t he prepare his players better?
So if these are Martz’s last games with the Bears, the team soon will start the search for the next offensive coordinator who everyone wants fired.
Comprehend trend: Offensive offense
Before Jay Cutler missed his first game with his broken thumb, the Bears ranked 17th in the NFL in offensive yards. Four weeks later, they rank 24th.
This is familiar territory for the Bears offense.
In the Lovie Smith era, which encompasses eight years, the Bears offense has ranked higher than 23rd once, in 2006 when the Super Bowl Bears ranked 15th.
But this offensive malaise is not unique to Smith’s Bears. It could be classified as institutional for the Bears.
In Dick Jauron’s five years, his offenses ranked higher than 23rd once. In four of Dave Wannstedt’s six years, the offense ranked in the 20s.
The golden era of Chicago offense since the NFL merger was the 1980s. In Ditka’s 11 seasons, the Bears offense ranked lower than 13th only once.
These years really were aberrations in modern Bears history. The previous 12 Bears offenses post-George Halas, under coaches Neill Armstrong, Jack Pardee, Abe Gibron and Jim Dooley, all were ranked 20th or worse with the exception of Pardee’s last in 1977 with the legendary Sid Gillman as coordinator.
Since the merger, the Bears offense has ranked no higher than 20th 63 percent of the time.
The Bears offense has ranked in the top 10 only 22 percent of the time.
The last time the Bears led the NFL in offensive yards was in 1956, when quarterback Ed Brown, wide receiver Harlon Hill and fullback Rick Casares all made the Pro Bowl for a 9-2-1 team that lost to the Giants in the NFL championship game.
Numbers games: Going backward
Once again the Bears offense has proven among the most adept in the league at moving toward the goal line — its own.
The Bears have lost 438 yards on 102 plays that have gone the wrong way, and an additional 338 on 51 offensive penalties.
The total of 776 yards lost is the third highest in the NFL, according to STATS. Only the Rams (882) and Seahawks (818) have done worse.
The Bears have lost 292 yards on 39 sacks; 114 yards on 53 tackles for a loss and 32 yards on 10 negative pass plays.
They have lost 139 yards on 28 false starts and 77 yards on eight holding penalties, among other penalties.
Front office chess: Bears farm system
The Bears have gotten much use out of their practice squad this year. You might say a ridiculous amount of use.
Last week, they called up three players from the practice squad in running back Armando Allen, defensive end Thaddeus Gibson and wide receiver Max Komar.
All three are expected to be on the 47-man active roster against the Packers. They are needed mostly to fill out depleted special teams coverage and return units, but Allen and Komar also are likely to get snaps on offense and Gibson is likely to get snaps in pass rush sub packages.
That’s how thin the Bears are.
In a normal season, these players never would have had a sniff of game action.
The Bears have promoted nine practice squad players through the course of the season — a first for them.
The others are tight end guard Ricky Henry, offensive tackle Levi Horn, tight end Andre Smith, linebacker Patrick Trahan, safety Winston Venable, safety Anthony Walters.
There has been only one member of their original practice squad who has not been cut or called up — defensive tackle Jordan Miller.
Twitter @danpompei
