The Architect of the Greatest Show on Turf Retires

Mike Martz, the former offensive coordinator and head coach of the St. Louis Rams during their "Greatest Show on Turf" era, has retired. Martz had been with several college teams in his long and storied career before finally being accepted in the NFL by the Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams. That's a serious understatement, so I'm just going to list his full resumé after the break because it is LONG.

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• 1973 Bullard High School (assistant coach)
• 1974 San Diego Mesa College (assistant coach)
• 1975 San Jose State (assistant coach)
• 1976-77 San Diego Mesa College (assistant coach)
• 1978 Santa Ana College (assistant coach)
• 1979 Fresno State University (assistant coach)
• 1980-81 University of the Pacific (assistant coach)
• 1982 University of Minnesota (assistant coach)
• 1983-87 Arizona State University (QB and WR coach)
• 1984, 88-91 Arizona State University (offensive assistant)
• 1992-94 Los Angeles Rams (QB coach)
• 1995-96 St. Louis Rams (WR coach)
• 1997-98 Washington Redskins (QB coach)
• 1999 St. Louis Rams (offensive coordinator)
• 2000-05 St. Louis Rams (head coach)
• 2006-07 Detroit Lions (offensive coordinator)
• 2008 San Francisco 49ers (offensive coordinator)
• 2010-11 Chicago Bears (offensive coordinator)

Martz spent nearly 20 years in college football, bouncing around from school to school before finally finding success at Arizona State, where he spent 8 years as a coach. After spending 4 years with the Rams, he moved on to the Redskins but quickly came back to the organization that gave him his first job in the NFL. In his first year as the offensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams, he organized an offense around unexpected QB Kurt Warner that is now regarded as one of the greatest in NFL history, scoring 526 points in the 1999 season, the 4th most in NFL history. The Rams would go on to beat the Tennessee Titans 23-16 in Super Bowl XXXIV that year.

After winning the Super Bowl, head coach Dick Vermeil decided to step down and handed the reigns over to Martz. Two years later, the Rams returned to the Super Bowl, but lost to the New England Patriots, led by a similar unknown QB, Tom Brady. After losing Super Bowl XXXVI, the Rams' fortunes crumbled and Martz was eventually let go as head coach when he could not produce a similar offense without Kurt Warner.

Although he was criticized in Detroit for his pass-happy offensive style and was fired after just 2 years, Martz had the last laugh as the Lions went on to have the first 0-16 season in NFL history the year after he was fired. Martz was hired by the San Francisco 49ers, hoping that he could create an offense that would work for Alex Smith, but he never got the opportunity to do so as Smith missed the entire 2008 season. He instead lobbied for J.T. O'Sullivan to become the starting QB, but the offense never took off and head coach Mike Nolan was fired. When Mike Singletary was named head coach at the end of the season, Singletary decided to instead turn to a run-first offense, not having any trust in Alex Smith as the starting QB.

After 2 years of being a "free agent," he reunited with Lovie Smith, his defensive coordinator for the Rams from 2001-2003, now the head coach of the Chicago Bears. Under Martz's offense, the Bears went to the NFC Championship Game, but lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers after they lost QB Jay Cutler to a sprained MCL seconds before halftime. In the 2011 season, the Bears finished with a disappointing 8-8 record as well as key injuries to QB Jay Cutler, RB Matt Forte, and MLB Brian Urlacher. Martz resigned from his position as offensive coordinator due to "philosophical differences" with Lovie Smith on January 3rd, 2012.

Martz's path to the NFL is not unusual; it can take some coaches decades to even get an assistant coaching job in the NFL if they were never a head coach in college or a player. He retires having constructed one of the most legendary offenses in NFL history in a very short time, featuring the most unlikely of quarterbacks in Kurt Warner.