Former Super Bowl-winning head coach Mike Martz was asked about his thoughts on last Sunday’s game between the Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49ers. Martz didn’t hold back by giving a straight criticism for Chicago’s quarterback Justin Fields and then followed with Trey Lance.
In the interview with Team 33 after the 49ers lost 19-10 against Chicago on Sunday, Martz said that Field can’t do anything at all. He also made an additional statement about Lance.
“He’s (Lance) not a great passer. Doesn’t have good skills. Takes him a long time to set himself and throw the football.”
Martz refused to apologize and doubled down his criticism of Fields and Lance. Martz’s criticism was mostly aimed at Lance instead of Fields. He gave a scathing review of Lance’s first performance as the team’s underappreciated starting quarterback.
“I’ve never seen anything about this kid that was ever so encouraging,” the Martz said. “He really has to grow himself to make a good throw. He’s not a quick decision-maker. Every shot in the ass speaks volumes about him being an animated young man, playing with his two feet – he looked like a fullback stumbling all over the place trying to run the ball.”
Martz said that rain is not an excuse for Lance’s incomplete passes. Moreover, he said that he never liked and still doesn’t like Lance. Even when it appeared that he was complimenting the 22-year-old, it turned into a dispute.
“I know this: He can only go up,” said the former 49ers offensive coordinator. “He can only get better because you can’t get any worse than what he did today.”
After losing the season opener on Sunday, Lance showed up in his post-game press conference to the public with a list of everything he had done wrong. Lance only completed 13 for 28 passes in the last game, but he will have no trouble tuning another addition from the critic.
Criticism of Fields’ performance
Alongside his criticism of Lance, Martz also aimed at Fields. It was the second time in three weeks. On August 23, he wrote that Fields is a guy that makes a lot of mistakes and is not particularly accurate at times.
“He’s not a quick read-and-react guy, and he’s on a horrendous team,” the former Chicago offensive coordinator said in his column.
After the Bears won over the 49ers, he criticized Fields again in the interview with the 33rd Team.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen such a bad performance by a quarterback in his opening performance of the season,” Martz said in the interview. “He was just completely awful. He really deflated the football team with his performance.”
Fields finished the last game against the 49ers with 3-of-9 passes for 19 yards and one interception. In the second half, he made two scores and went 5-of-8 for 102 yards. The quarterback was the reason why the Bears were able to make a comeback victory.
Fans of the Bears and the 49ers appear to disagree with him. The video clip received over 150,000 views on Twitter and received approximately 1,000 responses, the majority of which condemned Martz’s statements.
Martz is best known as the Saint Louis Rams’ offensive coordinator. In 1999, he won his first Super Bowl as offensive coordinator with the Saint Louis Rams. He was also the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams and the Detroit Lions. Martz is also a former offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers.