Bears' circus up and running now

The potential for hysterics was there as soon as the Bears chose to construct a staff filled with head coaches who think independently.

There was also the serious potential for disaster, which is precisely what you got Sunday night in New Jersey.

But Mike Martz thinks Bears fans are odd for wondering why the team didn't make adjustments near the end of the first half, or at halftime, after Jay Cutler had been repeatedly mugged.

Replied Martz, “We did adjust quite a bit, actually. It didn't work. When your adjustment works, everybody is excited. When it doesn't, everyone is not so excited.

Yes, that's correct. Martz got all the credit in Weeks 2 and 3 and now some blame for Week 4. Why is that hard to understand? You did really good and then really bad.

Apparently no one on staff could figure out that with Cutler getting pulverized, the Bears needed to run the ball, take time off the clock and live to fight another day.

If Martz could not make that determination even after seeing Cutler scraped up off the turf, piece by piece, and carted off in a wheelbarrow, then Lovie Smith should have made the call.

Run the ball. Run the clock. Run for the airport.

OK? So no reason to get snotty about it, Mike. Maybe Martz doesn't know Bears fans are a little itchy considering they get zero information from the head coach, and when he does speak it reeks of deception.

So you'll have to forgive Chicago if it doesn't like seeing its QB pummeled, followed by disinformation from the pulpit.

The strangest part was hearing Martz take the blame for N.J., something that's against policy in Lake Forest.

Of course, that's what you get when you have a staff filled with ex-head coaches who by now have come to the conclusion that they could do a better job as head coach.

Yeah, it took four games for the circus tent to go up but all three rings are filled with clowns and in business now.

Almost as strange was Martz taking the blame for putting too much in the game plan, which he said the fellas weren't prepared to execute.

You mean blocking? They weren't prepared to block? Because that's what they didn't do. They didn't block.

That's on GM Jerry Angelo for once again entering a season without an offensive line.

Seriously, he's the all-time leader in, “Most Seasons, Wretched Offensive Line. You can look it up. It's in the NFL record book.

Despite it all, if the Bears can manage to beat a really bad Carolina team that's winless with a rookie QB and without Steve Smith, you'll see the dancing Bears again next week.

And they'll remind us all what fools we are for ever questioning their genius.

Back it up

The funniest part about the Todd Collins story isn't that his career high in starts was 13, or that it occurred 13 years ago.

It's that since 1997 he's attempted a total of 155 passes, and only 23 in 2008-09.

After going through last season with essentially no backup QB, the Bears waited an entire off-season during which a backup could have learned the offense before bringing Collins into camp a month late and after two preseason games.

And the 38-year-old guy they found has started three games the last 12 years.

The good guy

There's been no better golfer in the world the last three years than Lee Westwood, who has sniffed many a major and is destined to win a few.

Americans believe he'd have a better chance if he played the PGA Tour full time and spent more time in the States, where he can also make more money.

But the 37-year-old Englishman, who was brilliant in the Ryder Cup, said this week that he plans to base himself on the European Tour again next year.

“The FedEx Cup sits right in the middle of the kids' summer holidays and I like going on holiday with them for a couple of weeks, Westwood said. “I don't want to be dictated to by having to go to America to play the FedEx Cup when it doesn't really mean that much to me.

How can you argue with that?

Good luck

To White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn, who might wind up with the Mets. New York's gain would be Chicago's genuine loss.

Just asking

So after Todd Collins gets knocked silly or simply knocked from the game what can you really expect from Caleb Hanie, who's thrown 11 NFL passes?

Just defensive

E-mailer Jay from Schaumburg: “So the Bears let Alex Brown go and promoted Mark Anderson as his replacement. Then, they cut Anderson four games in and sign the guy on the Saints that Alex Brown replaced. How do these pinheads in Lake Forest still have jobs?

Stop payment

E-mailer Bob K.: “Any word on whether the Bears' offensive line got paid this week? I know when I don't show up for work and don't call ahead, I don't get paid.

Ring, ring

Mt. Prospect e-mailer Dan Marich: “Hello Playoffs? This is the Chicago Bears calling. Cancel our reservations.

And finally ...

NBC's Jimmy Fallon: “The NFL fined Titans defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil $40,000 for flipping off an official Sunday. When Cecil was asked to comment on the fine, he said, ‘Well, let's just say it's up to $80,000.'

brozner@dailyherald.com