What Cutler injury will it take for Martz to change?
Lost amid the mayhem Sunday at Soldier Field was a solitary and sullen Olin Kreutz, sitting quietly in the locker room after the game, attempting to take the blame for the Bears' pathetic offensive performance.
“The communication is my job," Kreutz said. “It's my job to get everybody in the right place and I didn't get it done today.
“So I have to go back to work and try to get everybody blocking the right guys and hopefully get it corrected by next week.
While that's admirable, it couldn't be more wrong.
This is not about Olin Kreutz.
The veteran center may not be the all-pro he once was, but he's still out there doing his job, and despite what he says it's not his responsibility to teach assignments to all the new players who surround him.
The Bears were on their fourth different line combination in six games and Kreutz was the only player on the offensive line playing the same position Sunday that he played a year ago.
That's quite a formula for success in an offensive scheme that requires quick thinking, instant reads, constant adjustment and knowing the system from side to side and front to back.
We need not pound on a horse that's been dead for weeks, but Mike Martz still thinks this is “The Greatest Show on Turf, when it has been more like “The Worst Beating on Earth.
And while Jay Cutler gets hit harder and harder, and each team comes after him with more ferocity than the week before, Cutler is going to become more ineffective.
“We were obviously licking our chops a little bit, said Seahawks safety Lawyer Milloy. “Especially with the bye week and after seeing the way the Giants got after him.
But Martz refuses, refuses and refuses again to adjust to a simpler plan that will help Cutler get rid of the ball quickly and without getting hit, and Lovie Smith has yet to order a significant change.
Martz simply doesn't believe in taking pressure off anyone on his own team, be it the line or Cutler, regardless of how unable they are to handle what he asks them to do.
It's not his style to lower his sights or accept the fact that his personnel can't get it done.
There's no doubt some of this is on Cutler. He's either unable to see the flare routes, unwilling to use them, or just too shaken by the shelling to make a throw.
It doesn't matter because it's not working, and the Bears knew when they got Cutler that he doesn't function well under constant adversity.
He's going to sulk even more and soon he's going to start thinking about self preservation and nothing else, and the more we learn about concussions and permanent brain damage, the less you would blame Cutler if he merely ran for his life on every play or threw it away.
There was much talk Sunday about getting on the same page, but even if the Bears can locate that mysterious page, it's doubtful the Bears' line can hold it together enough, or protect long enough, to keep Cutler in one piece.
Not unless Martz is willing to change, and we've seen not the slightest hint he's willing to do that, even though his QB is a physical and mental mess and the Bears are among the three or four worst teams in the NFL in virtually every offensive category.
It's absurd because the NFC North is so dreadful that 8-8 might win it, and that's a real possibility for the Bears if they're willing to dumb this down and take what's given them by a rotten NFC.
If they can just make it to January and qualify for the tournament, anything's possible.
As it has been all season, it remains up to Martz to make that happen.
brozner@dailyherald.com