Bears’ changes must start with Martz

What will you remember most about the Mike Martz era in Chicago?

The answer will be easy, and if Jay Cutler’s lucky he will get a chance to ponder the question this week.

It’s unimaginable to think Martz will return to a Bears team that finished the season 8-8 after a victory Sunday in Minnesota.

And as bad as Martz has been, it’s as much on head coach Lovie Smith for bringing in Martz, knowing how he would run the offense and then being slow to force Martz to recognize the Bears’ limitations.

Consider the ridiculous beating Cutler took in 2010, averaging 7.82 hits and 3.35 sacks in 17 games.

It took Smith seven games a year ago to realize Cutler wouldn’t survive the pounding, and still it took five games to begin 2011 before the Bears made significant changes to the offense.

Through the first five contests this season, Cutler was averaging an even worse 9.4 hits and 3.6 sacks per game, and the Bears fell to 2-3 after the Monday night loss in Detroit.

And then Cutler took over the offense, asking for added max protect, shorter drops, plays out of the pocket and — imagine this — more running plays.

In the next five games, Cutler was hit an average of 7 times with only 1 sack per game.

Go figure, the Bears won all five games.

At 2-3, the Bears were running just 36 percent of the time. After Cutler got to Smith and Smith got to Martz, the Bears went 5-0 and ran the ball 52 percent of the time.

In Martz’s defense — and with apologies to Jack Nicholson — he runs his offense how he runs his offense, and Smith knew this before he hired him.

But in the process of running the Martz system the Bears have to also know they’ve shortened Cutler’s career, as he has been hit 215 times in less than two seasons.

Cutler finished his season with 82 hits and 23 sacks in 10 games, and that average of 8.2 hits and 2.3 sacks is better than the 7.82 and 3.35 of 2010, but not by enough, compared to the average of Cutler’s last five games (7 hits, 1 sack per game).

So while you credit GM Jerry Angelo for knowing Martz was a bad fit, and for acquiring Cutler in the first place, it’s also on Angelo for failing to give Cutler what he needs to be successful.

The offensive line continues to be a disaster, and the Bears’ receiving corps is among the worst in the NFL.

They don’t have a No. 1 receiver, and you could argue they don’t even have a No. 2. They might have finally figured out the Devin Hester experiment is a joke, and not just because he’s a bad receiver.

The hits he’s taken have definitely affected his return ability, and so you’ve taken the best returner in the history of the NFL and at times turned him into a bad receiver and a bad returner.

There’s so much here that doesn’t make any sense, but a healthy Cutler was able to shroud much of the bad and the Bears were able to pretend they were better than they really were with so many pieces that didn’t fit.

So now you wonder how realistic they will be about the 2012 season and whether they will make the changes necessary to give Cutler what he needs to be a great NFL quarterback.

Or the Bears can do what they usually do, which is pat themselves on the back, say they were an NFC title contender a year ago and would have been again this season had Cutler not been injured, and therefore major changes aren’t necessary.

Yes, they were 7-3 with Cutler and cruising toward the postseason with a chance to do some damage, but that’s ignoring all their problems.

Their formula is to win with take-aways, Hester, Matt Forte and just enough imagination from Cutler to get by. But that formula is seriously compromised by Martz’s play calls, an ineffective Hester, a bad offensive line, weak receivers and the inevitable decline on defense as age catches up with them.

If the Bears are realistic about where they are, some of this can be fixed before next season. Not all of it, but perhaps enough to make a postseason run in 2012 if the Bears understand their deficiencies.

As always, the question is, will they?

ŸHear Barry Rozner on WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.