Longtime NFL coach Mike Martz shredded Bears quarterback Justin Fields and 49ers quarterback Trey Lance after their season opener, which the Bears won 19-10.
Martz, who was the Bears’ offensive coordinator in 2010 and ’11 after running the champion Rams’ Greatest Show on Turf offense, was especially harsh on Lance, but hit Fields sharply as well.
“I’m just shocked — shocked — at the Bears,” he said on a video released Tuesday by The 33rd Team. “I mean, they took this quarterback and they spent a lot to get him, and ‘less than remarkable,’ would be the kindest thing you could say about him.”
Fields completed 8 of 17 passes for 121 yards with two touchdowns and an interception for an 85.7 rating. The Bears were scoreless at halftime, but rallied from a 10-0 deficit in the third quarter with 19 unanswered points.
Martz couldn’t envision them continuing to win.
“They’re a really good coaching staff at the Bears — they’re very disciplined — but they’re just not very good,” he said. “They just don’t have a lot of talent there. The offensive line is not very good. They did some good things on defense, but their talent base for that football team is not very good.
“Fields is gonna have to shoulder it, and he did a good job of that, particularly in the second half. But ultimately when you look at them compared to Detroit… it just seems like Detroit has made a huge leap and the Bears are still gonna kinda muddle around.”
The Lions, who went 3-13-1 last season, fell to the Eagles 38-35 on Sunday. Martz also was their offensive coordinator in 2006 and ’07.
Last month, Martz said the Bears had less offensive talent than any team since the winless 2008 Lions.
At points, it was unclear in the video or The 33rd Team’s published quotes whether Martz was ripping Fields or Lance, including comments that one of them was “completely awful” and said their team was “without hope.”
The website labeled those quotes as pertaining to Fields, but in the video he immediately followed by saying, “I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go to Jimmy [Garoppolo] by the fourth week, because they’re not going any place where they are now.”
The company’s media relations representative did not immediately reply to a message seeking clarity.
Martz went on to completely dismiss Lance, who was the No. 3 overall pick last year and was making his third career start. He also did not cut either quarterback a break given the downpour that left standing water all over the field.
“I’ve never seen anything about this kid that was encouraging at all,” he said of Lance. “He looked like a fullback stumbling around trying to run the ball… I don’t know what he is.
“I’ve never liked him. I still don’t like him. I’d like to know what he does so well because he’s not a great passer, doesn’t have good skills, takes him a long time to set himself and throw the football, misses easy throws and he’s not a particularly good runner. Other than that, he’s a hell of a player.”
Lance completed 13 of 28 passes for 164 yards with an interception for a 50.3 rating and ran 13 times for 54 yards.
