I think it would be more fair to compare Martz's production to that of Norv Turner in '06.
Pts 298
Yd/game 303.8
Passer rating 74.8
TOP 29:00
turnovers 32
sacks 35

The numbers are pretty similar, but I think Martz had better and more mature talent to work with. However, what I think is the biggest difference doesn't come out in the stats. Martz always seems to panic when the game is on the line. When the pressure is on he goes back to high risk, pass happy football.

Hmm. I really kinda wish that Martz would stick around, if only for continuity's sake. With a solidified right side of the OL (adding a strong RT) and another tweak here and there, this offense could really be rolling.

I would like to see Martz back next year and see what he can do with a group that knows his system well from game 1. We finished the season's last 5 games at 4-1. The offense has been great! If we start again with a new OC, where will that put us?

I feel like we are all ignoring what Mike Martz may feel about staying. Face it, if he stays he will need to run an offense that fits with what Coach Singletary wants to run. He may not be willing to do that.

It could be that Singletary will not commit at this point because Martz will not commit to running an offense where he doesn't have more autonomy. Just something to think about.

Matt is there any chance that either Martz or Singletary would comment on this thought?

I also would like to see martz stay but i totally see what singletary is doing. He has been here for the four failed years of offense turnover. He is a smart man, do you really think he wants the same thing to happen. I fully entrust in his ability to hire a permanent offensive coordinator and put the system in place over the off-season and be ready to go. There are two reasons i believe this:

1. We now have a proven starting veteran quarterback who is not pretty but look...he knows how to win games.

2. The new system really only effected alex smith. All of the reports are that he has to know the offense before he is comfortable. SH. just seems to be able to go out and play.

I really feel that sing. is a leader that allows his gravity to pull positive people towards him, thus it will allow him to hire an amazing new OC. that will stay with us.

That was a great win yesterday..I really feel more than the past six seasons that we are on the cusp of things and things really look good.

Any consideration that 2008 was better then 2007 because Smith was not our starting QB? I believe Martz is already excluded from Singletary's plan for the future, however the real question pertains to the status of QB bust Smith and his future on this team.

By the way....2009 will not be an easy season:

HOME
Chicago
Detroit
Jacksonville
Tennessee
NFC South
AWAY
Green Bay
Minnesota
Houston
Indianapolis
NFC East

I believe 2009 will (finally) turn out to be a winning season for this team!

Shaun Hill was 2-0 under HOSTLER. Maybe you are giving credit to the wrong person for the success?

"Any consideration that 2008 was better then 2007 because Smith was not our starting QB?"

LodiGrapePicker - that's a really funny analysis, especially since Smith was really not the QB in 2007 - he was severely injured. Maybe a better comp would be Smith in 2006?

flip3, you read my mind. How much of the offensive turn-around can be attributed to going to Hill sooner in 08 than the 9ers did in 07? Was the benching of JTO, Martz's decision or did Sing force him to do it. I think Martz is a very good OC between the 20's. In the red zone, he's not so good.

There were 22 teams with better records than the 49ers.

They all have Offensive Coordinators, strangely enough. And they're not named Mike Martz.

It's not the Offensive Coordinator problems that were the primary issue. The primary issue was Mike Nolan and his inability to know one coordinator from the next, and one offensive system from the next. He gave no thought to the continuity, therefore there was no continuity. He could have kept with WCO after McCarthy but didn't. He just picked the next best available guy with no actual thought.

I'm still not sure Martz necessarily even wants to be back. Even if he does, we should not be retaining him.

You're comparing his production against that of a disastrous OC in a year where we wasted several games with a QB that was too hurt to play.

And you are giving too much emphasis to the wrong criteria. A Martz team will ALWAYS have decent yardage, and usually respectable point production. You measure a Martz offense in turnovers and in wins, because thats where his teams fall short of expectations consistently.

Singletary did a decent job of reining in Martz for 9 games, but there were still a lot of Martz moments, and while continuity is important, continuity in a failed system will just ensure ongoing mediocrity.

Its time for a new OC.

Hi Matt,

When the 49ers hired Shanahan as their OC they made him use the WCO. My question is...
Why not hire an accomplished OC that can run Martz's system?

Perhaps that's Singletary's plan, your thoughts...

First off, I trust Coach. He has instincts of a leader. I don't know what 'it" is, but he has "it." His natural instinct to kick VD in the butt changed this team as did dropping his drawers to make his point. The Niners were playing like crap.

He has that rare ability to make people perform better. All good coaches have it.

Martz called a good game yesterday. One thing the announcer mentioned, I picked up on, is that it's either run, run, run, or pass, pass, pass, with Martz. My theory is that it's either run, run, run, or pass, pass, pass, because of the absence of audibles in Martz's system, which I now see as a drawback in the run game.

All in all, I wouldn't mind seeing Martz comeback, but I'm guessing Singletary has an ideal replacement in mind.

Q: When the 49ers hired Shanahan as their OC they made him use the WCO. My question is... Why not hire an accomplished OC that can run Martz's system?

My response: Nobody runs Martz's system. Oh, sure, there are similarities in terminology to the digit system that Norv Turner runs, but Martz's system is uniquely his own. It really can't be duplicated. --Matt M.

Year 1, 4 and 12
Year 2 7 and 9=NFC South/AFC West
Year 3 5 and 11
Year 4, Singletary fired
year 5, team is in LA

Such a sad plan and it starts in 2009.

I am thrilled with the offense we had this year, though I think the bar was set so low after last year's nearly unwatchable team (just getting 200 yards of total offense was an accomplishment)!
And I agree much of the credit should be pointed to Martz. While at times, yes, Martz and the offensive unit drove me insane with their difficulty getting TDs in the red zone, but winning without Gore healthy dwon the stretch really impressed me. However, I also think Smith and Dilfer were far too indecisive last year. Hill, and even JTO, were significant steps up and credit should be given to the QB play too.

Personally, I would like to see Martz back next year, and at the very least, the 49er organization should at acknowledge the improvement and give the man some credit. I think it is disrespectful the treatment Martz hasn been given by Sing these last few weeks. I trust in Sing, but come on, if he doesn't want him back that is one thing, but give the man his due, help him get a HCing spot, and then bring in your own guy. That way, everyone wins.

This leads me to two questions I have: Do you think Sing believes Martz will be offered a HC position elsewhere and he is allowing Martz a chance to field offers first, and this is why he hasn't offered him a ringing endorsement (which still makes no sense to me, at least give the man his due 1st)?

It seems that the 49ers will stay with the McCloughan, so there is no truth to rumors that Peoli (from NWE) might come west?

Matt, I was thinking the same thing. Martz is a very good OC. The offense really looks smooth, with few mistakes and having Singletary's conservatism as a counter balance to Martz's madness seemed to work really well. I was also very impressed by how Martz's offense did so well with Hill at QB, despite his lack of a big arm. I am also concerned that going to a new OC is going to set the Niners back again. I wouldn't be surprised to see Martz end up as head coach of the Raiders though, so all this might be moot. I'd love to see a second season with Martz at OC and Sigletary as the head coach.

Scott McCloughan was on KNBR this morning and seemed to go out of his way to say that we should not assume Martz is going to be fired. Brian Murphey gave him every chance to damn him with faint praise or hint that he was gone, and McCloughan went in the opposite direction each time.

Firing Martz would be a devastating blow for the Team.

Instead, they may want to replace DC with a more experienced person. We've been getting killed this season on defense, allowing 30+ points on various games, and not getting enough turn-overs with our secondary unit. We've got the talent, not the scheme.

Martz is not a problem. He's the solution. Why did Singletary get his job? Well, I agree with you Matt, Martz had a LOT to do with it. Why change what's working?? Again, firing him would be a dumb, dumb move for the entire organization and would reset the progress the Team has made over the past 7 weeks.

If there's personal issues going on between the two of them, they have to get over it. Martz and Singletary compliment each other's philosophy. If the run game doesn't work, well, we'll have a brilliant passing game.

I'd hate to see this team go back to square 1... again (x7)

I think one reason Singletary would want to move on, is to avoid the Turner fiasco. I would submit that the issue is really not whether Martz is a good or bad OC. (He is good, he has proven that. Especially when he has a head coach who will stand up to him.) But does Martz want to stay with the 9ers as OC, or does he want to be a head coach? What if he get hired away at the last minute and then the 9ers are stuck scrambling for an OC. There are already a lot of head coaching opportunities out there, and there will probably be more. I think Martz would really like one of them. In terms of continuity, Hill has shown he can manage to win regardless of the OC and if the Niners try to land a more physically talented QB in the off season, then there would be a lack of continuity anyway.

Matt, If Martz is willing to stick around for a little while, why not hire a young talented QB coach now and have him learn under Martz for a year or two? Can you think of a good candidate?

Your username kinda gives you away, bud. Right now we're a solid middle-of-the-pack NFC team. If the right side of the OL is solidified, and our DL is improved, we're contenders. This is not '05 when we needed help everywhere.

nail on the head Sdamo. It would be nice for continuity but Martz wants to take a head coaching job, ie: San Diego State, and the last thing we need is to scramble at the last minute as Nolan did when Turner left.

I think Kevin Lynch makes a good point regarding Martz. He says we all know Martz will be gone probably sooner than later and that it may be better to hire a new OC before the players get to entrenched in Martz's scheme - only to have him leave the following year.

Someone here mentioned Linehan as a good replacement for Martz a while back. This would be an excellent choice, as we know he won't be hired as a HC anytime soon.

Seems to me that Sing and Martz ought to go hang out for a while in a monastery, or a bar, or maybe a monastery with a bar, and see if they can hammer out some mutual commitment.

The Kevin Lynch article by the way was a tad daft. Kevin's major criticism was that Martz was too smart. According to Kevin, too many smarts is a bad thing for a football coach. Riiiight. Bill Walsh would have been sooo more successful if he'd been dumber. Parcells & Bellicheck too. I think the only thing the article proved is that too little smarts is a really bad thing in a blogger.

Whoever Coach Sing has in mind as the new OC, it better be a very experienced one - he needs to have an experienced OC that he can rely on. Regarding Alex Smith, I said it before and I'll say it again, 4 different OC's in 4 years is no excuse for Alex's poor accuracy - there is no one to blame but Alex himself. it's not to OC's that make the throws for him. I do hope he does come back, though, We need a backup with the potential(???) to be the Starter.

Hi Matt, I agree with GW in Santa Rosa. The issue is whether Martz is willing to mold his offensive philosophy to fit Singletary's offensive philosophy and whether Singletary trusts Martz to embrace the changes. In addition, Martz would need to be willing to adjust his in game tactics to fit Singletary's; i.e. developing a stronger running attack with a balance in favor of the run. I do not believe the decision to retain Martz will be based on th 49ers inprovement offensively this season, but upon whether Martz wants the jobs and can convince Singletary he is willing to be a consumate team player. Coach Singletary has already proved it is his way or the highway. Thank you for the blog, except for a hipcup you are burying Barrows in quality and quantity. Ron

who is our assistant OC ?