The biggest Martz problem is games like, when was it, Green Bay? Where he winds up with a ridiculous number of passes because the run gets stuffed early, then everyone pays extra attention to that number for 3-4 weeks until it evens out.
The Harris comparison is interesting...because he signed his deal in the offseason before Free Agency...$18 million guaranteed on a $40 million deal.
The offer to Forte was reportedly in the $15 million guaranteed range. Is it fair to say that generally D-Linemen get paid higher going rates than a RB?
I will not comment on the "Will be in..." part of this...because I have no idea how long Hester can stay at this level as a returner.
I will say that I think it's plausible...but he needs to stay at this level for a long time.
Sayers was dominating an every-down position though. That's why Hester has to completely rewrite every book to really get talked about in HOF terms.
I mean...just as an example...Sayers put up 56 TD's in his time in the league. Hester has 30 in just about as many season.
With the rough opening to their schedule the Bears had and a young O-line, this isn't the worst position they could be in. Especially with how banged up they were in the middle of that stretch.
They really ought to have picked up another win somewhere in there...but I'm going to hang that on the defense being outperformed regularly.
Now lets remember one thing though...Tampa Bay has repeatedly proven over the last 2-3 years that they are a 4th quarter comeback team. They almost did it to the Bears...they do this regularly. The extra 7 would have been really nice.
The problem this week has been that the Bears have 3 possessions that have ended with neither a punt nor a score...safety, INT, and missed FG. 10 possessions so far, 4 punts, 3 TD's...the other 3 possessions turning into a FG or even better field position setups would have put this game away already.
Complain about the pass protection if you must...but 17 carries, 118 yards, 1 TD for Forte, 4 carries, 42 yards, 1 TD for Barber, in about 35 minutes, doesn't happen if the line isn't controlling the game.