Bears pick Mike Tice to lead offense
Jay Cutler, meet Mike Tice, your new offensive coordinator for 2012.
The Bears named Tice, the team’s offensive line coach the past two seasons, as their new offensive coordinator, ensuring the easiest possible transition from Mike Martz, who resigned on Tuesday.
Tice’s run-first philosophy is similar to coach Lovie Smith’s mantra, “We get off the bus running.” Even if Tice has a completely different playbook than Martz, his promotion would cause less disruption of the offense than bringing in an outsider, since he already has intimate knowledge of the personnel and their strengths and weaknesses.
“Lovie and I share a similar mindset of what the Bears offense should look and feel like,” Tice said. “There will be a toughness about us. We are going to be a powerful run team and we’re going to be able to mix in explosive pass plays.
“It will be important for us to utilize the talents of our players and exploit matchups each Sunday. We have athletes we can build with. I feel fortunate Lovie has placed the trust in me to help move us forward to a championship.”
Tice will call the Bears’ offensive plays, even though he has limited experience as a play caller. He does, however, have extensive experience in game planning as the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach for five years (2001-05) and the assistant head coach/tight ends coach for four years with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2006-09). Last year the Bears refused to allow the Tennessee Titans to interview Tice as an offensive coordinator, and Tice received a contract extension with the Bears.
“I’m excited to have Mike move into our offensive coordinator role,” Smith said. “He has been a valuable member of our staff over the past two years and has an excellent track record in the NFL. He was very impressive in his job interview (Thursday) and shares the same vision I have for our offense moving forward. We want to be a strong running team with a big-play pass attack.”
The Bears now will hire a new offensive line coach, although Tice will continue to work closely with that group, just as Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli continues to work with the defensive line.
The Bears will also hire a quarterbacks coach to replace Shane Day, who was not rehired.
As an offensive line coach with the Vikings from 1997-2001, Tice helped five players earn a total of 10 Pro Bowl selections. In 1998, the Vikings scored an NFL-record 556 points and sent three linemen to the Pro Bowl.
While Tice was head coach, the Vikings established an NFL record with more than 300 yards of offense in 36 consecutive games during the 2002-04 seasons.
Minnesota led the NFL in rushing for the first time in franchise history in 2002 and topped the league in total offense for the first time in 2003. In 2004, the Vikings set club records with 6,339 total yards and 4,754 passing yards and scored 50 touchdowns, the fourth most in franchise history.
In Tice’s first two seasons in Jacksonville, the Jaguars rushing attack had the two most productive seasons in team history, gaining 2,541 yards in 2006 and 2,391 yards in 2007. Jacksonville set franchise records in 2007 for points (411), average yards per play (5.6) and touchdowns (50).
Ÿ Follow Bob’s Bears reports via Twitter @BobLeGere and check out our Bear Essentials blog at dailyherald.com.