A heart condition has knocked out Mike Martz indefinitely as coach of the St. Louis Rams, the team said Monday.
Rams President John Shaw said the 54-year-old Martz, who was tested for endocarditis, will be hospitalized four to 12 days. He is expected to be off the sidelines for several weeks, although Shaw would not speculate on the length of the absence.
Endocarditis is a bacterial infection of the lining of the heart or heart valve and could require open-heart surgery.
Linebackers coach Joe Vitt will take over as interim coach and offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild will take over Martz’s duty of calling plays.
After the Rams’ 37-31 loss Sunday to the Seattle Seahawks, Martz admitted he shouldn’t have been on the sideline.
Martz has felt ill for more than a month and grew impatient when tests couldn’t pinpoint the problem. Martz was told by a specialist Monday that his condition had worsened. Antibiotics Martz began taking on Friday didn’t seem to help, Shaw said.
Vitt said Martz told his players during an emotional team meeting on Monday that he would step aside.
“The team is his concern,” Vitt said. “His health is our No. 1 concern.”
The stress of NFL coaching has been blamed for contributing to heart conditions in the past, including former Bears coach Mike Ditka’s in 1988.
Ditka was only 49 when he suffered a heart attack during a workout. He missed only one game and returned to the sidelines two weeks later.
During the 1998 season, Atlanta coach Dan Reeves underwent quadruple-bypass surgery at 54 but returned to the sidelines less than four weeks later to coach the Falcons to the Super Bowl.
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Dallas coach Bill Parcells has had several heart procedures and cited health problems when he quit the New York Giants after winning his second Super Bowl with them at 49 in 1991.
Martz apologized after Sunday’s loss, saying, “I wasn’t myself this week. The game plan wasn’t clear for me. It’s over with now but I just feel what happened to me has affected this team, and that breaks my heart.”
Jones unique
Teams that have 100-yard running backs usually win. There have been 32 games this season when runners gained 100 yards and their teams won 27 times.
Twice, the Bears’ Thomas Jones has rushed for more than 100 yards and lost, an indictment of the rest of the Bears’ offense.
The only other running backs who have gained 100 yards this season and lost are Buffalo’s Willis McGahee against Atlanta, Houston’s Domanick Davis against Tennessee and Washington’s Clinton Portis against Denver.
In Portis’ case he was outgained by Denver’s Tatum Bell. In Jones’ case on Sunday, he led all NFL rushers with 137 yards, yet the Bears were able to score only 10 points.
Although running backs often pile up yards while teams are protecting leads, a good running game also is crucial to most good passing games. But it hasn’t seemed to help the Bears.
This is nothing new. In 1977, Walter Payton set a one-game NFL record of 275 yards against the Minnesota Vikings. But the Bears managed to eke out only a 10-7 victory.
Coach Jack Pardee forced quarterback Bob Avellini to play close to the vest. The strategy disappointed then-offensive coordinator Sid Gillman so much he resigned after the season.
“How can you have a back gain 275 yards and score only 10 points?” asked Gillman, a Hall of Fame coach renowned for his innovative passing offense.
QB experience
The quarterbacks with the most starts won 11 of 13 NFL matchups Sunday, including the first battle between young guns Byron Leftwich of Jacksonville (31) and Carson Palmer (17) of Cincinnati.
The only “younger” quarterbacks to win were Buffalo’s Kelly Holcomb (14 starts) over Miami’s Gus Frerotte (68 starts) and Denver’s Jake Plummer (114) over Washington’s Mark Brunell (129).
Vikings healthier
The Vikings’ top receiver, Nate Burleson, has missed two games with shoulder, knee and rib injuries but could be “questionable” against the Bears on Sunday, coach Mike Tice said.
Tice also expects pass rusher Lance Johnstone (pectoral muscle), safety Darren Sharper (knee) and running back Moe Williams (knee) to be ready for the Bears.
Quarterback Daunte Culpepper has been playing with a sprained right knee complicated by bursitis.
Culpepper, however, practiced Monday.
Short celebration
The Packers didn’t get to celebrate their 52-3 victory over New Orleans for long. Running back Najeh Davenport, who started in place of injured Ahman Green, is out for the season with a broken right ankle. He scored two touchdowns before joining top receiver Javon Walker on injured reserve.
Sack attack
Bears defensive linemen have only three sacks, two by Adewale Ogunleye and one by Tommie Harris.
Carolina’s Julius Peppers, who’s supposed to be the most athletic defensive end in the league, has zero sacks. He has been getting double- and triple-teamed, but so has Indianapolis’ Dwight Freeney, who has five.
Freeney led the NFL last season with 16, but Colts coach Tony Dungy likes perspective and motivation as well as praise. Freeney had 16 but Colts opponents passed 500 times.
“That meant he didn’t get sacks on 484 other plays,” Dungy said.
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