Marc Bulger retires

by Ryan Van Bibber on Aug 3, 2011 8:03 AM CDT in St. Louis Rams history

So I guess there was something to what Kurt Warner said about Marc Bulger. The former St. Louis Rams quarterback and free agent, who spent last year backing up Joe Flacco in Baltimore, announced his retirement today. Bulger was said to have some opportunities this season, but declined. Instead, he'll focus on his charitable foundation which serves members of the military.

Taking over for a beloved super star is never an easy thing, and that's exactly what Marc Bulger did with the Rams, replacing Kurt Warner. Both men had the unfortunate fate of playing in a system that saw sacks as a necessary evil. Bulger suffered especially as poor franchise leadership allowed the team to decay around him.

Bulger finishes his career with a pretty solid 62.1 percent completion percentage, connecting on 1968 or 3171 passes for 22,814 yards, 122 touchdowns and 93 interceptions. All of those number he complied with the Rams.

His best year was 2006 when his 4,301 yards, 24 TDs, and 8 INT, helped the Rams claw their way to an 8-8 record, which wasn't enough to make the playoffs.

Tweet Comment 16 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

What an odd career

2003 (15 games): 256.3 yds/gm, 1.47 TDs/gm, 1.47 INTs/gm
2006 (16): 268.8 yds/gm, 1.5 TDs/gm, 0.5 INTs/gm
2009 (7 – w/o GB & MIN): 194 yds/gm, 0.57 TDS/gm, 0.86 INTs/gm

After that ‘06 season, he really fell off a cliff. Sucks to be the one shepherding a team into the abyss. Oh well, we’re in a better place now, and he can enjoy retirement. Yay?

Turf Show Times editor, Mocking the Draft writer, and I gots that Twitter too, yo.
"my keyboard won't corporate, neighter will my smell check." - Knoxfan

by 3k on Aug 3, 2011 8:17 AM CDT reply actions

So what sums up the Marc Bulger era in St. Louis?

I say it marks the beginning of the end of the GSOT as well as the beginning of futility with the Rams organization (none of this is necessarily his fault). Marc was a mediocre QB blessed with two Hall of Fame receivers and a Hall of Fame RB (and later a pro bowl RB) at his side for half of his career. Then the awful truth of his talent level was revealed once Holt, Bruce, and Faulk left. Good/great QBs elevate the performance level of the skill players surrounding them. Look no further than Favre, Warner, Manning, Brees, Brady, etc to prove that statement. Bulger on the other hand, needed good/great skill players surrounding him to elevate his performance level. But in the end, Bulger did provide us fans with some good times during the Martz era. Thanks for the effort Marc. Happy trails.

by Da Rams! on Aug 3, 2011 9:05 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs

Disagree

Sorry Da Rams but I disagree, yes great QB accelerate mediocre receivers but only in the right system. It wasn’t Marc fault that the receiving core we had could not run mad man Martz system. And by the time Martz left Bulger body has been so diminished he needed at the very least one full year to recover, perfect example Kurt Warner. Look at what Kurt did after his season with the Giants everybody thought he was done when in my opinion he just needed the right system yet alone his body to recover. This is just my 2 cents but in reality yes 2 great receivers and a fantastic RB helped him out a lot but still we all know why his numbers fell off.

Just a man who loves football

by BurnoutJoeB. on Aug 3, 2011 9:28 AM CDT up reply actions

Not blaming Marc for the Rams fall at all.

And Marc took a beating here, had poor coaching, and the talent was drying up around him. However Bulger was never a leader in the huddle. There were times when leadership was needed to keep drives going that was missing from this team(eg. yelling at someone who was screwing up a drive like Incognito or Barron). When someones screwing up on the Colts offense or when Favre was a Packer you’d see one of those QB’s giving face time to that player. Marc could never do that, hence Barron and Cogs helped to kill drives, which also contributed to Bulger’s horrendous red zone efficiency. Like I told leadhead, Marc was a good system QB for Martz, but it was apparent later in his career that he didn’t have the overall talent needed to be a successful starting QB. NFL teams realize that; thats why he’s forced to retire. Even Warner won back a starting job, even when his team drafted a QB #1 in the draft to be their QB of the future, and he was able to take AZ to the Superbowl.

by Da Rams! on Aug 3, 2011 10:23 AM CDT up reply actions

Marc was probably not a hall of famer, but he was far above mediocre.

When Anthony Becht was asked about Bulger’s early retirement, he blamed the Rams organization for Bulger’s demise as a player. He said the team was unwilling to spend on its offensive line, exposing Bulger to punishment that left the quarterback without the necessary drive to continue.

and that is a serious no shitter…Bulger was one of the most sacked quarterbacks in the NFL..despite this in 2006, he posted a 24/8 TD INT ratio while being sacked something like 60 times on the season and two busted ribs and the Rams were a lousy 8-8 with that performance.

- And here's the Rams' 2010 season in a series. Incomplete pass, 18-yard run, incomplete pass, 7-yard run, 5-yard pass, 3-yard run, sack, incomplete pass, punt. Shoot me. - 3K

by leadhead on Aug 3, 2011 9:34 AM CDT up reply actions

I respect your opinion leadhead.

Marc had great accuracy and could directly replace Warner in that category (and did). And that worked great in the short term for the team during the GSOT era. However I think Bulgers greatest weaknesses were his arm strength and more importantly his leadership ability. Martz called all of the shots so Marc’s leadership abilities didn’t matter during the coach’s tenure there, however I do think we saw a small glimmer of Marc’s weakness as a leader in the huddle during that NFC Championship game against Carolina when time was running out. I don’t recall ever seeing Marc pulling the team together to rally for a win at anytime during his tenure here. Its true both he and Warner took major beatings as QB’s here, but Warner was a leader in the huddle in St. Louis, NY, and Arizona. Game management is just a critical as accuracy and arm strength when your a QB. Many QBs with weaknesses in their throwing game still made good NFL careers by being great game managers. Bulger was a good system QB for Mike Martz, but he stuggled once that system was dismantled and he lost his surrounding HOF skill talent. Not saying Marc didn’t have success in his career and I’m definitely not saying it was Marc’s fault for the Rams demise. Don’t forget that we had a rookie QB come in town last year with little to no talent surrounding him and he did produce successful results here.

My title in my first comment wasn’t a statement, just a question for everyone. How would you sum up the Bulger era in St. Louis… just curious?

by Da Rams! on Aug 3, 2011 10:01 AM CDT up reply actions

I agree with lack of arm strength and it showed quite a bit....

but I dont count or discount leadership…simply because there were other “leaders” on that team that try as they might could not pull the teams collective head out of their you know what on offense or defense…like Steven Jackson who we now see is a clear leader finally leading the Rams out of the funk now that he is getting great support from good coaches and FO.

- And here's the Rams' 2010 season in a series. Incomplete pass, 18-yard run, incomplete pass, 7-yard run, 5-yard pass, 3-yard run, sack, incomplete pass, punt. Shoot me. - 3K

by leadhead on Aug 3, 2011 10:11 AM CDT up reply actions

if

if vermeil had been around mark would have won a super bowel——he collapsed as the team around him did…great job mark

by jswirb on Aug 3, 2011 8:49 PM CDT up reply actions

As I've said before...

Bulger will forever be 1-2 in the playoffs. I have nothing personal against the guy, but he did take the Rams’ millions of $$$ and produced very little. His exit was the start of the team’s revival. I blame Mike Martz for the demise of the GSOT. Martz was a great OC, but a poor head coach. Martz hated Kurt Warner and wife Brenda. Instead of giving Kurt a year to recover from repeated concussions and a busted pinky, he turned the reigns over to Bulger. But Martz and Bulger couldn’t win playoff games, which is something Warner could do. I still think if Warner had been the Ram QB in 2003 and 2004, we might’ve had another SB Championship. But that’s all water (and careers) under the bridge now.

by RamChop on Aug 3, 2011 10:48 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs

Can't disagree

including the last part. It’s behind us, and the future is bright. We’ll get back there, and sooner than later (hopefully).

Turf Show Times editor, Mocking the Draft writer, and I gots that Twitter too, yo.
"my keyboard won't corporate, neighter will my smell check." - Knoxfan

by 3k on Aug 3, 2011 11:16 AM CDT up reply actions

+1

Never was a Bulger fan at all. Martz (along w FO) destroyed both Warner and what have been a great run at the top of NFL w/ potentially another SB title.

Dont get me wrong – I enjoyed the run we did have – but it ended prematurely.

I should be working right now...

by gorams77 on Aug 3, 2011 2:47 PM CDT up reply actions

Kurt needed to leave the Rams.

No way he recovers in his career if he stayed here. Martz open backfield, limited plays allowed him to regularly get pounded into the dirt. He needed 3 yrs to recover from it, thats why it took him some time to re-establish himself in Arizona. Had he stayed with the Rams probably be in the same boat Bulger was. GSOT… gone but not forgotten… RIP!

by Da Rams! on Aug 3, 2011 4:05 PM CDT up reply actions

why

why did martz hate brenda—-for a coach to get rid of warner because he didn’t like him and wife is ludicrous…thats martz

by jswirb on Aug 3, 2011 8:51 PM CDT up reply actions

Is someone gonna email this to TrojanRam?

Seemed like the perfect Martz QB, emotionless, quick release, not a running threat. But the end of Martz really spelled the end of Bulger too. Great to see he’s devoting himself to a great cause!

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.
-Mark Twain

by kinzav29 on Aug 3, 2011 1:36 PM CDT reply actions

As a tribute we should build a "statue" of Bulger outside the EJD.

by RamChop on Aug 3, 2011 10:23 PM CDT reply actions

LOL

or just put a glass case around him and have him stand there, no difference.

"I kind of stepped my swagger up. You look at the Madden game and the swagger's so low, maybe they'll bump me up. Before it was a meatball flex, so you've got to liven it up a little bit." - Animal Jr.

by douchiedude on Aug 4, 2011 12:04 AM CDT up reply actions