Mike Martz, the St. Louis Rams coach who announced this week that he will sit out the rest of the season because of a heart infection, has always had one great skill: the ability to call offensive plays. So during last Sunday’s game, when Rams president of football operations Jay Zygmunt blocked Martz’s attempt to call offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild from home to suggest a play, the message was clear: If the St. Louis brass doesn’t want Martz to call plays, it doesn’t want him around, period.

Officially, Zygmunt and team president John Shaw claim they expect Martz to coach the team again next season. Truthfully, no one expects Martz back on the St. Louis sidelines in 2006. The real question is whether the Rams can reach a compromise with Martz that would allow him to pursue coaching jobs elsewhere and get the team off the hook for the one remaining year of his contract.

If Martz does gain that freedom, it’s unclear whether a head coaching job would open up for him. The NFL has several coaching vacancies every year, but Martz is a lightning rod, clashing with the front office for much of his tenure in St. Louis. Unless an owner is willing to grant his coach an unusual amount of autonomy, Martz might not find work in his first year on the market.

Many teams would love to have Martz as an offensive coordinator, but he might prefer not to become an assistant again. He could sit out a year secure in the belief that a head coaching offer will eventually come his way for one simple reason: He’s a great coach. Though it’s fashionable to bash Martz for his bizarre penchant for wasting instant replay challenges on trivial calls, the truth is, he’s one of the sharpest offensive minds of his time.

In the 1990s, as offensive coaches like Mike Shanahan and Mike Holmgren won Super Bowls using the short, precision passing game that is the “West Coast Offense,” Martz studied under Ernie Zampese, an offensive coach who believed that long passes were the ticket to success. In 1999, when Rams head coach Dick Vermeil finally gave Martz the chance to run an offense, the Rams won the Super Bowl behind one of the greatest offenses in history. Martz was rewarded with the head coaching job when Vermeil stepped down at the end of the season.

In his time as an assistant coach and head coach, Martz has taken three quarterbacks who were relegated to the scrap heap of the NFL and turned them into Pro Bowlers. Everyone knows the story of Kurt Warner, who went from grocery store clerk to Most Valuable Player. Fewer people realize that Trent Green was an eighth-round draft pick who threw only one pass in his first five seasons in football before blossoming under Martz, and that Marc Bulger was a sixth-round pick released by the New Orleans Saints before starring in St. Louis.

With his coaching resume, some team will give Martz another chance to get to the Super Bowl. The same likely can’t be said for his replacement in St. Louis, Joe Vitt.

When Martz announced he would take a leave of absence, St. Louis made Vitt, the assistant head coach and linebackers coach, his interim replacement. Interim coach is the most thankless job in the NFL: St. Louis is the 16th team since 1990 to change coaches during the season, and in 12 of the 15 previous cases, the interim coach has been fired at the end of the season.

Whether Vitt can beat those odds or some other coach replaces Martz, the Rams’ identity will change. Offensive playmakers Marshall Faulk (32), Isaac Bruce (32), and Torry Holt (29) are aging, and the young talent on the Rams’ offense will move them in the direction of becoming a run-first, pass-second team: The Rams’ last two first-round draft choices were 231-pound running back Steven Jackson and 320-pound offensive tackle Alex Barron. NFL fans have grown accustomed to labeling St. Louis the “Greatest Show on Turf,” but with Martz moving on, the show is likely over.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.