Former St. Louis Rams coach Mike Martz has agreed to become the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions, a job for which he interviewed on Tuesday, but there remains a fairly significant caveat: The two sides must still negotiate a contract. And those talks are still believed to be in the relatively early stages. Lions first-year coach Rod Marinelli, appearing at a Wednesday afternoon press session at the primary hotel for Super Bowl week, termed the parties "close" to a deal. "We still have plenty of talking and working through some things to do," Marinelli said. Martz and Marinelli met for several hours on Tuesday but not offer was immediately made to the former Rams coach, who missed the final 11 games of the 2005 season as he recovered from endocarditis, a bacterial infection of a heart valve. The Lions did, though, offer the job to Martz on Tuesday night, after he returned him.