Trestman out as Head Coach of the Chicago Bears

[South Pender]

Yup, a complete house-cleaning in Chicago. OC Aaron Kromer was fired too, and I would expect to see DC Mel Tucker canned as well. They'll be starting from scratch in 2015.

[TheLionKing]

Wow, didn't realize there were that much distraction in the dressing room.

[DanoT]

Seems to me that the players that Trestman had in Montreal were a lot more coach-able and professional than the ones in Chicago.

[Sir Purrcival]

How's this for a dream team. Jeff Tedford, HC, Marc Trestman, OC.

[South Pender]

Seems to me that the players that Trestman had in Montreal were a lot more coach-able and professional than the ones in Chicago.

Trestman had a moody quarterback in Jay Cutler, but Lovie Smith had managed to keep the team functional prior to Trestman's arrival. It appears that Trestman lost the locker room, and I think that, although an effective strategist and tactician, he lacked the authority and toughness needed to lead an NFL team.

[TheLionKing]

How's this for a dream team. Jeff Tedford, HC, Marc Trestman, OC.

Can't see it happening but one can always hope

[TheLionKing]

Jay Cutler is a coach killer

[KnowItAll]

Jay Cutler is a coach killer

never heard that one before

[Toppy Vann]

Trestman should have made changes this year and actually acted like he was HC not OC.

His belief that he could make Cutler the brilliant QB was naive at best as he truly is a coach killer.

[South Pender]

Trestman should have made changes this year and actually acted like he was HC not OC.

His belief that he could make Cutler the brilliant QB was naive at best as he truly is a coach killer.

Could be, but I'm not sure that Cutler is the reason for Trestman's failure. Cutler had, after all, had a Pro Bowl season earlier in his career. The guy has talent, albeit accompanied by a mercurial disposition. Lovie Smith had managed Cutler effectively in the years leading up to Trestman's hiring. And Cutler has had complimentary things to say about Trestman. It seemed more that the other key players on offense just tuned Trestman out and put out lousy efforts. This speaks, I think, to Trestman's lack of credibility with the players, stemming from being seen as too cerebral and lacking in authority and strong leadership. The fact that GM Phil Emery failed to beef up the defense in the off-season didn't help, nor did Mel Tucker's failures as DC and Aaron Kromer's failures as OC. Trestman was just unable to take a firm hold of the team and get it heading in the right direction.

[WestCoastJoe]

I've only seen one Jay Cutler interview. It was very strange. No emotion. He was there in the room, but his mind, heart and emotions were a million miles away, completely removed from his situation. I expect that is how his teammates see him as well.

He certainly has talent. Multi-sport athlete. Football, basketball and baseball at a high level in high school. Great size. High draft pick.

My hunch is that he is, as many have noted, a coach killer. Can't lead a team.

Lovie Smith strikes me as a laid back coach. The decay in the locker room no doubt started during his 9 years as Head Coach.

I wonder about the effectiveness of ownership, the leadership and judgment they provide. It sounds like a muddled situation with them.

Ownership

Virginia McCaskey, her children, and grandchildren control 80 percent of the team, and Mrs. McCaskey votes her children's stock as well as her own. Patrick Ryan, executive chairman of Aon Corp., and Aon director Andrew McKenna own 19.7% of the club.[45] In a Crain's Chicago Business article, one businessman described his wishes for the team to maximize its potential. In 2009, Yahoo! Sports listed the McCaskeys as the third worst owner in the NFL, stating "[T]hey get less for what they've got than any team in our league."[46] There have been rumors that the McCaskey family might split up over the team.[23] -- Wik

And Phil Emery does not sound like a top level GM. Mixed reviews for his drafts.

Phillip "Phil" Emery (born January 16, 1959) is a former General Manager of the Chicago Bears, a role he held from 2012–2014. After being hired in 2012, Bears chairman George McCaskey told Emery that though head coach Lovie Smith's contract ran through 2013, and that Smith would be head coach in 2012, Emery would have the ability to make a change at the position after the end of the 2012 season.[1] Smith was eventually fired on December 31, 2012, after the Bears missed the playoffs. -- Wik

My tendency here is to agree with Ditka and Gruden, who think Trestman is an excellent coach, as noted by Lions4ever. We have seen what Trestman can do in the CFL. His situation with the Bears had many problems. *Quarterback. *GM. *Ownership. *The roster that was in place. *Defence. It looks somewhat dysfunctional there.

Too big a jump for Trestman from the CFL to the NFL, too big a job in the NFL, as some would suggest? Who knows? But I don't automatically subscribe to that thinking. The leagues are different for sure. Trestman certainly did not get the job done, in whatever kind of environment exists with the Bears. Someone else will step in for big bucks. Good luck with Jay Cutler, that ownership and that locker room.

The Bears' fans can be whacked. I read online about the very nasty harassment Trestman's daughters faced. Head shaker.

[notahomer]

This morning I thought Trestman MAY have escaped the firing. I heard the GM was canned first and the speculation was 'who knows' for Trestman this morning on NFL network. Soon thereafter, Mike Smith and Trestman got their walking papers.

For the pundits out there today is known as 'Black Monday'. IOW, the day AFTER the last regular season game is when the axes start being put to use, in spite of the fact the axes have been getting sharpened for weeks now, probably......

[WestCoastJoe]

http://nypost.com/2014/12/29/jay-cutler ... ses-fired/

Jay Cutler as good as got his Bears bosses fired

By Bart Hubbuch

December 29, 2014 | 12:46pm

Mistake- and sulking-prone Bears quarterback Jay Cutler on the sideline with Marc Trestman, who was fired Monday along with GM Phil Emery Photo: EPA

Jay Cutler isn’t just a coach-killer — he’s an entire front-office-killer.

Cutler’s incredible regression this year wasn’t the only reason the Bears cleaned house Monday by firing coach Marc Trestman and GM Phil Emery, but it was by far the biggest one.

While Cutler’s overall stat line in 2014 looks OK on the surface — he completed 66 percent of his passes, threw 28 TDs and finished with an 88.6 rating — it was a prime example of how numbers can be misleading.

Cutler led the NFL in interceptions with 18, allowed his never-good body language to lapse into the ridiculous and was so maddening that Trestman benched him in favor of Jimmy Clausen in a Week 16 loss to the Lions.

Trestman was an unconventional hire to begin with, having been out of the league for 10 years and coaching in the CFL when Emery tabbed him. But Trestman was respected for his play-calling acumen, and the Bears were desperate for that after a decade of offensive futility under Lovie Smith.

The experiment lasted only two seasons and a 13-19 record because Trestman barely revived the offense (the Bears finished 23rd in scoring this year) and the defense completely flatlined.

Mainly, though, it was because of Cutler. Trestman couldn’t motivate him and lost him completely with the benching, and with Cutler due a guaranteed $16 million in 2015, it wasn’t difficult to figure out which of the two was going overboard as a result of that.

Acquiring Cutler from the Broncos wasn’t Emery’s move, but the third-year GM also indirectly paid a hefty price for the quarterback’s regression because the Trestman hire was Emery’s idea.

It also didn’t help Emery that one of the candidates he chose Trestman over in 2013 was Bruce Arians, reportedly in part because Arians refused to go along with Emery’s silly request to hold a mock press conference during his audition.

Arians is now a lock for 2014 NFL Coach of the Year for leading the Cardinals to the playoffs despite more injuries than one franchise could seem to stand, while the Bears floundered.

Chicago is horrendous on defense, finishing 30th in that department in each of Trestman’s two seasons, so it wouldn’t be a big surprise to see Rex Ryan — son of Buddy Ryan, who famously coordinated the Bears’ 1985 defense — replace him.

More likely is Chicago going after yet another offensive-minded coach in hopes of solving the eternal Cutler riddle.

Good luck with that.

Rex Ryan next? Oh my ...

[South Pender]

I think we were all rooting for Trestman to succeed in Chicago. He had done well in Canada and struck all of us as a reasonable, smart coach. So we now may be looking for reasons other than Trestman's own shortcomings to explain his firing. There were two main problems with the Bears this season: (a) the defense continued to be lousy despite attempts in the off-season to strengthen it, as seen in the signing of Jared Allen to fill the departed Julius Peppers' spot. Allen played pretty well, but Peppers was a gift to the Packers and helped that defense to get better through the season. (b) the players quit on Trestman, including his really formidable-looking offense. Not just Cutler or even mainly Cutler. Guys like Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery, Martellus Bennett all played poorly most of the season.

Now, we could lay the blame at the feet of the players who gave up on the team, but a good, strong, authoritative, coach should be able to prevent this from happening or stop it if it seems to be beginning. Trestman lacked the gravitas to do this. He's a cerebral offensive guru with a great grasp of the x's and o's, but is not a strong leader of men with a decisive grasp of all of the team's functions. He succeeded in Montreal with a smaller roster of players who respected his resume and appreciated his grasp of offensive strategy. He also had a quarterback with whom he could develop a good relationship, and this helped his credibility with the team. Once he hit the pinnacle of coaching, he was out of his depth--unable to connect at the right level with the $5M/year stars who undoubtedly thought they knew more than Trestman. Cutler liked Trestman; there didn't seem to be friction there.

Trestman is probably at his best as an OC--leaving the motivating and disciplining of the team as a whole to a more big-picture guy with strong NFL credentials. Lovie Smith was that kind of guy and had pretty much the same team at 10-6 before he was fired. Trestman's edition of the team went 5-11 this season.

[WestCoastJoe]

I've heard/read interviews with Jon Gruden and Mike Ditka in the last day or so. Neither of them think this is a coaching problem. They both think Trestman is an excellent coach. They believe it's a player problem and specifically with Ditka, a problem of all the money tied up in the QB. If Trestman goes, Emery should go too seems to be the subtext.

As L4e has noted, some highly respected commentators say it was not a coaching problem with the Bears. It looks like Ditka and Gruden are pointing at Cutler and the players.

Green Bay Packers defensive end Datone Jones told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he feels the Chicago Bears don’t believe in quarterback Jay Cutler.

Jones made the comments after the Packers 55-14 thrashing of the Bears on Sunday night.

"We believe in Aaron,” Jones said. “That’s what separates us from the Bears. I feel like the Bears really don’t believe in Cutler." -- Sports Illustrated, November 10, 2014

Cutler and Trestman on the sideline ... not happy campers.

"Mistake- and sulking-prone Bears quarterback Jay Cutler on the sideline with Marc Trestman, who was fired Monday along with GM Phil Emery Photo: EPA"