The Chicago Bears Can’t Justify Keeping Marc Trestman
By Erik Lambert
Phil Emery, to his credit, hasn’t changed his tune. The Chicago Bears GM has remained behind head coach Marc Trestman through one of the most harrowing seasons in the history of the franchise. Not everybody gets that kind of loyalty. However, at 5-8 and coming off another ugly showing at home the writing is clearly on the wall. Trestman has lost whatever ability he may have had to motivate his players.
Consider this. The 2014 Bears have yet to score 30 or more points in a game. Not exactly the kind of achievement expected from a unit that has Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery and Matt Forte on it. They have gone from 2nd in the league in scoring in 2013 to 19th. Yes there have been some injuries but for the most part the group has been intact. That means the responsibility for the regression falls at the feet of Trestman. His inability to elevate their play despite another year in the offense is more troubling than anything. Their appalling lack of discipline and slow starts only add to it.
- The Bears have been flagged 91 times this season, good for 8th in the league.
- They have turned the ball over 25 times, which is 3rd in the league.
- For the season they are averaging 9.5 points per game for the 1st half.
Slow starts, penalties and turnovers are the three biggest reasons that teams lose games, don’t make the playoffs and don’t compete for championships and the Bears have checked all three boxes.
"It's got to be No. 1." - Jay Cutler when asked where this season ranks in terms of disappointment in his career.
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) December 5, 2014
Yet the Marc Trestman failure goes beyond that. A lot of his troubles have come from an even worse defense. In two years under his direction the Bears have had arguably two of the statistically worst seasons in franchise history defensively. A year ago they averaged allowing 160 rushing yards per game and had just 31 sacks. This year they are allowing over 28 points per game. What makes it all so hard to swallow is Trestman had a chance to fix it during the off-season but instead of removing defensive coordinator Mel Tucker he decided to maintain the status quo despite plenty of evidence that the young coach wasn’t up to the task.
The Chicago Bears need changes. This team is uninspired and completely rudderless, which is as Brandon Marshall would put it, “Unacceptable.”