The Chicago Bears won their final game of the season and nearly made the playoffs, but that still wasn't good enough for Lovie Smith to keep his job. The team has conducted a number of interviews and according to ESPN.com, they have found their replacement in the most unlikely of places.
The Bears decided on Wednesday morning to hire the Montreal Alouettes' Marc Trestman as the franchise's 14th head coach and will announce the news on Thursday at a press conference.
The 57-year-old coach recently signed an extension with his CFL team, which will take him to 2016, but according to sources, he will be allowed out of that contract to join the Bears. Trestman recently coached the team to an 11-7 record and has led the Alouettes' to three Grey Cups, winning consecutive titles in 2009 and 2010.
Trestman interviewed with the team multiple times and beat out a range of other candidates, including Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Bruce Arians and Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell.
Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young spoke about Trestman, who he worked with while playing for San Francisco, Tuesday during "The Waddle and Silvy show" on ESPN 1000 in Chicago.
"Marc was still a young coach (when he worked in San Francisco). I thought he was (a) phenomenal coach," Young said. "What he is is a phenomenal offensive mind. He's a great game-day playcaller. I had Mike Holmgren, I had Mike Shanahan and Marc Trestman, and I would put Marc right in there. He's learned and grown, and I stay in touch with him. I don't know exactly why (he hadn't gotten a head-coaching job)."
Trestman has years of NFL experience as a coach and has worked with quarterbacks like Rich Gannon and Bernie Kosar. He worked with the Dolphins in 2004 as well as with the San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders and Minnesota Vikings among others. He served as offensive coordinator with the Oakland Raiders and Arizona Cardinals and was a senior offensive assistant for Jon Gruden in Tampa Bay.
"He is thoughtful (person). He's not gonna scream at people. He'll get after people, but he's got a great stick and a carrot. That's what I think is great coaching: somebody who can understand the different gears and leverages that you have against players to make sure they're focused and ready to play football. So I don't know exactly why, but it's time. I thought it was time five to 10 years ago," Young said.
Trestman also worked at North Carolina State before joining the CFL and has worked in the offseason to prepare college quarterbacks for the NFL draft. He previously has worked with Jay Cutler and Bears backup Jason Campbell before their respective drafts and will bring some familiarity to the team in that regard. According to his official website, Trestman has also worked with Cleveland Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden, Denver rookie Brock Osweiler, Tim Tebow of the New York Jets and Carolina's Jimmy Clausen.
According to ESPN.com, Young played 23 games in 1995 and 1996 working with Trestman in San Francisco, and passed for 34 touchdown passes and 17 interceptions.
"Mike and Marc aren't exactly the same personalities, but they get to the same place," Young explained. "Mike's a predator. I'd say the same about Marc, but you wouldn't know it ahead of time; just different. I like them both. I love Mike Shanahan, trust me. But I would put Marc right in there."
In a testimonial on Trestman's website, Weeden said: "I thought it was my important few days leading up to the (2012) draft. Getting to get up on the board and talk through West Coast systems, and then be able to go out on the field and put some of those things to use. Marc is an extremely knowledgeable football mind and his obvious success everywhere he has been proves that he knows how to develop and teach quarterbacks."
Last week, FOX broadcaster Jimmy Johnson made some waves when he tweeted about Trestman getting the Bears job and although he was early on the news, he turned out right. "Looks like 2 of my guys getting NFL jobs..Chud Cleveland and my QB coach at U Trestman to Chicago," johnson wrote online.
Johnson previously worked with Trestman at the University of Miami where he had him on staff as a quarterbacks coach.
Trestman is one of the most interesting and innovative coaching candidates in recent memory. Teams usually only search around the NFL or dig into the college ranks to find a coach; not many search the Canadian Football League.
What makes Trestman intriguing though is that he has a good amount of NFL coaching experience and the idea that the wide open style of the CFL (who has a wider and longer field than the NFL) could reap offensive benefits for the Bears. The team has focused mainly on offensive-minded guys during their coaching search, their feeling being that the defense isn't what held the team back last year, but rather the offensive side of the ball.
Last Friday, former Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon spoke about the rumors on the radio to "Waddle & Silvy" on ESPN 1000, saying that Cutler could benefit from working with a coach like Trestman.
"This whole perception about Jay Cutler ... look, Jay Cutler at the end of the day wants to win," Gannon, the former Oakland Raiders quarterback and current TV analyst said Friday on "Waddle & Silvy" on ESPN 1000. "You've just got to find a way to get into his psyche and be able to figure him out, form a bond and a relationship and form a trust. When you are constantly changing things around the quarterback, it's hard to develop that continuity and trust factor."
Gannon knows Trestman from his time with the Raiders, when he was offensive coordinator from 2002 to 2003. Trestman has worked as an offensive coordinator with five NFL teams and was named CFL Coach of the Year in 2009.
"He's very innovative. He's a terrific playcaller," Gannon said. "He sees the game through the eyes of the quarterback. He played the position, he's coached the position. He's really an expert in that area. I think when you study Jay Cutler, here's a guy that under Mike Martz was sacked more than any quarterback in the league; he got knocked around, and I don't think he quite trusted the guys in front of him. That's all got to get cleaned up, and you've got to bring in somebody who can work with the protections and clean up that part of it. Clean up his footwork, clean up the mechanics, and get him feeling good again back in the pocket. I think that's what Marc does best."
The Bears were ranked 29th in passing yards last season despite having Jay cutler at quarterback and averaged 23 points per game, ranked 16th the league. Cutler had an up and down season, passing for 3,033 yards and 19 touchdowns with 14 interceptions in 15 games played. The team had solid production from running back Matt Forte, but he also was banged up during the year, leaving Chicago without a consistent running game.
Making 2012 more disappointing for the Bears, the team started the year 7-1, losing only to the Green Bay Packers on the road in Week 2. The team then lost five of the next six games, winning only against Minnesota 28-10 in Week 12. The Bears ended the year with two straight wins and won on the final day of the regular-season, but were left out of the playoffs after the Minnesota Vikings defeated the Green Bay Packers to clinch the final Wild Card spot.
Trestman has had great success in the CFL and is excellent at working with quarterbacks. Cutler should greatly benefit from the hiring, as will the offense in general. It was an outside the box hire for Phil Emery, but one that could pay off big time for the Bears as things in the NFL starts moving towards the type of offense that is run in college and the CFL.
