David Haugh on the money today:
Quote:
A most considerate man, Marc Trestman surely meant no harm when he insulted the intelligence of every Bears fan and observer Monday at Halas Hall.
But come on, Coach, nobody in town is that football stupid.
"I think this team and this locker room is in a good place at this time," Trestman said the day after the most humiliating loss in recent franchise history to the Packers.
In a good place at this time? Just curious, what would constitute a bad place, 0-9? Trestman reads his team worse than Jay Cutler reads defenses.
At this time, your 3-6 team has three straight losses — giving up 106 points in the last two. At this time, your quarterback guaranteed $54 million cannot guarantee anything about any throw he makes. At this time, your defense couldn't stop a run-on sentence with a period, and your special teams require a different adjective. At this time, the Bears loom as a bigger factor in the 2015 NFL draft than the 2014 NFC playoffs.
At this time, your team and your locker room are in anything but a "good place," Coach, no matter how many times you want to look at the tape.
"We have to be honest with ourselves," Trestman said. "We cannot sugarcoat this whatsoever."
So why did Trestman spend 20 minutes dipping his words in saccharine?
This reaction feels as redundant for me as it should be regrettable for him, but Trestman continues to show no feel for the job as an NFL head coach. This is not what Chicago wanted to hear from Trestman or what the Bears needed to do in the face of crisis, which amounted to nothing.
Instead of Chairman George McCaskey announcing that somebody had lost his job to show organizational accountability or that the search had begun for a football guy to oversee the general manager and head coach, the Bears allowed Trestman to deepen the embarrassment.
He lauded the intellect of a coaching staff that won't change and defensive coordinator Mel Tucker, whose defense routinely blows coverages and gives up touchdowns. He praised the tremendous practices the Bears have, as if they matter. He dismissed any idea that his players loafed at Lambeau Field or that Jay Cutler could be benched — shudder the thought — if the football carnage continues. He acknowledged the Bears "were not a very good football team" before assessing a team that sounded closer to 6-3 than 3-6 based on his description.
"We've got to ... put the San Francisco game on, the Jets game on and see why we were able to play four quarters against Atlanta in competitive football games," Trestman said.
No need for videotape to remember why the Bears won those games. For starters, the 2-8 Jets and 3-6 Falcons stink. And the 49ers gifted the Bears the victory when quarterback Colin Kaepernick "Cutler-ized" his offense by committing four turnovers. To hear Trestman wax poetically about those victories, the Bears beat the Broncos, Seahawks and '72 Dolphins.
"If we have to get a plan together to move forward, it's got to look at what we did when we were doing it well and why that was working and this is not (now)," Trestman said.
With delusional public performances like Monday's, Trestman isn't just making it easier for the Bears to fire him after two seasons. He's nearly making it imperative they do.
Trestman's see-no-evil news conference 18 hours after a 41-point loss was the oral equivalent of getting beaten 55-14. He appeared unaware, unprepared and oblivious to the reality surrounding his job, which becomes more tenuous by the day. By embracing the status quo, Trestman empowered every fed-up Bears fan to demand big changes, which many hope will include him.
Consider the contrast in Trestman's Pollyannaish assessment of the Bears with Packers receiver Randall Cobb's. Cobb told reporters late Sunday that "you could tell that they kind of lay down a little bit."
Nothing indicts a coach more than players who won't play hard for him.
Packers teammate Datone Jones piled on while explaining the difference in the teams. "We believe in Aaron (Rodgers)," Jones told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "That's what separates us from the Bears. I feel like the Bears really don't believe in Cutler."
And when that happens?
"Guys are out there playing for themselves," Jones said. "That's what we don't have here."
A team that quit in a rivalry game and lost faith in its quarterback hardly sounds like one with no compelling reason to change anything, the way Trestman depicted the Bears. A team with little fight and less unity seeks strong leadership that Bears players aren't getting.
As a result, this threatens to become more than a "disturbing stretch," as Trestman called it. His denial of real problems eventually could hasten his descent into unemployment. That's a good place for NFL head coaches who just don't get it.
_________________
To IkeSouth, bigfan wrote:
Are you stoned or pissed off, or both, when you create these postings?
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