Marc Trestman Week 2 Review

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler celebrates the game-winning touchdown. (Photo courtesy of Chicago Tribune, Jose M. Osorio, Sept. 15, 2013)

My point is; the team took care of business; they didn’t get too high when things were going well and they didn’t get too low when they couldn’t seem to hold onto the ball and eventually fell behind late in the 4^th quarter. That is the effect that Trestman is having on this team.

All in all I think Trestman and the coaching staff did an adequate job during the game. There were times I was excited and fist pumping a lot and there were also times when I was left scratching my head and wondering WTH?

The end-around to WR Alshon Jeffery for 36 yards was a thing of beauty; the second attempt… not so much. I did notice that the Bears ran that same play a couple of other times during the game; I’m pretty sure Trestman was counting on Jared Allen biting on it again because it had been going to Forte.

In the postgame press conference Trestman was asked “What did you say to Cutler after his turnovers?” I found his replay to be interesting and very telling his coaching style, but not shocking. He said:

"Not a thing. I think Matt Cavanaugh has handled him really well on the side line. You know, Jay and I talk, and I’ve told him, we are going to have very few conversations during the game that Matt can’t reiterate. If I need to talk to him (Cutler) I will…We haven’t had a legitimate conversation in two weeks on the sideline…Matt can handle the information I need to get to Jay while he’s sitting there on the sideline, on the bench…They’re doing the same things I’m doing (looking at coverages, gathering information for the next series, etc) but I also gotta help manage the game from the sideline; I’ve got more responsibility than that. We’ve got coaches in place to get those things done. We’ve worked all week together; we’ve been in the same room together all week with the QBs; we’ve been on the field, standing next to each other all week, and I wanna give him room to work and to do his job."

Marc Trestman knows what his job is; it is to give direction to the franchise and make sure everyone is on the same page in the organization. A good leader does not have good followers; a good leader creates more good leaders by empowering them. Coach Trestman gets that and he is empowering his coaches to do their job and get the most out of the players, and he is empowering the players to do their job and make plays.

Part of allowing your assistants to do their job is accepting at least part of the blame when something goes wrong; in this case, I’m talking about the 12 men on the field during the punt which gave the Vikings a fresh set of downs. It seemed like it was a quick punt and it caught the Bears taking their sweet time to get off the field during the defense/special teams transition. I don’t see this as a concern moving forward, in fact, I’m pretty sure that will be a point of emphasis in practice this week. On a similar note; the play by WR Eric Weems on a punt late in the game which caused a touchback instead of having the ball downed at the 2 yard line was a thing of beauty! Weems is a smart football player and that was a heads up play; that was good coaching.