Jay Feely Trashes Trestman and Cutler’s Leadership
Former Chicago Bears short-lived kicker Jay Feely might have a future as a GM or a scout. After a whirlwind one month stop through
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the Windy City filling in for the injured Robbie Gould, Feely was quick to reach conclusions about the leadership, or lack thereof, for the Chicago Bears last season. Feely
when assessing Marc Trestman as a head coach:
"“They lacked leadership in the locker room from players and also from the coaching staff,” Feely said. “Trestman was a super-nice guy, I really liked him, but I don’t think he held guys accountable enough, and I don’t think he had enough leadership in that locker room.”"
Talk about kicking dirt (get it, kicking, because he’s a kicker!) on Trestman’s Chicago Bears grave. But that wasn’t all from the glove-wearing place kicker, who also chimed in on a lack of leadership in the Bears locker room and most notably, quarterback Jay Cutler:
"“Jay Cutler can win on the field. But he would be so much better and the team would be so much better if you’re a leader off the field as well. And I never saw him lead verbally. If he doesn’t want to do that, if he doesn’t want to be that person, if it’s not in his DNA, then you’re always gonna have a vacuum there that somebody else needs to step into and fill.”"
So it took Feely all of one month what it’s take Ted Phillips and George McCaskey a couple of seasons to figure out – a bad GM hired a bad head coach and overpaid for a bad quarterback. Let’s hope that Ryan Pace doesn’t take nearly as long to pinpoint the same problem and comes up with a plan to get the Bears out of this hole they’re in or 2015 could also be a long season.
Feely believes the Bears are on the right track with the Fox hire:
"“Talent is not an issue,” Feely said. “That team is loaded with talent. John Fox (will) bring discipline, which they need; he’ll bring accountability, which they need; and I think he’ll get the most out of those players."
So there you have a free agent, journeyman kicker of 14 NFL seasons with 7 different teams telling it like it is. It’s hard to argue about Trestman, but the questions will still linger around Cutler and whether or not he’s back for the 2015 season. What do you think?