Bears Blitz

Published by Bear Heiser on December 5, 2014
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The Bears laid a massive egg Thursday night as the Dallas Cowboys put another nail in the coffin that is Marc Trestman’s coaching career in Chicago.

With the 41-28 loss, the Bears moved to 5-8 and into the basement of the NFC North. For all intents and purposes, Chicago is eliminated from the postseason (not yet technically, though, via ESPN Chicago’s Michael C. Wright). The Trestman-led Bears now sit with a 5-8 record and a Monday Night Football matchup against the playoff-contending New Orleans Saints up next.

The way in which Thursday’s loss to the Cowboys went down is disheartening. Scoreless after the first quarter, Dallas put a combined 35 points up in the second and third quarters. It wasn’t until late in the game when the Bears decided to attempt a rally, and even then it fell short—very short—ending in the most Bears way possible: a Jay Cutler interception in the end zone.

NFL Network TV cameras caught Cutler on the sideline after the interception, accepting responsibility:

Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray, the worst-kept secret in the NFL, gashed the Bears defense for 179 rushing yards on 32 carries, to go along with his 49 yards on nine receptions. Murray had more touches in the first half, 24, than Bears Pro Bowl running back Matt Forte had the entire game, 21.

Everyone knows the Cowboys take the football field each week with the intention of ramming Murray down the throat of the opponent. Thursday night was no different, yet the Bears had no answers for the NFL’s leading rusher, who just so happens to be months away from free agency.

As if defensive coordinator Mel Tucker wasn’t already enough of a disappointment, his defensive game plan failed on every level. While Murray did his thing, Tony Romo, who still doesn’t look 100 percent after offseason back surgery, finished the game 21-of-26 passing for 205 yards and three touchdowns.

The Cowboys did whatever they wanted against the Bears. Romo led Dallas to a 50 percent conversation rate on third down, finishing seven of 14, after starting just two of six.

The Cowboys’ game plan, 35 runs to 26 passing attempts, is exactly what the Bears have been needing to do all season long. When the Bears lost to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day, Forte ran the ball five times for six yards, while Cutler threw the ball 48 times.

Trestman took a ton of heat for that during the following week. The talk at Halas Hall was all about how the Bears offense needing more balance. So with that in mind, what kind of balance did the Bears display Thursday night? How about a whopping 15 runs—for 35 yards—to 46 passes. If that’s balance, then what would one call what Dallas does on offense?

After the game, Trestman offered the same hollow—and obvious—response he does after almost every loss:

We’re not doing the things in all three phases we need to do to win on a consistent basis in this league.

The Bears have lost eight games, meaning Trestman has conducted eight press conferences after a loss, yet he continues to give the same old tired responses, similar to this one from Thursday:

As I said to our team, tomorrow we’ll get back in and go over the tape, and do everything we can to continue coaching these guys to get it right, but tomorrow we’ll start again to get that done.

Trestman said something entirely similar after the Bears got demolished, 51-23, by the New England Patriots back in Week 8. Here’s the exact quote from his postgame press conference:

We are going to certainly assess all three phases of our football team and our personnel. [I’ll] talk to Phil [Emery] about it, obviously, and we will go from there.

The day after the New England loss, Trestman, while sitting next to general manager Phil Emery at Halas Hall, told reporters that he thought “the No. 1 thing we’ve got going for us right now is we’re into the bye [week].”

He went on to say: “We’ve got a chance to look back and really take a systematic look at the issues that we’ve had and come up with some bona fide solutions.”

Well, five games and the bye week have passed since Trestman uttered those words, and yet things somehow remain the same. In those five games, the Bears hold a 2-3 record and have been outscored 156-101.

Where are the solutions, coach? According to Wright, the Bears use the marker board in the locker room to deliver a message, maybe even a solution: 

Trestman, now in his second season as the Bears leading man, has done very little to show that he’s a competent head coach. He regularly gets out-coached, losing the battle of in-game adjustments seemingly every week the Bears take the field, evidenced by the fact the Bears trailed at halftime by seven or fewer points in five of their eight losses.

“It starts with me. I’m looking inside and accepting accountability for this loss, obviously,” Trestman said after the Thanksgiving Day loss to Detroit. Bleacher Report Chicago Bears featured columnist Matt Eurich cleverly pointed out a similarity in press conference demeanor between Trestman and former Bears coach Lovie Smith:

Trestman has never shied away from the word “accountability,” often accepting the blame for losses. But when do those words start to fall flat? How can the head coach of the charter organization expect anyone to value his hollow words?

If he’s holding himself accountable, given the lack of positive results, isn’t it about time that someone above him starts holding him accountable?

“We’re in the no-excuse business,” Trestman said after the Dallas loss. Eurich went on to comment on Trestman’s postgame press conference demeanor: 

That statement is why it’s time to move on from Trestman and his entire staff and wipe the slate clean. Heck, get rid of Emery too, if you want. There’s not one guy currently employed inside Halas Hall who can turn this team into one that competes for a Super Bowl, but don’t tell Trestman that: 

This team competes hard every day to get better, and it competes hard in a football game. That would be totally disrespecting our football team to think that they’re not going out and competing as hard as they can.

If the Bears players are indeed “competing as hard as they can,” as the head coach says, then the problem is the head coach, right? If the coach says his team is giving it 100 percent out on the field, then the issue has to be within the game plan the head coach asks his team to carry out.

But the players aren’t absolved of blame here, either. It’s been a mixed bag on both sides of the ball. 

Cutler leads the league in turnovers, with 15 interceptions and six fumbles lost. To recap: The franchise quarterback has turned it over 21 times in 13 games. Just wow. The Trestman-Cutler partnership really isn’t working.

Brandon Marshall is on pace to have a career-worst season, which now might be over after suffering what appeared to be a very serious injury, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network.

Alshon Jeffery has been on and off the injury report all season long, due to ankle and hamstring injuries. Matt Forte has been awesome, so never mind him. Martellus Bennett has been everything the Bears could ask for and more, breaking Mike Ditka’s record for most catches by a tight end in a single season.

Jared Allen hasn’t been nearly as dominant as in past seasons, with only five sacks through 13 games in his first season with the Bears. Lamarr Houston, well, you all know the Lamarr Houston story. Lance Briggs and Charles Tillman are on the shelf for the season, and Shea McClellin continues to underperform at his second position in two seasons.

Willie Young has been fantastic in his first season in Chicago, leading the team with 8.5 sacks. Jon Bostic, while still improving, doesn’t yet look to be worth the second-round pick Emery ponied up for the linebacker. Kyle Fuller started the season as a strong Rookie of the Year contender but has tailed off since.

After finishing second in the NFL in points scored (27.8) last season, the Bears offense is averaging 21.6 points per game thus far in 2014. Last season, Tucker’s defense allowed the most points and yards in franchise history, ranking near the bottom of the league in nearly every important statistical category. One year later, not much is different; the Bears defense leads the NFL in points allowed.

As a result, the fanbase has been wavering for weeks now as the boos continue to rain down at Soldier Field. There were 6,293 unused tickets at the game, via Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times.

It will be interesting to see if the fanbase continues not showing up for the final two home dates. While some of the empty seats could be due to the protests that were going on in the vicinity of Soldier Field, which NBC Chicago reports here, there were also 6,403 unused tickets for the Tampa Bay game, according to Jahns.

The fanbase lives in the real world, and at some point, it is going to demand some real-world accountability up at Halas Hall, where someone loses a job as a result of a consistent lack of performance. Trestman, Tucker and maybe even Emery need to be jettisoned by chairman George McCaskey.

If you think this response is harsh and you want blame placed on the players too, you’re not wrong. As previously mentioned, the players deserve a lot of the blame.

But you know what, at the end of the day, the coaching staff has to put the players in the best possible position to succeed, and that has not been happening. Those guys give it their best effort, but it’s just not working up in Lake Forest.

Starting over is not only the best option for this team, it needs to be the only option—no matter what the cost or embarrassment. The charter franchise needs to be better than this, and the fanbase deserves better than this.

All quotes pulled from press conference transcripts unless otherwise noted.

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