Bears Blitz

Published by Zach Kruse on November 6, 2014
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

A must-win game coming out of the bye week—against the division-rival Green Bay Packers in prime time, no less—should provide a barometer of sorts for the hold head coach Marc Trestman still has on the Chicago Bears locker room. 

A messy and disappointing 3-5 start has led to speculation that Trestman is losing his team and sitting on the hot seat. During the bye week, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported that some in the organization have “feared” for Trestman‘s job, while players are starting to “tune out” Trestman as a leader. La Canfora described the situation in Chicago as a “state of crisis,” with a “toxic environment” pervading the locker room. 

Trestman insists he has the full confidence of Bears management and the locker room. He called his support from ownership and general manager Phil Emery “outstanding” while claiming his players have been “unbelievably compliant” with what has been asked of them, per Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune. 

However, support from inside Halas Hall and public approval of the practice work can only go so far when the results on Sundays are far from satisfactory. 

A sexy pick to make the postseason in Trestman‘s second year, the Bears are now just one or two losses away from another lost season. Chicago dropped two straight games and four out of five going into the bye, turning the week off into a cram session for Bears coaches to figure out what’s gone wrong and what can be done to fix it. 

The easy solution to what ails the Bears: beating the Packers at Lambeau Field Sunday. 

“The biggest thing right now is that we’re moving forward, to the next most important thing, and that’s to get ready for Green Bay,” Trestman told reporters. “It’s all part of the ebb and flow of being a coach at this level.”

How the Bears respond to the challenge Sunday night will say a lot about Trestman‘s ability to get through to his team. 

His message over the last week was likely a simple one. At 3-5, the Bears are down but not out. A win over the Packers, who currently sit at 5-3 and in second place in the NFC North, would put Chicago right back into the mix, especially if the Detroit Lions fall earlier in the day to the surging Miami Dolphins. 

Even if the Lions do win to improve to 7-2, the Bears have two more games against Detroit during the second half of the season, so making up ground on the current division leader isn’t completely out of the cards. And despite an 0-3 record at home this season, Chicago finishes with five of eight at Soldier Field. 

While most have written off the Bears, Chicago still has everything to play for. Win Sunday and anything can happen. 

Remember, the Philadelphia Eagles rebounded from a 3-5 start last season to win the NFC East and make the postseason. Washington did the same a year earlier. The odds are stacked against Chicago—only nine teams have started 3-5 and made the postseason since 1990—but the impossible has been done. 

However, small little cracks in the locker room—evident dating back to August—could fissure out of control if the Bears drop a sixth game Sunday night in Green Bay. 

Trestman has been dealing with issues all year.

Back in training camp, the Bears had to suspend tight end Martellus Bennett for body-slamming rookie cornerback Kyle Fuller during practice. Veteran Brandon Marshall has been allowed to appear on Inside the NFL, a television program taped in New York on Tuesdays (off day for players). Lance Briggs was excused from practice ahead of Chicago’s regular-season opener to open a restaurant in California. 

There’s always a constant barrage of criticism coming Jay Cutler‘s way. The Bears only intensified the assaults by giving the 31-year-old quarterback $54 million in guaranteed money this past January, making him one of the higher paid players in the game and essentially tying him to the organization through 2016. Despite a year and a half under Trestman‘s watch, Cutler remains a crucial turnover waiting to happen.

Grumbles from the locker room have been heard throughout the Bears’ recent losing streak, which culminated in Chicago’s 51-23 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 8. The loudest have come from Marshall, who was especially upset after a home loss to the Miami Dolphins a week earlier. 

It’s possible the Bears are starting to lose sight of Trestman‘s vision. 

An offensive-minded head coach, Trestman has directed a middle-of-the-road scoring offense in 2014. The Bears are on pace to score 360 points, or 85 fewer than last season. Chicago’s defense, which ranked 30th in points allowed in 2013, ranks 29th this season—in part because of so much of the team’s resources remain tied up in the offense. 

Why should the players remain confident in a system that is failing on both sides and has produced an 11-13 record the last two seasons?

The Bears also haven’t responded to important situations. 

Chicago came out flat in the regular-season opener and dropped a game many expected the Bears to win comfortably. The opposing starting quarterback in that game—EJ Manuel—is currently sitting on the bench behind former Bears starter Kyle Orton. The Buffalo Bills won in overtime. 

After rolling off two straight away wins to get to 2-1, the Bears fell flat on their face against the Packers—allowing Green Bay to score the game’s final 24 points in an eye-opening 38-17 loss. Trestman dropped to 1-3 overall against the Packers, with his only win coming when the Bears knocked Aaron Rodgers out of the game last season. 

A similar scenario played out three weeks later. Coming off a win over the Atlanta Falcons on the road, the Bears were given a chance to stack successes with a home game against Miami. Instead, the Dolphins wiped the floor with Chicago—winning a 27-14 game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final scoreline suggested. 

With the team faced with the mounting frustrations of another home loss and the threat of entering the bye at 3-5, many expected the Bears to show a pulse on the road in New England. The polar opposite happened. Chicago was walloped, as the Patriots went into halftime with a 38-7 lead and eventually won the game by a 51-23 finale. The loss was punctuated when defensive end Lamarr Houston, who signed a $35 million deal with the Bears this offseason, tore his ACL while celebrating his first sack of the season in the fourth quarter of a blowout loss. 

The Bears are now 0-3 at home, where good football teams always manage to get the job done. Equally alarming, the spark has been missing far too often in games where Trestman shouldn’t need to go to great lengths to find motivation. Either the Bears are simply overmatched from a personnel standpoint, or Trestman hasn’t done a good enough job preparing his players.

Sunday night in Green Bay feels like a crossroads for Trestman‘s Bears.

Beating a hated rival on its turf would give Chicago a chance to make something of this season. The club has had two full weeks to self-scout, reassess and adjust, and there’s inherent urgency to play well in a game that is nothing short of a must-win. 

Anything less than an inspired performance at Lambeau Field should be considered a strong signal that the Bears locker room is giving up on Trestman and his vision for the franchise. At 3-6, the season would be essentially over. Such a situation could spiral out of control for a head coach without a solidified track record of success. 

Rarely does one game give an accurate snapshot of a coach’s hold on the locker room, but Sunday night’s matchup with the Packers—a Super Bowl of sorts for Chicago—will provide a barometer for Trestman‘s grasp of the Bears. 

Zach Kruse covers the NFC North for Bleacher Report. 

Follow @zachkruse2

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