Bears Blitz

Published by Zach Kruse on January 16, 2013
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Less than 24 hours into Marc Trestman‘s coaching reign with the Chicago Bears, dots are already being connected on the possibility of New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow landing in Chicago. 

Let’s throw up the red octagon sign on that idea already: Trestman and the new Bears offense should avoid the controversial quarterback at all costs this offseason. 

First, the backstory to why this option is even being floated. 

Late Tuesday night, the Bears hired Trestman—the former head coach of the CFL‘s Montreal Alouettes—to be their 14th head coach in franchise history. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune first had the story. 

Trestman has a brief but documented history with Tebow. 

Working as a consultant during the lead up to NFL drafts, Trestman has helped tutor quarterbacks such as Jason Campbell (2005), Jay Cutler (2006), Jimmy Clauson (2010), Brock Osweiler (2012), Brandon Weeden (2012) and…Tebow, in 2010.

Surprisingly, Tebow was selected in the first round of that draft. Part of his ascension has to be at least partly credited to the work he did with Trestman before his pro day and combine. 

After Tebow was drafted by the Denver Broncos, Trestman defended Tebow to Canada’s National Post, going as far as to compare Tebow to Anthony Calvillo, his starting quarterback in Montreal. Calvillo won back-to-back CFL MVPs in 2008 and ’09 and has more passing yards than any other quarterback in professional football, including Brett Favre. 

These links were enough for Dan Shanoff of USA Today to connect the dots between a Trestman-led Bears team and Tebow, a quarterback who is likely to need a new franchise to call home in the coming months. 

As the speculation over where Tebow might end up next season pinballs from Jacksonville (near his hometown)—though the Jaguars are now quashing that notion—to Arizona (where he is spending the week training) to any number of copycat teams that will likely try to adapt some of the zone-read principles that fueled the success of the Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks in 2012 (and the Broncos with Tebow in 2011), it isn’t unreasonable to add Chicago to the mix, given Tebow’s history with the new head coach.

The connection, at its simplest roots, is far from ridiculous. The Bears have new offensive leadership, and Tebow would likely welcome a chance to work with Trestman again, even in a backup role. 

But the sensibility of such a move ends there for Chicago.

For starters, the Bears already have a veteran at the position in Jay Cutler, another quarterback Trestman worked with as draft consultant. Jason Campbell, who also worked with Trestman in 2005, spent 2012 as the backup but is a free agent in 2013. He could return in the same role, especially now that Trestman is on board. 

Even if Campbell doesn’t return, the Bears do not want the distraction that is Tebow behind a quarterback like Cutler. 

With Tebow and his limited quarterbacking skill set comes an army of fans, who drive some in the media to overexpose a backup player. After every Cutler interception, Bears fans could reasonably expect to hear the yells and screams of the Tebow faithful. 

As even the Jets found out this season, Tebow’s distraction as a backup all but dissolves any good he actually brings to a franchise. 

And maybe more importantly, the fact that Tebow couldn’t convince Jets to start him in 2012 despite all the turmoil with Mark Sanchez and Greg McElroy speaks volumes about his current abilities as an NFL quarterback. The Jets may now dump Tebow without any compensation this offseason, just a year after sending draft picks to Denver for the controversial quarterback. 

Eventually, the questions are going to be asked of Trestman and the Bears front office about Tebow. The connections are there.

Both entities would be best served in shooting down those potential distractions at the first chance. 

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