The Week in Stink, Quick Picks

The Stink of the Week:



Still so funny.

What an odd, odd week in sports.  Between nonexistent girlfriends and "kinda-not quite" apologies, it's a welcome sight to see a good Bulls win over the Celtics, on that note, D-Rose, I can't wait to see you back on the court.  When you see videos like this, you may be so perplexed that you forget what's happening this weekend.



This story is so stupid I can't even come up with a clever caption.

Lance Armstrong is a tool.

Quick Picks:

San Francisco 34, Atlanta 21

Atlanta is a tough, tough out, especially in the Georgia Dome.  Matt Ryan is ridiculous at home, 34-6 regular and playoffs combined.  San Francisco will get it done, though.  Colin Kaepernick's too much of a threat to an Atlanta defense that can get leaky at times.  They struggle against running quarterbacks by giving up an average of 8.9 rush yards per quarterback attempt.  Seattle nearly beat the Dirty Birds, the 49ers will beat the Falcons.

Baltimore 35, New England 33

Everything about this says, "Patriots."  Tom Brady is being Tom Brady (speaking of ridiculous at home, 86-15 career record!).  Belichick's got a running game.  I cringe thinking about how awful I've seen the Baltimore Ravens play at times.  Something happened to this team, though.  Last week, they were slammed with every reason to lose on the road to Denver, but they didn't.  Flacco stepped up.  Smith stepped up.  Everyone on the team played phenomenal and I think they roll on to New Orleans.

Quick note: We can welcome these new professionals to the Bears coaching staff.

Aaron Kromer- Offensive Coordinator

 

Mel Tucker- Defensive Coordinator

 

The Chicago Tribune posted a quick run down of all the new names here, I'll work on getting some short biographies together on the coaches by next week.  Thanks for checking out the Stink and Picks!

Stating Facts Part II: Making Champions

(a comprehensive analysis on the Bears head coach Marc Trestman, continued from yesterday)

Marc Trestman.

The Statement:  Marc Trestman is a proven winner and will turn Chicago into a regular playoff contender.

The Facts:  The former Montreal Alouettes head coach is no stranger to awards and championships.  As stated earlier, he tasted success early in his career.  He was with "The U" when they won their very first national championship, tutoring Bernie Kosar as quarterbacks coach.  As a head coach at the college level later in his career, he took NC State to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in 2005, where the Wolfpack were winners.


At the professional level, Trestman has been pivotal to several franchises.  Serving in the NFL for almost two decades, he coached five different teams into the playoffs.  Of the 17 years as an offensive coordinator/QB coach he only missed the post season four times.  Twice, teams he coached (Raiders '02 and Browns '89) reached the AFC championship, one of those went to the Super Bowl.

Up north, Trestman got himself into the record books of the CFL.  Winning back-to-back Grey Cup Championships in '09 and '10, in fact of the five years he was head coach of the Alouettes, Marc Trestman's teams won championships (division or national) an astounding four times.  Montreal made the playoffs EVERY YEAR he coached them.  He left Canada with a winning percentage of .653 and a 64-34 record.

 

The Statement:  Jay Cutler will compete for a Pro Bowl spot within the first two seasons of working with Marc Trestman.




AFC Championship ring from 2002.

The Facts:  The list of quarterbacks coached is more than impressive.  When you look at what he accomplished with those quarterbacks, it is even more than that.  Jerry Rice had his, until recently, record season in 1995 with 1,848 yards and 15 touchdowns.  That same season the Niners were the number 1 passing offense with Trestman as the offensive coordinator, the following year they were the number 2 passing offense. 

Rich Gannon had been good most of his career.  In Oakland, he truly became great.  Trestman became QB coach of the Raiders in 2001, the following year he was promoted to offensive coordinator and the Black and Silver made their way to the Super Bowl.  Gannon won the NFL Most Valuable Player in '02, also making consecutive Pro Bowl appearances and winning Pro Bowl MVP consecutively, the only player to do so.

Steve Young, Scott Mitchell, Jake "The Snake" Plummer are among the quarterbacks coached by Trestman.  Mitchell and Plummer may have never fulfilled their full potential, but the seasons they were coached by Trestman (1997 for Mitchell and 1998 for Plummer) were some of the best seasons of their careers.  Alouettes' quarterback, Anthony Calvillo, passed for over 25,000 yards, 164 touchdowns to 44 interceptions and averaged 303 yards over their 84 games together.


It is normal to be cautious.  It is normal to be fearful even.  However, this writer, for one, is embracing this change.  The NFL is not a defensive league, it has not been.  To compete points must be scored.  Chicago has got to get better than the schizophrenic offense we've come to know and loathe.  Marc Trestman is change, hopefully it's a risk worth taking.  I think so.

Marc Trestman: Stating Facts Part I: The Background

The dawning of a new era in Bears football has begun.  By now you've seen or heard or read that Lovie Smith's successor is Canadian Football League import, Marc Trestman.  Reactions have been positively mixed, most seem cautious about the hire.  There is reason to be cautious, Coach Trestman has been out of the NFL for nearly a decade.  He did coach in a league with different rules and lesser talent.  However, there are far more reasons to be optimistic and, dare it be said, excited about this completely fresh direction for the Bears.

Marc Trestman hoisting CFL Grey Cup Championship Trophy

 

The Statement:  Marc Trestman runs an efficient, quarterback-friendly offensive system and will coach Jay Cutler into a top ten performer.

 

The Facts:  Trestman has coached in some capacity since 1981.  He started as a volunteer coach with the Miami Hurricanes.  In '83, he coached a possible future Hall of Fame quarterback named Bernie Kosar.  That year the 'Canes tallied more passing yards than rushing and won their first NCAA national championship, upsetting the heavily favored number 1 ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers.

 

The following year, Kosar set school records in pass completions (262) and yardage (3,642).  Trestman would later join Kosar in Cleveland as the Browns quarterbacks coach, Marc preached efficiency then as he preached efficiency in his opening press conference with Chicago.  Bernie Kosar is renown for his accuracy and decision making.

 

Former Super Bowl champion and Hall of Famer Steve Young said there was "no question" that Trestman would get the best out of Jay Cutler.  Young came from Tampa Bay to San Francisco and received coaching under Trestman in 1995.  He gave the Chicago Sun-Times a terrific endorsement of the Bears' new leader.

 

Jay Cutler looks to improve in Trestman's quarterback-friendly offense.

 

Tomorrow-

Marc Trestman: Stating Facts Part II:

Making Champions

Knee Jerk

Chicago announced this morning that Marc Trestman will be the new head coach, according to the Chicago Tribune.  Later today we will introduce you to the former CFL coach of the year.  Check back!

Getting Offensive

Not often will a team find itself searching for answers after posting a 10-6 record in arguably the toughest division in today's NFL.  Enter the 2012 Chicago Bears.  After an exhilarating start to the season, the Monsters of the Midway came back to Earth in an awful way.  A hot defense was cooled off by a confused offense, a sprinkle here and there of injury, and suddenly a 7-1 playoff lock became a 8-4 hopeful needing a win against a one-dimensional Minnesota Vikings team led by the inhuman Adrian Peterson.

Technically, Chicago was not eliminated until the very end of the season, but the loss to Minnesota on December 9th sealed the deal for the Bears.  Christian Ponder was able to walk away victorious without throwing more than 17 times and Number 28 in purple destroyed an Urlacher-less D to the tune of 154 yards en route to one of the most remarkable comeback seasons in sports history.  The stat line of this game serves as baffling example of Chicago's offensive ineptitude, essentially shaping the problems of the season as a whole.

Scoop Jackson published a well written agenda on ESPN.com here.  Jackson wrote regarding trading Devin Hester, finding at least one GREAT offensive lineman, addressing the elephant in the room in regards to the aging defensive leaders, among other neglected personnel moves that led us to *gulp* cheer for Green Bay.  There's little to no argument with the points that Scoop made and no doubt a shake up will occur once GM Phil Emery names the 17th Bears head coach.

Chicago has $44.4 million contracted to their backfield until 2016, the three best receivers (Marshall, Bennett, and Jeffrey) are set to make over $70 million over the next three seasons and tight ends Kellen Davis and Evan Rodriguez are going to be Bears through at least the end of next year.  Cutler has one more season on his current deal.  These are the skill players that the next coach will be utilizing.  OC Mike Tice did a dreadful job schematically, between not getting calls in on time and being noncommittal, for as bright as the defense would shine, the offense generally scuffed around to make uninteresting games become nail biters.

 

 

The Bears need to find an identity on offense. The Minnesota game referenced earlier serves as an extreme example.  Statistically Chicago won.  1st Downs: CHI-22 MIN-17/ Total Yards: CHI-438 MIN-248/ Yards Per Rush: CHI- 6.6 MIN- 4.5/ Granted, the Vikes ran the ball 20 more times, because they could, because that is what Minnesota does.  Minnesota is very, very limited offensively, Christian Ponder is not a franchise quarterback at this stage in his career, if he ever will be.  However, this is not a highly guarded secret.  It hasn't ever been a question of will Ponder breakout and beat a team, because the Vikings have an identity.

The largest deficit in the Metrodome that day was 14 points, hardly a justification for 53 Bears pass attempts.  Chicago abandoned the run almost immediately, but averaged over half a yard less per play passing than they did rushing.  On the season Matt Forte rushed 15 times or less in six different games not including his injury, while only losing one fumble.  Michael Bush had more than 10 attempts in only four games, one of which he was filling in for an injured Forte.  The running backs had three fumbles combined losing two of them.


With a duo of talented backs there is really no reason not to at least attempt a rushing attack.  The offensive line was dreadful in pass protection.  The bigs may have been awful at run blocking, but it ought to have been tried.  Jay Cutler is great in a moving pocket, he's great out of play action, but he was never able to establish either.  For Chicago to compete with the division we need to know who we are offensively and build with that.  The skill players we have are some of the best in the league, the Bears have yet to figure out how to implement the right ones at the right time.

Hope is in Emery's thorough approach to the head coaching vacancy.  Ideally he has found some candidates for the offensive coordinator position that should come open as well.  A new face could really make a name for himself by turning all of the potential in Chicago into results in January, the pieces are there.