John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Don’t expect the Chicago Bears to start serving Poutine or play Joni Mitchell at Soldier Field anytime soon.
Although they won’t be embracing any Canadian dishes or vocalists, the Bears did nab their next head coach from North of the United States’ border – former Montreal Alouettes‘ head coach Marc Trestman.
Trestman spent the last five seasons with the Alouettes and won two CFL Championships. He has 16 years of NFL coaching experience on his resume, which consisted of working heavily with quarterbacks and handling play-calling duties.
That was the most important thing about this search for Chicago’s next coach – they needed to hire someone who wasn’t offensively inept. Bears general manager Phil Emery was given the power to choose at his liking. The McCaskey family obviously had some input, but they hired a guy like Emery to make football decisions like this and that’s what he did.
NFL coaches might have the biggest impact on overall play when compared to other sports, but a coaching change isn’t going to fix all the Bears’ problems, as they still need significant upgrades on offense. Emery and Trestman need to hit on first round picks – something that Jerry Angelo struggled to do as general manager. They need to develop younger players correctly and not let them take the equivalence of a redshirt year in the NFL – something that Lovie Smith did a lot with first year players.
The beauty of all of this is this franchise has a tag-team duo of Emery and Trestman making football decisions that stem from the offensive side. This is a new era for one of the NFL’s oldest franchises. An era that fans and many critics have been waiting for the Bears to get on board with.
This hire is going to terrify a lot of Bear fans. People tend to hold the Bears to their past; they reminisce about an idea that’s centralized around defense and a stout running attack.
Those are qualities that any NFL team would want, but that’s what the Bears have always been and have never found a way to becoming a passing team – a trend that other teams have picked up on since alterations in rules have allowed for more scoring in the NFL.
This hire could bring the Bears their second Super Bowl Championship, or it could be the beginning of a disastrous regime.
But at least for once in this franchise’s existence, they thought outside of the box.
They finally thought about the side of the ball they’ve been neglecting for what seems like forever.
