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With the a new era dawning at Halas Hall for the Chicago Bears, Marc Trestman announced in his introductory press conference, that despite talking to the veteran defensive coach, Rod Marinelli couldn’t be persuaded to return to the Bears’ side lines in 2013.
With a new coaching structure beginning to take shape and Marinelli walking out on the Bears and its veteran defense, where does this leave veteran star MLB Brian Urlacher who is heading into free agency?
The obvious rumor for a landing spot for Marinelli has come in the shape of the Dallas Cowboys, who have recently installed the Tampa-2 defense under new coordinator Monte Kiffin. Marinelli served under Kiffin for four years at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as defensive line coach.
With the Cowboys needing to learn a new scheme, Marinelli is an obvious fit in Dallas especially given his reputation as being one of the game’s best teachers.
The Cowboys may have Demarcus Ware, but his strength is in his passing rushing ability at OLB, even if the Cowboys were to draft a rookie ILB such as Manti Te’o in the 2013 draft, the likelihood of them being ready to go at a high level is slim in my honest opinion.
By now I am sure you know where this is going. Trestman refused to be drawn into the specifics of Urlacher’s future in Chicago, complimenting his past production and stating that he and Phil Emery would discuss the roster in the coming days/weeks/months.
The Cowboys are serious about moving to the Tampa-2 defense, the Bears don’t know what defense they are running next season. There is no linebacker in the league who knows this type of defense like Urlacher.
The Cowboys may look to sign up Urlacher in free agency in order to help transition this defense rapidly into the Tampa-2 , Urlacher has a lot of respect for Marinelli and may struggle to bring himself to sign a new contract in Chicago after the Bears usurped Lovie Smith as Head Coach.
With so much uncertainty in the air at this time of year, and a new era dawning in Chicago, don’t sleep on Urlacher lining up for “America’s Team” for the 2013 season.
