Bears decide Chicago isn't far enough north

Marc Trestman of the Montreal Alouettes has been hired as the Chicago Bears' new head coach. This deserves its own thread because the other jobs suck.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-bears-hire-marc-trestman-20130115,0,7826477.story

JR is beaming. As many CFL coaches as American college coaches have been hired this year by NFL teams. Thank you, Eagles, for restoring order.

 

The Bears are going to have a decided schematic advantage when it comes to rouges.

 

He's a damn good coach. He didn't exactly have to turn a franchise around or take over a rebuilding team, in Montreal, he took over a team that had trouble getting over the hump and winning the Grey Cup. They lost in the Grey Cup his first year and then won the next two. Will be interesting to see if he can do the same in Chicago. Expect a pass-heavy offence, ran mostly out of the shot gun. He's well acquainted with Cutler already, helped him prepare for the draft. Still a very different quarterback than he had in Montreal. Calvillo was very much your traditional drop back QB. Cutler obviously has a lot more scramble in him and is better on the rollout -- although much of that was for his own protection. He usually had one of the best offensive lines in the CFL, and in Chicago he's inheriting turnstiles. But he will also understand how to use Forte a lot better than they did this year, he's had a few dual purpose RBs in his time in the CFL -- Brandon Whittaker this past year ran 123 times for 631 yards and caught 49 passes for 519 yards in an injury shortened season.

I like the hire. It's ballsy. But they are also bringing in a winner who also understands the NFL. Much prefer this to a retread who is coming off of a disappointing season and being fired (Whisenhunt, Reid, Turner, etc.) or a co-ordinator who has never been a head coach before.

 

Hopefully, he can remember not to punt on third down.

 

The Oilers tried this in the 80s when they hired Hugh Campbell after he'd won something like five straight championships in the CFL.

It did not go well. He got fired after going 8-22 in two season in Houston.

 

I think the biggest difference between the two would be Trestman has extensive experience in the NFL and NCAA. He has only been in up in Canada for five years while the majority of his career has been in the U.S., including about 14 years in the NFL with three different stints as an offensive coordiator. Hugh Campbell had little or no NFL experience before taking on the Houston job. He had played at Washington State and coached at Whitworth College before coaching in Edmonton.

Now it may not work out for Trestman, just as it hasn't worked out for the many successful college coaches, but I don't think the two quite line up on the same career path because they both coached in the CFL and NFL.

 

As a fan of both the CFL and the Bears, I'm psyched.

Dude has a knack for having championship-winning field goals missed, only to be given another chance by a too-many-men call. Winners win.

 

Does not see the fuss...

 

Nor does this former Als coach:

 

I can't wait until they punt on 3rd down.

 

Gutter has a decided d_b advantage

 

The CFL season ends so much earlier than the NFL season.

I worry the team will peak too early and have nothing left for the stretch run and/or playoffs.

So, pretty much the same problem they have every year.