The Chicago Bears are setting new standards for embarrassment every time they take the field.
Instead of challenging for a playoff spot – as they thought they would at the start of training camp — the Bears are disintegrating even as we speak.
Back-to-back games against the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers in which they gave up more than 50 points is just the start. It’s really much worse than that.
To say the Bears have quit on head coach Marc Trestman would mean they would have actually started at some point. That was not the case in Sunday night’s 55-14 loss at Green Bay, because there was no reasonable effort put forth in that game.
The Packers led 42-0 at halftime, and if this game had taken place in the era when these two teams truly hated each other, the Packers could have rolled up 70 or 80 points in this game.
Trestman is an abysmal failure as a head coach. You have to be able to reach your players at some kind of emotional level. It’s not enough to be a “quarterback whisperer” and design plays that look good on a chalkboard or the practice field. You have to be able to get results on Sundays.
Trestman does not have that ability. Many teams realized this while Trestman was an assistant coach with the Vikings (twice), Bucs, Browns, 49ers, Lions, Cardinals, Raiders and Dolphins, and none of those teams gave him serious consideration to become a head coach.
Every one of those teams knew that he understood theoretical football, but none of them believed he could be a successful head coach.
Trestman has the personality of a librarian. You expect him to put his forefinger in front of his mouth and start shushing patrons at any moment. Actually, you don’t expect that from Trestman. He would scout out where the noise came from, but then turn around and ignore it because down deep, he’s not sure anyone would listen to him.
Linebacker Lance Briggs is not listening to him. He admitted this last week when he told reporters that when he is in team meetings, he tends to tune out the words and the only thing he pays attention to is the clock on the wall.
Jay Cutler is certainly not listening to his coach or exhibiting any kind of leadership on his own. Take a look at his passing form as he throws off his back foot, holds the ball low on his hip and fails to put the ball on the money.
These are the same problems that Cutler had when Lovie Smith was coaching the team. Trestman took over in 2013, and this quarterback whisperer has not gotten one iota of significant improvement from Cutler.
The Bears defense is simply horrid. It’s one thing to get taken apart by Aaron Rodgers – 18-of-27 for 315 yards with six TDs – but it’s another thing when he doesn’t even have to sweat to put those numbers on the board.
The positioning and the execution of the Bears defense was inexplicable. On Rodgers’ second TD pass to Jordy Nelson, the quarterback rolled to his right and then spotted a wide open Nelson approaching the goalline. In the Bears’ two-deep zone, cornerback Tim Jennings passes the receiver off to safety Brock Vereen. It’s an especially easy move when the quarterback rolls to his right because the safety knows that’s where the play is going.
Jennings was never close to Nelson, and Vereen was nowhere to be found. The result was an easy 40-yard TD pass.
That’s the kind of effort the Bears had throughout the game, and they were embarrassed on national television yet again. This came after the bye week when the coaching staff had a chance to examine what was going wrong and come up with a solution.
They came up with nothing and the players followed suit.
A day later, Trestman was still employed and so were all of his coaches. Defensive coordinator Mel Tucker apparently has job security, even though the Packers went six quarters against the Bears before they were forced to punt this season.
It’s hard to imagine a worse linebacking crew than the Bears run out on the field. Briggs has gotten old, slow and he has been playing with nagging injuries. His heart has not been into it ever since the Bears followed Smith after the 2012 season.
Middle linebacker D.J. Williams has a grand total of 34 tackles with no sacks, interceptions, pass deflections, forced fumbles or fumble recoveries. Shea MccLellin is a disaster (19 tackles) who should not be on any NFL roster but is starting for the Bears.
This once-proud franchise is reaching new lows every week. The problem goes deeper than a sulking quarterback and a Milquetoast head coach. Management and ownership are allowing this to continue.
Is there any team worse than the Bears right now? At least the Oakland Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars are trying. The Bears are not.
They need to make changes immediately.
