Marc Trestman To Coach The Bears?

The biggest coaching news is Chip Kelly to the Eagles and it's going to overshadow what the Bears have done for the rest of this week, but obviously whatever the Bears are doing has a lot more impact on the Packers:

BREAKING - Official: #Bears hire former CFL coach of the year Marc Trestman as the franchise's 14th head coach: es.pn/X6Gywl
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 16, 2013

Briefly as to Chip Kelly, I think he's in for a major overhaul in Philadelphia. Any coach they hired was in for a big challenge. The Eagles are a veteran team that looked awful on both sides of the ball. They already have a lot of holes to fill and they're probably going to part ways with several of their under-performing, over-paid veterans, which will only create more openings on the roster. We may not see what Kelly can really bring to the table for a couple seasons, until he gets figures out which players work best with his offensive scheme and most importantly at quarterback.

Back to the Bears. Marc Trestman? I've heard about this guy for the past couple decades as an offensive whiz who never lived up to the hype which is why he's spent the last few years coaching in the CFL. He's not someone who's been able to prove that he belongs in the NFL.

I thought it was a joke that teams were even interviewing him and I'm stunned that the Bears actually hired him. Maybe he's matured and improved on his previous shortcomings, but generally I think less of NFL coaches as they age. Kevin Seifert has a post explaining all the reasons why Trestman was hired with many of his supporters listed, and also a caveat:

You would be excused for a double-take after reading those names. Grant retired for good in 1985. Kosar has been out of the NFL for 17 years. Young's last season with Trestman was 1996. Mitchell last played in 2001. Today's NFL players probably view Gannon, the league's MVP in 2002, as a television analyst more than a contemporary. 

In an industry in which teams are always looking for the next great head coach, Trestman was passed over repeatedly and without fail. His NFL success dates back to a long-gone era in a fast-moving league. 

In general, I don't think much of re-tread coaches. This would have been similar to the Bears hiring Mike Holmgren, except Holmgren actually took two different teams to the Super Bowl as a head coach while Trestman couldn't even get an NFL head coaching job at the height of his reputation in the 1990s.

The Bears are obviously looking for a much needed infusion of offensive wizardry, which is probably why they interviewed Tom Clements too. I'm not sure about Clements as a head coach, but the Packers would probably have to had brought someone in from the outside to offset the loss of two offensive coordinators in two years. Bears' GM Phil Emery was so excited about the hiring of Trestman that the press release came out at 4 a.m. CST so he's certainly intrigued by what Trestman can do for his team's offense. However, the Bears still had a number of underperforming players on their offensive line, at receiver and at tight end, so Emery now has to focus on upgrading the players Trestman will be coaching next season.