Marc Trestman would be a dream get for Buccaneers

The Chicago Bears decision to fire head coach Marc Trestman was an easy one, but a decision from an organization to hire him as an offensive coordinator might be an even easier one to make. What Trestman did in his first season with the Bears is nothing short of remarkable, because he turned a total journeyman quarterback into a viable starting QB. Josh McCown looked so good that some fans wanted him to be with the team over Jay Cutler, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers eventually signed him to a two-year, $10 million contract before naming him their starting quarterback.

Away from Trestman, Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery, and Matt Forte, McCown struggled in his first season with the Buccaneers, though the 35-year-old did have an elite wide receiver duo of his own in Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson. However, those two wideouts weren’t enough to make up for an absolutely lousy offensive line and an obvious lack of an offensive coordinator due to some serious health issues that ailed Jeff Tedford.

McCown knows how much of a wizard Trestman is, and he also knows that having an elite offensive coordinator would be a strong step in legitimatizing the Buccaneers offense. Thus, it’s not a surprise to hear that he is openly lobbying for the Buccaneers to hire Trestman, who replaced current Bucs head coach Lovie Smith as the Bears head man, as the team’s OC in 2015 and, hopefully, beyond.

Hiring Trestman wouldn’t immediately fix the Buccaneers issues on offense, but adding a top-notch offensive coordinator would be the best move the Bucs can make to bolster their offense. Behind an offensive line that fielded just two above-average players (Demar Dotson and big-name guard Logan Mankins), the Bucs fielded one of the NFL’s worst offenses.

They couldn’t run the football effectively, averaging just 3.9 yards per carry, and their passing attack was an absolute disaster whether it was Mike Glennon or McCown starting. 20 interceptions is always a ghastly number, and that’s especially true when there are just 21 touchdowns to off-set the major mistakes. The Bucs averaged just 5.7 net yards per attempt, per Pro-Football Reference, and were 29th in the league in points and 30th in yards.

Dirk Koetter would make sense for the Buccaneers, as he is a strong offensive coordinator, but I think Trestman’s resume is even more impressive. Even though the Bears offense underperformed badly last season, Trestman can’t be blamed for Cutler’s mind-boggling turnovers. He ran an offense that was too conservative, but the proof of his coaching chops lies in the play of the Buccaneers veteran quarterback.

Under Trestman, McCown completed 66.5% of his passes, averaged 8.2 yards per attempt, and threw 13 touchdowns to just one interception as one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the 2013 season. Without the former CFL coach, McCown completed 56.3% of his passes and had 14 interceptions to just 11 touchdown passes. Maybe it’s a fluke, but the contrast is pretty stark- to say the least.

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The Buccaneers are in a situation where they have to make the best possible hire at the offensive coordinator position, because they have the No. 1 pick in the draft and will almost certainly spend it on a quarterback. Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston are both excellent talents, but all it takes is an inept offensive coordinator to set a rookie QB back or create a situation in which it is impossible to fairly evaluate this quarterback’s talents.

The Bucs next QB of the future will inherit talented pass-catchers, but the offensive coordinator, offensive line, and running game are all uncertainties. Assembling a strong line should fix the running game, but the most important position to fill is offensive coordinator. As we saw this past season, the Buccaneers couldn’t make any in-game adjustments or catch opponents off-guard, as it was a lost year for the offense with the in-over-his-head Marcus Arroyo running the show.

Marc Trestman is the hottest offensive coordinator candidate in the league right now, and it’s all for a good reason. Despite the Bears dreadful performance this past season, everybody understands that Trestman has the ability to turn veteran QBs into useful starters, and you can only imagine what he’d be able to do if given a very talented young QB to mold, such as Mariota or Winston. Head coach Lovie Smith is a defensive genius and a player’s coach, but he needs a strong offensive coordinator in order to succeed. That makes getting this hire right all the more important, and any head coach needs to surround himself with a competent staff.

Trestman isn’t a can’t-miss hire (nobody is), but there are very few coordinators with his ability to elevate an entire offense. Based on what Martellus Bennett was able to accomplish with the Bears, I would also be excited to see what Trestman could do with Austin Seferian-Jenkins, who has massive potential. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Buccaneers need to at least give him some serious thought as a candidate, even if they decide that McCown’s salary is too rich to warrant another year as the veteran backup, though a Trestman-McCown link seems to make too much sense.

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