Chicago Bears, Phil Emery Should Fire Marc Trestman

NFL bye weeks are a necessary evil in the NFL. It gives the teams a chance to rest up and get healthy for the rest of the season. For the rest of us it’s a chance to judge and evaluate where the team stands so far this season. Something that isn’t too much fun when the team has a losing record. This is where firing coaches, GM’s, or getting rid of players becomes the conversation.

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A lot of people want to blame quarterback

for the Bears (3-5, 4th NFC North) losing ways. Others want to put blame on the head coach, Marc Trestman. That, in turn leads others into blaming the man who brought him to the Chicago Bears, General Manager Phil Emery. That’s where all of this begins, right? So, the Bears owners should fire Emery.

Wrong.

I am sorry to disappoint a lot of you out there in Bears-Nation, but the last thing that Team President Ted Philips should do is fire Emery. After all, how many people get the call right the first time? When the Bears fired Lovie Smith, Emery was asked to hire a new head coach. When the 2013 coaching search began he had been on the job for a full year already. It was as if someone gives you a car and after you the first year they ask you if you want a new one.

It’s OK to admit you’re wrong Phil if you’re willing to make it right.

To understand his decision on Trestman you have to find out where he came from. Emery didn’t work his way up the NFL ladder in a traditional sense. He first worked as an athletic trainer for six different colleges (including Tennessee and NAVY) through the 80’s and 90’s. He then turned that career into a scouting career in the NFL. After scouting for the Bears his first six years he became Director of Scouting for the Atlanta Falcons and then later the Kansas City Chiefs. Then, came the Bears and the position of General Manager.

The guy had made it to the top of an organization. First decision he had to make was whether or not to fire incumbent head coach, Lovie Smith. He decided to keep Smith but after one year did dismiss him from the organization. This began the first head coaching search in Emery’s career.

As a scout he had never been a part of a head coaching search. He wasn’t in rooms for interviews or on the phone with owners about preferences. He also didn’t do interviews answering questions about locker room chemistry.  So when he passed on Bruce Arians in favor of Marc Trestman in 2013 he took his first swing, and he missed.

Emery evaluates players and it’s a pretty good assessment that his ability to judge football players and their skills was a good reason why he’s been in the business for 33 years. No longer simply an appraiser of players, he was needed to form the proper coaching staff. Evaluating someone as a leader is a lot different than evaluating someone’s forty time.

I don’t think he is incapable. He is going to have to learn on the job.

Since the decision to choose Trestman over Arians the Bears have gone 11-13 while Arians and the Cardinals have gone 17-7.

Trestman wasn’t a bad choice. There is a place in the NFL for him. He should be hired as someone’s offensive coordinator. He would help a lot of teams in the NFL. With that said, there is a head coach out there that Emery should bring to the organization and it’s somebody that will come from the Bruce Arians tree.

Todd Bowles is the current defensive coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals.  He has been coaching in this league since 1995 as a secondary coach with the Packers. He helped turn the Philadelphia Eagles defense around after they fired Juan Castillo in 2012. In 2013 he coached the Cardinals to a number one ranking in rushing defense. Something the Bears need a great deal of help in. This season Arizona they rank third respectively.

It’s rare that a GM fires a coach so early in their contract. It makes it appear as if they were wrong. That kind of decision usually leads to the coach getting fired anyway because the team will fire the GM first. Emery can save his position in the Bears organization. If the Bears can’t beat the Green Bay Packers in week 10 on Sunday Night football then Emery should fire Trestman.

The next step would be wooing Bowles away from Arizona. If that step is taken, the defense will improve almost automatically. When that happens the pressure comes off of the offense and Jay Cutler. The entire team could then loosen up and success can be had by all of the Chicago Bears and their loyal fans.