Bears Blitz

Published by Bear Heiser on December 23, 2014
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Who would have thought when the season began that we would be sitting here talking about Jay Cutler being pulled off the bench to replace Jimmy Clausen.

The team announced Monday that Clausen will miss the season finale against the Minnesota Vikings due to a concussion suffered in Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions. But instead of turning the reins over to rookie David Fales, the Bears are turning back to Cutler, in what should be considered one of the more mind-boggling moves in recent franchise history.

“Jay is clearly our best option in this case,” Trestman said Monday at Halas Hall.

The initial decision to bench Cutler made sense for both Trestman and general manager Phil Emery. Trestman likely wanted another quarterback under center so he hopefully could show the league that his system isn’t broken. And Emery, if he were smart, saw this as a chance to protect his investment from injury in two meaningless games.

What doesn’t make sense now is why Emery is allowing Trestman to go back to Cutler now that Clausen is out for the season. Cutler is Emery’s guy, not necessarily Trestman’s guy.

It was Emery who handed Cutler the massive seven-year, $126.7 million contract before the season, not Trestman. Trestman doesn’t care what happens to Cutler beyond this season, because Trestman more than likely won’t be the Bears’ head coach beyond this season.

Cutler should not go anywhere near a football field until the offseason. He should be wrapped in bubble wrap and put away somewhere for safe keeping. He’s due to earn $16 million guaranteed in 2015, according to Spotrac.com. And when the calendar strikes March 13, 2015, $10 million of the $16 million he’s due in 2016 becomes guaranteed.

No matter what the fans want, barring some sort of fleecing of another general manager by Phil Emery, Cutler is going to be the Bears’ starter in 2015. He makes too much money to not be under center for all 16 games. 

The Bears should be playing for the future, which means Fales should be sacrificed for the good of the organization. Let Fales get one start under his belt and at least see what the kid is made of. Maybe he’s your backup come 2015, or maybe not. But at least you know what he brings to the table.

Fales doesn’t see a lot of practice reps, which is the likely reason he’s not starting Sunday. Neither did Clausen, though, and that didn’t stop Trestman from putting Clausen in the starting lineup against the Lions, the NFL’s second-rated scoring defense.

Trestman, a so-called offensive guru, easily could have scaled back the playbook so the rookie quarterback wouldn’t feel overwhelmed in his first NFL start. Trestman’s decision to go back to Cutler is a likely sign of what the head coach thinks of Fales. With the playoffs out of the picture, the only thing that changes if the Bears win five games or six games is draft position.

Starting Cutler one last game in 2014 serves no one—not Trestman, not Emery, not the organization itself, not the fans. Cutler needs to stay as far away as possible from the Trestman regime, because the aura in the building right now is toxic.

Remember that it was the head coach who did nothing to stand up for his quarterback after the head coach’s offensive coordinator, Aaron Kromer, admitted to breaking code by talking to the media. Then only a few days later, that same head coach benched the quarterback for a signal-caller who had not started a game in four years. Now, less than two weeks after Kromer‘s breach of trust, the head coach needs his original quarterback to get up off the bench and get back into the huddle.

Trestman curiously doesn’t seem to think the events of the past couple of weeks will have any effect on his relationship with Cutler:

I believe that Jay can work his way out of this. I’ve enjoyed coaching him and working with him. And we had dialogue last week. And we worked together last week. It was a tough week on him. I empathize with him on that. But we’re moving forward, both with the idea that we’ve worked together for a long time and that hasn’t changed.

It’s hard to know if Trestman really believes what he’s says during his press conferences. If he truly does believe Cutler isn’t holding any bad blood over what’s transpired of late, then that’s one more reason Trestman shouldn’t be the head coach in Chicago.

Regardless of how Sunday plays out, Trestman will be watching from his couch as Cutler takes the first snap for the Bears in Week 1 of the 2015 season.

“I would like to stay [in Chicago],” Cutler said after being benched. “I really like it here. I love the guys in the locker room that I get to play with. Clearly, it’s different circumstances now. But going forward, this is where I’d like to be.”

A season that started with Super Bowl aspirations for the Bears is close to ending with a circus top over the roof. Enjoy it while it lasts.

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

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