To the naked eye, the hiring of Marc Trestman in Chicago looks like a winner.
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Instead of another obvious retread from the NFL's coaching ranks, Trestman was an outside-the-box addition who brought a new way of doing things. The coach's positive work with the Bears offense was obvious from the earliest moments of the preseason, but, as quarterback Jay Cutler said during training camp, "Not everybody's bought in."
The Chicago Sun-Times noted Tuesday that, at season's end, the same theme lingers.
"(Trestman's) different," linebacker Blake Costanzo said of the transition from Lovie Smith. "He's a different kind of a guy. He does things differently. It is what it is. Some guys gravitated towards it. Some guys, maybe, it takes longer. But he's just different. I guess it takes a little while to kind of get his way of doing things under wraps here."
Asked if some players struggled to adapt to Trestman's approach, Costanzo said: "Yeah, I mean you can't reach everyone as a head coach."
"It is what it is," Costanzo told the newspaper. "I definitely think that we could have achieved a lot more this season and I know we're all disappointed in it, especially with the locker room that we had and the players that we had. He can't get better players than we have in this locker room, so we're upset. We underachieved, man. It's as simple as that. And obviously this locker room is going to be different next year. Hopefully, everyone can move on and have a better year next year."
It's not a new story. Trestman, like Lovie before him, inherited many of the former regime's players. And with the full support of general manager Phil Emery, Trestman will now dig in and use this offseason to further craft a roster that fits his image. Those who don't like it can hit the bricks.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" recapped the coaching carousel and looked back on 2013.
