The Chicago Bears new coach, Marc Trestman, appears to be the polar opposite of his predecessor Lovie Smith. That is, he’s putting zero emphasis on beating the Green Bay Packers.
When the Bears hired Smith, he said his No. 1 priority was to beat the Packers at his introductory news conference. Someone posed the question to Trestman on Thursday and he pretty much had no feeling for the rivalry.
“I’m not as familiar (with the NFC North) as I’m going to be down the road, but certainly I recognize there’s a rivalry in Chicago, and that’s important,” Trestman said. “But we have to treat every team we’re playing with the utmost respect. There’s difference makers on every team, we all know that, without going into names. And in every game you have to try and neutralize the difference makers first.
“It’s a highly competitive division and highly competitive league and everything starts in your division. But you’re not going to play your division harder than you’re going to play teams outside of your division. That’d be disrespecting the game completely. That’s the reality.”
Trestman may as well just have said, “Derrrrrrr?”
Obviously a real sharp hire there by Chicago. But we shouldn’t forget the Bears plucked this guy from the fertile coaching grounds of the CFL.
He’s probably still more concerned with beating the Edmonton Eskimos.