Tough loss behind them, Trestman gets Bears refocused
The Bears were knocked down in their season-opening loss to the Buffalo Bills, but they weren't knocked out.
Coach Marc Trestman said that now his team must get off the canvas and remember that Sunday was just the first round of a long fight.
"This is Game 1 of 16 games," Trestman said. "Sixteen teams Wednesday (will be) coming back to work 0-1. Nobody likes it. Everybody's disappointed. These guys are hypercompetitive, talented guys that went out Sunday and expected to win, and we didn't.
"The only way to (rebound), is come back and focus all your energy on getting ready for Game 2."
While they prepare for the difficult task of facing the San Francisco 49ers on the road, there will be more catcalls and criticism from outside Halas Hall, just as there were from the seats Sunday at Soldier Field and on the airwaves.
"(We've) got to stay together," Trestman said. "We've got a close team. (We have to) stay together because outside of this building, we know what's going to happen. We've got a very passionate community here that loves football. and everybody's going to take certain positions. We understand that."
Teams often find an inner strength when they develop a bunker mentality in the belief that it's them against the world, whether real or imagined. Lovie Smith's teams often seemed to play better when they were in that mode, even if it was manufactured.
"At times like these, adversity hits, (and) you've got to absorb it; you've got to embrace it," Trestman said. "That's the only way to do it."
Ignoring the negative chatter is easier said than done. But it can be accomplished, according to defensive end Willie Young, who should know. In his four seasons with Detroit, the Lions were a combined 27-37.
"Just ignore it," said Young, who had the Bears' only sack Sunday. "I dealt with a lot of that coming from Detroit. I don't buy into it. I just wake up every morning, do my job and continue on.
"I don't watch a lot of TV. I don't feed into all the gossip and all the hoo-rah going around."
Young mentioned Trestman's demeanor and his message to the team going forward.
"He kept his composure," Young said. "The biggest thing is just going back, making corrections and moving on to the next week. It's too early to start blowing your top and losing focus of what's important here. What's important is making corrections and moving on to San Fran for the next week."
Offensive left tackle Jermon Bushrod maintains that tuning out the distractions and sharpening the focus is the only way to get back on course as quickly as possible.
"We really don't have a choice but to just block out the noise," the eight-year veteran said. "We can't control other people's opinions. We can't control what people say, what people write, what people do. We can control what we do individually, as a unit and as a team. If we can't block out the noise and work on ourselves, then we won't go anywhere."
Bears history suggests an 0-2 start would spell disaster, although it hasn't happened since 2003. But since the NFL expanded to 16 games in 1979, the Bears started 0-2 seven times, never making the playoffs or even finishing with a .500 record those seasons.
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