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Imrem: It's doubtful that Trestman can be forceful with Bears

The same questions about Marc Trestman keep coming up.

Does the Bears' head coach ever send back a steak that isn't cooked to order? Does he ever question a plumber's bill? Does he ever rage on the road?

Maybe Trestman does, but just the fact you might wonder means you also have to wonder whether he's $2-sirloin tough enough to coach $1-sirloin tough NFL players.

(Which, as you might recall, I have wondered in print a few times already this season.)

Doubts surfaced again during Trestman's day-after-game media session Monday.

It was easy to lose count, but something like a dozen questions were asked about wide receiver Brandon Marshall's locker-room rant after Sunday's loss.

Everything came up except, "Were you pleased with Brandon's sentence structure?"

Although not satisfactorily, Trestman answered every question in his customarily patient manner.

I kept thinking that this question has to be the last one that Trestman will field … and then that the next one will be … and then that the next one will be …

At some point Marc Trestman had to say, "That's it, folks, enough is enough, do you want to know anything about the game itself or next Sunday's game or the governor's race?"

That would provide comfort that if a Bears player needed a stern scolding, Trestman is capable of giving it to him.

Trestman just kept trying to feed the beast.

Look, you're probably thinking that this essay is veering toward citing the way Mike Ditka would have handled this particular police interrogation, uh, make that news conference.

It goes without saying, but we'll say it anyway: Ditka would have chewed off a reporter's head at the neck and spit it back in a columnist's face.

But more relevant and recent is how Lovie Smith would have handled the situation.

It's no secret that I don't think Smith, Trestman's predecessor, did enough right during his nine years as Bears coach. However, one thing that he did do right was establish a contentious environment during interviews.

Smith wasn't combative like Ditka; he was condescending as the self-appointed smartest person in the room.

Lines were drawn as if Smith were acknowledging that when hard times arrive, the media will try to get him fired regardless.

This might surprise you coming from a member of the media, but Smith's approach was appropriate. The relationship between coaches and journalists should be contentious.

A coach knows that he has information we shouldn't have, and we believe we have to have it. The game turns out to be verbal hide and seek.

The media's responsibility is to ask questions that will make an NFL coach first stare, then glare then blare something like, "My people know where your people live," or "Security, get this moron out of here," or the beautiful in its simplicity, "That's a stupid question."

Tension should fill the space between the coach in this corner and the media in the opposite corner. The exercise should be less "Meet the Press" and more "Beat the Press."

Professionalism dictates that the sparring be steeped in civility but only to a point, like when the fifth or sixth probing question on a sensitive subject makes it sound like a grand jury hearing.

The coach should attempt to score a TKO, declare victory and reroute the topic toward something like the hurry-up offense.

Trestman never reaches that breaking point, so he winds up sounding like a cross between Mr. Rogers and Mr. Milquetoast.

"I try to be as honest and direct with players as I can," Trestman said, "and firm when I have to be firm."

The one question that keeps needing to be asked is this: If Marc Trestman is reluctant to be forceful with the media, now forceful can he be with his players?

mimrem@dailyherald.com

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