Rozner: Bears' Trestman failing on football decisions
There's a lot about this that's new and confusing for Marc Trestman.
And it's understandable.
A second-year NFL head coach is experiencing pressures and hysterics he's never encountered before, having never been the field boss of a billion-dollar team before last season.
It was expected and Bears GM Phil Emery had to know there was danger in that when he took a chance on a wild card.
But there are some decisions that have nothing to do with the enormity of the job. They are simple football situations that come up frequently and there is no excuse for failing to act in a logical manner.
And what was chalked up a year ago as a difference in philosophy, or perhaps merely peculiar preferences, now seems more like clueless conduct.
Take, for example, a sequence at the end of the first half Sunday when the Dolphins beat the Bears at Soldier Field.
After a Bears three-and-out with 3:43 to play, Miami — already leading 14-0 — drove from its own 29 to the Chicago 33. The Bears had opportunities during that possession to use timeouts and get the ball back, but Trestman decided against it.
Looking for the dagger, quarterback Ryan Tannehill dropped back to pass on third-and-9 with 58 seconds left, but Jeremiah Ratliff got through on a stunt and — with Jared Allen — sacked Tannehill back to the 41 with 54 seconds remaining.
With three timeouts in his pocket, Trestman chose to let the clock run.
Why? When you have one of the best kickers in the NFL and an offense that is supposed to be prolific, why not call a timeout, get the ball back and try to get some points on the board?
“That's a good question. We were going to do that,” Trestman said. “We normally do it, so we can stack them.
“They went first down. Then, they went second-and-8, and that's not a real good time to use a timeout. So we're looking at the first down. We were going to try to stack them and then we started calling them.
“But at the end we didn't want to call them, because with 50 seconds left we felt we were going to get the ball back anyway (to start the second half) so we decided not to use them, to use the clock and take the ball at the start of the half.”
If you were able to follow that, or find logic somewhere in it, congratulations.
And if that decision-making — along with the explanation — isn't odd enough, the genius on the other side — Joe Philbin — had five seconds on the clock. Instead of throwing one into the end zone as time expired, he chose to punt from the Bears' 46 after taking a delay-of-game penalty.
This minute of NFL football sponsored by ibuprofen.
As you were rubbing your temples and searching for answers, Trestman sent Santonio Holmes back to catch the punt. Well, OK, maybe he can run one back. Worth a try at that point, right?
Except Holmes signaled for a fair catch — and then didn't bother to catch it. The ball rolled around until the Dolphins downed it and that was the end of the half.
Um, a little help here? Why, for the love of Keith Ortego and all that's holy, wouldn't you at least try to get a return there? Forgetting for a moment the mismanagement of the clock — or Philbin's bizarre decision — why not at least hope for a monster play from Holmes?
No, instead he was obviously instructed to signal for fair catch and then let it fall as time expired, as if any of that makes sense in any way, shape or form.
Headache any better now?
Look, we may be reaching a tipping point here, and Trestman better have a sense of that as the Bears travel to New England. He better think more aggressively because — as Brandon Marshall so eloquently explained — there is no tomorrow in this league.
Whatever games he has in mind, whatever tricks are left in the magic bag, this would be the time for them.
Lose this game and the season is over at 3-5, with a 7-1 finish as likely as Trestman joining the next season of “Archer.”
A once easy-looking schedule in the second half has changed dramatically with the suddenly methodical Detroit Lions minus the clown college and artist formerly known as Jim Schwartz.
They have two dates with the Lions, one with Green Bay and another with Dallas, making a huge rally unthinkable based on what we've seen thus far.
“We've just got to figure it out,” Jay Cutler correctly deduced without much prompting. “There's the second half of the season and we've just got to figure this out. Got to play better or we're going to end up 8-8.”
Cutler was onto something when he said that they better fix the offense or they'll wind up with as many losses as victories.
But if they lose at New England, a .500 season will seem sickeningly optimistic.
brozner@dailyherald.com
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