Rozner: Clock ticking on Bears' Trestman

It is often said that winning cures everything.

That, of course, is wrong. It often delays discovery of the illness, which in this case is terrible coaching, poor performance and bad behavior.

The curtains have been opened and the Bears at 3-6 have been exposed. They are frauds from top to bottom, and they haven't just been losing, they've been embarrassed repeatedly.

The warts are visible and the misery palpable in a city facing another long and painful winter.

This is now a team that completely lacks confidence, and it's hard to do anything in life - let alone win NFL games - without a genuine belief in what you do.

"Confidence is everything," Brandon Marshall said Sunday night. "When you lose confidence as a player or as a team, you have no chance."

That is, as we speak, the living, breathing definition of the Chicago Bears. A single score by the opposition is just about the end of the club in every phase.

"Even great teams and great players go through seasons - whether that's a day, a week or an actual season - where it's a struggle," Marshall said Sunday night postgame. "Right now we are in that struggle, and if you lose your confidence there's nothing you can do."

That's an honest, intelligent and revealing assessment from Marshall, who has never been shy about offering his opinions, even when it illuminates a crisis of confidence.

"I think that's always the case in moments like these," Marc Trestman said Monday. "We have to get them back in here, get them to work where they can focus on doing their jobs and getting better."

Trestman has no choice but to say it and believe it, but this season was over weeks ago and with every humiliation comes a better chance that coaches will be fired, possibly even Trestman.

Furthering that possibility is the continued disintegration of Marshall, who lasted all of one possession Sunday night before he flipped out. That was in a scoreless game, before the Packers even had the ball and anything truly disastrous had occurred.

The Bears took the ball to start the game and threw it in reverse on the kickoff, which is not unusual. They managed a pair of first downs before a third-and-16 short pass to Alshon Jeffery that went for 10 yards and forced a fourth down.

Seven plays were run before the Bears punted, including a play called back for a false start. Matt Forte ran twice, Josh Morgan had a catch and Jeffery was targeted four times.

Marshall did not receive a look on the opening drive and after that first possession he returned to the sideline, fired his helmet to the ground and went to sit on the defensive side of the bench, far from his offensive teammates.

Leadership?

Marshall is truly an elite talent who makes elite money and has all the tools to be a true team leader who keeps players on track and motivates the followers in the group.

But the truth is Marshall is a nightmare to handle, and when things go bad, he goes really bad. Ask anyone who played with him in Denver or Miami. For the other players on the offense, it hardly inspires a commitment to winning or competing when a supposed leader on offense is that detached after one possession.

This is on the heels of his locker-room explosion following the home loss to Miami and his sarcastic remark to reporters about listening at the door as he walked to the dressing room following the blowout in New England.

Really? That's what was on his mind after getting crushed by the Patriots?

Marshall is teetering, and as this season spirals there's little evidence to suggest the head coach can stop it.

So if you're keeping score at home, Trestman can't keep the players in line and he can't successfully install a game plan even with two weeks to do it.

"That's the most disappointed I've been this year," Trestman said Monday. "To come off the bye and play that way is disappointing to say the least."

It's not all on Trestman, obviously, and there are only certain items on a football team over which he has control, but if he has any hope of keeping his job Trestman must find a way to make the Bears competitive again in a lost season after a couple disgraceful defeats, while regaining control over his players.

If he doesn't, the locker-room disintegration will move beyond Marshall and become comical.

Funny in an NFL locker room is never a good thing when you're losing and it's almost a guarantee that very wealthy people will lose their jobs, starting with the head coach.

When it comes to funny, at 3-6 nobody's laughing.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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