Seifert: "Say this much: Phil Emery is bold" (great read)

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Originally Posted by matsellah

This might be insightful:

Source

Emery turned to Cutler for input on finalists
By Michael C. Wright | ESPNChicago.com

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Jay Cutler expressed a reluctance to be involved early on in the team's search for a new head coach, but once general manager Phil Emery whittled to the finalists, he asked the Chicago Bears quarterback to sit down with the candidates.

Although Emery took input from Cutler, the general manager made it clear Wednesday that a negative review from the quarterback wouldn't have affected his final decision to hire former Montreal Alouettes coach Marc Trestman, who won the job over finalists Bruce Arians of the Indianapolis Colts and Seattle's Darrell Bevell.

"What I asked Jay was to do four things for me," Emery explained.

Emery wanted Cutler to meet with each of the three candidates and keep a keen eye on four things: Communication, poise and presence, the ability to articulate systems of offense, defense and special teams, and leadership before reporting back to the general manager with what he observed.

So Cutler met with Trestman, in addition to sitting down Arians and Bevell.

"I talked to all three of them. Phil asked me to. He wanted a player's perspective," Cutler told "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN Chicago 1000. "I don't think there was anything I told him that had a bearing on who (Emery selected). He just wanted to get as much information as possible, and I think he did the process right. He did a great job of going through the process talking to a lot of guys."

Cutler explained that Emery "never put me in that position" of having to decide who he liked more between the candidates. Instead Emery "basically just wanted to know if as a player (the candidate) could get in front of the team and lead us, and if guys would respect him. That was all he really wanted to know," Cutler said, adding that "I respect him for asking me as a player, and not putting me in a position to say who I liked better."

Had Cutler done that, it wouldn't have mattered, according to Emery, "because we only talked about those four areas," he said.

"(Cutler) didn't rank anybody. He sat there, told me about those four areas, thanked me for being involved in the process, and that was the end of it," Emery said. "I definitely took his input, but he didn't grade anybody, and he didn't rank anybody."

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Typical Emery leaving no stone unturned. Seems to me he expects Cutler to be around here for a long time if he brought him in at that level. It also gave him a chance to see how each of the candidates responded to him. Clever man.

Just to reply in general to the overall process we have witnessed with Emery. This is a definitely a new era in Bear's football. Much larger than 2008 even, when we signed Cutler. Our organizational approach and culture has changed, and is changing. I have never been more excited to be a Chicago Bear's fan, but there will be tough days ahead. Life won't be all rose buds, and sunny days from here on out. However, I believe we are witnessing a new era of sustained professionalism, and success, the likes of which not seen since the Jim Finks/Jerry Vainisi regimes. Let's hope it leads to a Super Bowl victory, or two, or three,...

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Originally Posted by Rakk

Just to reply in general to the overall process we have witnessed with Emery. This is a definitely a new era in Bears's football. Much larger than 2008 even, when we signed Cutler. Our organizational approach and culture has changed, and is changing. I have never been more excited to be a Chicago Bear's fan, but there will be tough days ahead. Life won't be all rose buds, and sunny days from here on out. However, I believe we are witnessing an new era of sustained professionalism, and success, the likes of which not seen since the Jim Finks/Jerry Vainisi regimes. Let's hope it leads to a Super Bowl victory, or two, or three,...

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I so agree with this post!!!

I hope Bears fans will not expect Emery or Trestman to be perfect. I think they will build a firm foundation for sustained success. The team under Angelo/Lovie was built to be "good" but never great. I am grateful for the good things they did. But getting from "good" to "great" is not an easy task. That's why there are only a few franchises that are being sustained at the great-level, year in and year out.

I don't believe we take this step in one year.

But many fans will expect it. They'll point to the fact that Lovie won 10 games last year, and expect it to be easy to move upward from that. But with the HUGE changes the team is undergoing this year, it would be understandable, if the team needed more than one season to get to where we want to go. We may struggle initially, during the transition. I'm not talking about a losing season, or anything like that, but rather we may look pretty rough at times, especially our first half of the season in 2013.

I just hope fans "keep the faith" and don't give up on the GM and HC if we struggle a bit at first. I believe that if we're patient a bit, our ultimate reward may be an elite franchise that has sustained success - beyond being a mediocre or just a "good" team. We can have a GREAT team. And start loading up our Super Bowl trophy case at Halas Hall.

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Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

I so agree with this post!!!

I hope Bears fans will not expect Emery or Trestman to be perfect. I think they will build a firm foundation for sustained success. The team under Angelo/Lovie was built to be "good" but never great. I am grateful for the good things they did. But getting from "good" to "great" is not an easy task. That's why there are only a few franchises that are sustained at the great-level year in and year out.

I don't believe we take this step in one year.

But many fans will expect it. They'll point to the fact that Lovie won 10 games last year, and expect it to be easy to move upward from that. But with the HUGE changes the team is undergoing this year, it would be understandable, if the team needed more than one season to get to where we want to go. We may struggle initially, during the transition. I'm not talking about a losing season, or anything like that, but rather we may look pretty rough at times, especially our first half of the season in 2013.

I just hope fans "keep the faith" and don't give up on the GM and HC if we struggle a bit at first. I believe that if we're patient a bit, our ultimate reward may be an elite franchise that has sustained success - beyond being a mediocre or just a "good" team. We can have a GREAT team. And start loading up our Super Bowl trophy case at Halas Hall.

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I am expecting playoffs next year and let me tell you why. I believe Cutler can become a top-5 quarterback and if Trestman is as much of a quarterback guru as others are saying, we should at least make a run for it. I'm not expecting a Super Bowl next year (it would be nice), but if you have a top-5 quarterback with today's rules of the game you are almost always in it unless a bounty scandal comes out (the Saints). Let's go with the top 5 quarterbacks (feel free to dispute) in no specific order: Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and Eli Manning.

Everyone of these teams except for the Saints (bounty scandal) and the Giants made the playoffs. I don't know what was wrong with the Giants but I feel pretty confident that if the bounty scandal hadn't been exposed, then the Saints would have been in the playoffs. So that leaves only one outlier, the Giants. I think it really comes down to how far this defense falls off whether we can make the playoffs next year.

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Originally Posted by inchibearfan

I am expecting playoffs next year and let me tell you why. I believe Cutler can become a top-5 quarterback and if Trestman is as much of a quarterback guru as others are saying, we should at least make a run for it. I'm not expecting a Super Bowl next year (it would be nice), but if you have a top-5 quarterback with today's rules of the game you are almost always in it unless a bounty scandal comes out (the Saints). Let's go with the top 5 quarterbacks (feel free to dispute) in no specific order: Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and Eli Manning.

Everyone of these teams except for the Saints (bounty scandal) and the Giants made the playoffs. I don't know what was wrong with the Giants but I feel pretty confident that if the bounty scandal hadn't been exposed, then the Saints would have been in the playoffs. So that leaves only one outlier, the Giants. I think it really comes down to how far this defense falls off whether we can make the playoffs next year.

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That all could be the case, but here are some things to consider.

Cutler's improvement ultimately depends upon Cutler. All the great coaching in the world won't help if Cutler doesn't listen and learn. Hopefully he will humble himself and do just that.

This will be a MAJOR set of changes this year - players, coaches, all 3 coordinators, most sub-coaches, new schemes on offense, defense, special teams, new playbooks, etc, etc, etc. And we are now bottom-feeders in the NFC-N with Detroit. We beat enough crappy teams to get 10 wins this year, but good teams pee'd on us.

Factor all of this in, and I don't think it's an "automatic" return to the playoffs. There's a lot work to do here. Maybe it's all good & we make it to the playoffs this year (I'd love that), but it's not a given, to happen, IMHO.

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Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

That all could be the case, but here are some things to consider.

Cutler's improvement ultimately depends upon Cutler. All the great coaching in the world won't help if Cutler doesn't listen and learn. Hopefully he will humble himself and do just that.

This will be a MAJOR set of changes this year - players, coaches, all 3 coordinators, most sub-coaches, new schemes on offense, defense, special teams, new playbooks, etc, etc, etc. And we are now bottom-feeders in the NFC-N with Detroit. We beat enough crappy teams to get 10 wins this year, but good teams pee'd on us.

Factor all of this in, and I don't think it's an "automatic" return to the playoffs. There's a lot work to do here. Maybe it's all good & we make it to the playoffs this year (I'd love that), but it's not a given, to happen, IMHO.

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By far the two biggest factors (on the field) that kept this team from being a true contender and division winner were QB & OL play. We were a half-decent offense away from being a 12-13 win team. Yes, with that we would have beaten Houston, Seattle, and perhaps Minny twice and/or Green Bay once.

I don't buy the "coaching shakeup means next year will be a re-tooling year only" stuff. If there is substantial improvement in the OL and QB positions, we will be a real contender. If not, we will be an also-ran. I'm not going to blame Emery or Trestman if the latter happens, but it really should be the former and I hope Jay knows that by now.

MP, I agree. My main point, is that I hope folks don't panic if we don't look like a "well oiled machine" early in the season. Now that the reality of the coaching change is setting into people's heads today, it seems like a lot of folks are getting cold feet about the change. I'm just saying we need to grow a pair and hang on. It may not be a smooth ride in the beginning.

But we need to keep the faith here, that ultimately this is going to work out. We will be a better team.

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Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

MP, I agree. My main point, is that I hope folks don't panic if we don't look like a "well oiled machine" early in the season. Now that the reality of the coaching change is setting into people's heads today, it seems like a lot of folks are getting cold feet about the change. I'm just saying we need to grow a pair and hang on. It may not be a smooth ride in the beginning.

But we need to keep the faith here, that ultimately this is going to work out. We will be a better team.

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I don't think I have seen anyone not excited about the change. I have only seen positive. The last two hires I think are questionable, but just speaking for myself, I view that as different than being excited about the coaching change. Although I do wonder if Trestman is able to bring in good coaches. Hopefully I am wrong about that last part. I haven't changed my mind at all in terms of making the playoffs. I view it more as a missed opportunity to make the team even better and having dead weight like I used to think of Drake and DeBorg.