Here’s an update on the Aaron Kromer, Jay Cutler and Marc Trestman drama with the Chicago Bears, and it comes from the man who first reported the news that started it all, NFL Network “Insider” Ian Rapoport. The use of the word “insider” has beaten to death so badly, that the word itself it bastardized to the point of having lost all meaning. Basically, it works like this: teams/leagues/players/coaches leak their info to the broadcast rights holders first, about 90% of the time.
Each network designates a personality to be that team/league’s “insider” for show business purposes. Remember media is show business. It’s not a news business. So unless you’re one of these TV personalities who works for an outlet in bed with the league/team you’re not an insider. Period.
With that established, let’s move on to the Aaron Kromer saga:
NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport
On the fallout in Chicago:
“It was a very tense day in Chicago on Friday when this news did break. I am told all options were on the table as far as Aaron Kromer’s job status. Marc Trestman the head coach considered everything including firing him. In the end, he decided that Aaron Kromer should stay employed by the Chicago Bears. One reason is Kromer is a very valued assistant on that staff. In fact, I’m told by another Bears source, a different Bears source, that when they hired Trestman hiring Kromer was considered as important as everything.
“Now the question, why did he do this? I’ve heard from so many people, other coaches across the league, by outing himself the only thing people can come up with is that he couldn’t take knowing that he did something to hurt the team. Actually a standup move.”
On Jay Cutler’s reaction:
“He was hurt. Talking to people close to Jay Cutler he was definitely hurt by this. A little stung and certainly a little surprised that Aaron Kromer would do something like this. But if you listen to Jay Cutler’s press conference he seemed extremely professional. Much more professional than we’ve seen him in the pubic light in some years mainly because he knows, thanks in part to this report and by the way he’s played, the spotlight is on him like it has never been before. He knows of all things he needs to play better.
“The thing that could come out of this for Jay Cutler is he knows he might be done with the Bears this year, he knows so much rides on him, [and] he is control of his own destiny.”
So this just confirms what we already knew about the Friday press availability of Trestman, Kromer and Cutler. All of it was useless and pointless. For some strange reason, we all got excited about seeing Aaron Kromer talk. He was even trending on Twitter that afternoon. We were wrong. We should have all known that the Bears were going to come out all on message with the same meaningless and worthless cliche talking points. Which is exactly what happened.
Kromer, Cutler, Trestman et al, they all “spun” it to the point that it insulted your intelligence. Cutler was asked if he was angry when he heard what Aaron Kromer did. He said, no he wasn’t angry. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. Please! There is no way any single one of us believed that. Kudos to Rapoport for confirming how that statement wasn’t true.
Also, the Sunday NFL talking heads went strong today with the “Jay Cutler is a coach killer” angle. Guess that makes Cutler the Deron Williams of the NFL.
“Jay Cutler has gotten a lot of offensive coordinators fired let’s be honest. Not just head coaches, but offensive coordinators who after leaving Jay Cutler, you won’t get a job anymore.” – Marshall Faulk on Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.
Yes, the backlash against Cutler in Chicago right now is so strong that someone even made a parody music video lampooning him. Of course, that whole “I don’t care” attitude that Cutler persistently, albeit perhaps not intentionally, consistently conveys doesn’t help things either.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2