Is this the end for Marc Trestman, the NFL version of “painfully awkward Rob Lowe?” (Credit that joke to @MattLindner) It’s all but official now that Trestman will be indeed canned like a tuna come Black Monday, December 29th.
And Bears GM Phil Emery is not totally safe either. His job is insecure.
So who replaces Marc Trestman next season?
The Giants job may or may not be open. The Jets job will be (Rex Ryan himself believes he will be fired). We got confirmation yesterday that the Dolphins job will not open up. It’s not if, but when, the 49ers gig becomes available. So there’s some high quality NFL Head Coaching jobs up on the market this coaching carousel.
Oakland has a coaching vacancy, but the Bears are a more attractive destination than the Raiders. The Raiders want Jon Gruden, but ESPN locked him to an extension this past week.
1. Rex Ryan
(The story of how the Jets fired him is a story in itself. It was very Jet like, check it out here)
Want an antithetical Marc Trestman? This is it.
Maybe the Bears will replace their nerdy, low-key, vanilla, offensive-minded coach plucked out of obscurity with a brash, outspoken, polarizing, defensive-minded rock star of a coach. As the son of the legendary Buddy Ryan, he would have instantly high credibility in Chicago.
We know Rex Ryan can handle the big market microscope too.
However, we also know that Ryan’s candor plays well on television, as evidenced by that season of HBO “Hard Knocks.” So when the Jets dismiss him, he’ll have a high-paying, cushy TV analyst gig available. He’s the NFL version of Ozzie Guillen. Ryan might want to take a much lower stress vocation for awhile. Then maybe get back to coaching down the road.
Said Ryan’s former player, Bart Scott, on CBS The NFL Today:
“If this is his last game, then he’s done one hell of a job. I think he’ll go somewhere else and have a great career.”
2. Mike Shanahan
You can’t have a Marc Trestman replacement list without Shanahan, because he actually makes the most sense. BY FAR. In fact we did a whole separate post on why; which you can read here.
He appeared on ESPN Sunday NFL countdown and was “asked” (obviously this was pre-rehearsed) whether he wants to coach in the NFL next year. Shanahan’s answer was pointless and corporate:
“The one thing I want to do is win. It’s not just coaching, but going to the right organization that will make a strong commitment. ‘Cause there’s only one team that’s happy at the end of the year and that’s the team that wins the Super Bowl.”
So that means yes!
Shanahan does want back in the coaching game. In fact, it’s probably the main reason he even went on ESPN in the first place. His agent likely told him to get his name out there.
Shanahan, who was Denver’s head coach when the Broncos drafted Jay Cutler in 2006, is said to be interested in reuniting with him. If the Bears can’t offload Cutler on anyone, Shanahan will be a prime candidate. One Fox analyst believes Cutler will leave Chicago.
NFL Network claims the Tennessee Titans are exploring the idea of trading for Cutler. However, both these ideas seem unlikely. Conventional wisdom says Cutler stays in Chicago.
Shanahan on Cutler during his appearance in Bristol:
“I’m a little bit surprised. Anytime that you’re not with an organization it’s really hard to say what Jay Cutler has done in Chicago. I just know bein’ with him in Denver, you know, as a rookie, second- and third-year guy, that he’s got all the intangibles.
“Now, can you get that out of him?
“Obviously he’s going through some growing pains right now with turnovers. I really believe in Jay, that the future’s ahead of him, but he’s got to make a commitment that he’s gonna get better and better, and it’s gotta be a group decision to get him over the top to where he can be, but he is a franchise-type quarterback.”
Sounds like a guy who’s willing to take on that reclamation project.
3. Jim Harbaugh
FOX’s Jay Glazer on San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh’s future:
“It’s going to come down fast. After their last game, we’re looking at 24 or 48 hours. They’re going to end that relationship. By the way, the University of Michigan did officially reach out to the 49ers and the 49ers brought it to Jim Harbaugh’s attention. He said, ‘Right now, I just don’t know what I want to do.’ He’s still looking at his options and one of those options is a team we haven’t really connected him to so far and that could be the Chicago Bears. We know about the Raiders, we’ve heard about the Dolphins and the Jets, but keep an eye on the Bears.”
Here’s a lot more on Jim Harbaugh, and the whole Michigan situation.
Also, there’s this obstacle too:
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio on Rooney Rule slowing a possible Jim Harbaugh trade: “There’s a belief that Coach Jim Harbaugh will be traded quickly by the 49ers. But it can’t happen that quickly because the team that would be trading for Harbaugh has to fire its coach, comply with Rooney Rule by interviewing at least one minority candidate, then work out a deal with the 49ers, and work out a deal with Harbaugh. It can’t happen quickly, and if it does happen quickly, it would suggest that things happened behind the scenes prematurely, making a mockery of the Rooney Rule.”
Also, Michigan offered him $8 million per season. The Bears just wasted a whole boatload of money on Jay Cutler. I doubt they’re going to want spend a ridiculous amount of money on anyone, for anything, any time soon.
4. Bill Cowher
If he’s interested, then why didn’t he take the gig in 2013? Perhaps Cowher is just waiting for the right job to open up. Or maybe he feels like he’s accomplished enough already and he’s retired from coaching? One thing’s for sure, this would satisfy the Ditka acolytes, because like Ryan and Harbaugh, this would be a somewhat Ditkaesque hire.
(At least superficially and cosmetically, it’s all about the mustache!)
5. David Shaw
Basically, this is the Jim Harbaugh runner-up consolation prize. If you can’t get get Harbaugh, you get Harbaugh’s successor. It’s not that easy though, as Shaw has already turned down NFL jobs before.
6. Brian Kelly
Wouldn’t have to go far to get BK! Again, there’s a built-in, default audience of Bears fans that would LOVE this hire. Even despite what has happened to Notre Dame during the second half of this season. One of these years, Kelly is going to have to pull a Brad Stevens and eventually strike while the iron is hot.
He could have sold his coaching stock high when the Eagles came calling. Bears will have to break the bank if they want this guy; he’s got a lot of power in South Bend right now, and uprooting him would take a lot of cold hard cash.
7. Bruce Arians
This would be very complicated, and likely the only way this could ever happen is if Marc Trestman stays another year and Arians’ situation in Arizona declines, making him more available. Still, the Bears could have had him in 2013, and Chicago has had non-buyer’s remorse ever since.
Arians on the Sunday Night Football pre-game “answering” a “question” is this his last coaching job:
“There’s no doubt this is it. I’m a cowboy in the desert. I’m going to ride off into the sunset after this one.”
Take that for what it’s worth.
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