And new coach of the Chicago Bears is.....

MARC TRESTMAN!

Most Bears fans see the initials C.F.L. after his name and fear that Emery really scraped the bottom of the barrel for this hire.  But what Emery really did is think outside the box for a strong offensive minded head coach. 

Trestman's resume is definitely strong enough to be an NFL head coach.  Known as a QB "guru", Trestman has been sought out by several college QBs looking to refine their abilities before the NFL draft.  He has several years of experience as a QB coach and an offensive coordinator.  His claim to fame is having several seasons of success with some otherwise mediocre QB talent.  Guys like Bernie Kosar, Scott Mitchell, Jake Plummer, and Rich Gannon had their best seasons with him either as OC or QB coach.  While plenty of the other 13 known candidates interviewed for the Bears HC position have been successful offensive coordinators in the NFL, Trestman is the only one who also came with a full season of head coaching experience.  While that experience did come north of the US border, it also came with huge success.  Trestman led the Montreal Alouettes to the Canadian version of the Superbowl in each of his first 3 seasons, winning the last two.  In 2009 and 2010, the QB of his team won back-to-back MVP awards as his team hoisted back-to-back Grey Cups.  Trestman was interviewed for the Colts job before the 2012 season, and really impressed with his interviewed.  So much so that he was on the radar of the Bears and Browns this offseason and ultimately was able to land the job as the 14th coach of the Chicago Bears.

Admittedly, Trestman wasn't my first choice.  I worried about his now long absence from the NFL.  And frankly, I worried that every other team wasn't swooning over him like they were for Mike McCoy and other NFL assistants.  But he definitely wasn't at the bottom and I preferred him to guys like Bruce Arians and Pete Carmichael Jr.  I am very intrigued by what type of offense Trestman may bring to the table.  Could be pretty innovative with some of the Canadian intricacies coming into play. They only have 3 downs to get 10 yards up there so, I don't think there's any fear of a 3 yards and a cloud of dust offense. His pass plays are probably either A) quicker to get the ball in an athlete's hand to run with the ball or B) have routes going further down the field. Also, because of the width of the field, I'd assume Trestman can get really creative with spreading the field.

Of maybe equal importance, is who the head coach fills out his coaching staff with.  While guys like Matt Cavanaugh and a couple of the Canadian tag-alongs leave a lot to be desired, the main assistants appear to be very strong.  Aaron Cromer is the offensive coordinator/OL coach.  Cromer comes from the blueprint Saints offense.  He helped to build an OL with 5 different players who went to a probowl.  He also was chosen as the interim coach for the 1st 6 games of the season, with all the suspensions, which I think really says a lot about him.  While Trestman is probably going to be the guy designing the offense, I like the fact that Cromer can possibly add 2 cents from Sean Payton's amazing offensive mind. 

The Bears did lose a couple very strong assistants in defensive coordinator, Rod Marinelli and the best special teams coach in the business, Dave Toub.  But they replaced them with Mel Tucker and Joe DeCamillis.  Tucker will allow the Bears to keep things pretty similar on defense coming from a Jags team that ran a similar Cover-2 style scheme.  Maybe with better talent and athletes, Tucker will play a little more aggressively which I think can only help.  Tucker will be a future NFL coach, maybe as soon as 2014.  But hopefully, while the Bears have him, they will continue to be a top unit in the league.  DeCamillis is just a small step down from Toub and the Bears should be able to continue to hold a competitive edge over most special teams they face on a weekly basis.  The Bears were also able to keep 2 key parts of the defensive staff in DL coach, Mike Phair (worked closely with Marinelli in his area of expertise) and DB coach, Jon Hoke, who coached 2 probowl CBs and has done a pretty good job developing Major Wright and Chris Conte at the safety positiions.  There should be little dropoff on the defensive side.

But let's face it, this team's success will depend on the offense.  And the Bears got an offensive guy to lead the team.  By all accounts, Trestman is a brilliant, creative offensive mind.  Jay Cutler has expressed an eagerness to work with the new offensive staff and take his game to the next level.  The key to the future of the Bears will be whether or not Trestman has lost his touch or not at the NFL level.  Cutler is probably the most talented QB he has ever worked with.  If he can make Rich Gannon a league MVP, I shudder to think how good he can make Cutler.