NFL Notebook: Bears hire CFL coach Trestman
BY Associated Press
Thursday, January 17, 2013
1/17/13 at 6:42 AM
The Chicago Bears hired Montreal Alouettes coach Marc Trestman on Wednesday to replace the fired Lovie Smith and gave him two basic tasks - fix the offense and lead the team to the playoffs on a consistent basis.
How he meshes with quarterback Jay Cutler could go a long way toward determining his success.
It's the first head coaching job in the NFL for Trestman, a longtime assistant in the league who spent the past five seasons coaching the CFL's Alouettes and led them to two Grey Cup titles. Trestman was an offensive coordinator with Cleveland, San Francisco, Arizona and Oakland.
Chicago general manager Phil Emery cast a wide net in his search, meeting with at least 13 candidates. He also brought back Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and the Indianapolis Colts' Bruce Arians for second interviews.
Trestman wasted little time starting to assemble his staff.
A person familiar with the situation said the Bears hired New Orleans Saints offensive line coach Aaron Kromer as their offensive coordinator, hoping to revive a unit that often sputtered with Mike Tice calling the plays. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the move had not been announced.
Chiefs' Reid hires Heck to coach offensive line: Andy Reid is putting the final touches on his first coaching staff in Kansas City, hiring former Jaguars offensive line coach Andy Heck to fulfill the same duty with the Chiefs.
Reid also announced Wednesday that Kevin O'Dea will be an assistant special teams coach.
Heck will work closely with Reid, who intends to call plays in Kansas City, and new offensive coordinator Doug Pederson. Heck has spent 22 seasons as a coach in the NFL, including the past nine working with the offensive line in Jacksonville.
Heck played 12 seasons in the NFL for Washington, Chicago and Seattle.
O'Dea will be reunited with Dave Toub, who was hired as the Chiefs' special teams coach on Tuesday. O'Dea worked with Toub for four years in Chicago.
Cardinals interview Bevell: The Arizona Cardinals, one of two NFL teams still looking for a head coach, have interviewed Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and plan to talk to Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Bruce Arians.
Bevell, 43, was interviewed on Wednesday at Cardinals headquarters. He was the fifth known candidate to interview for the job vacated when the team fired Ken Whisenhunt the day after the season ended.
It wasn't known when the Arians interview would be held, but that news, first reported by NFL.com and confirmed by The Associated Press, indicates Arizona's search will go on a few more days, at least.
Arians spent 12 games as interim head coach in Indianapolis while coach Chuck Pagano was treated for leukemia. The Colts went 9-3 in those games.
He succeeded Whisenhunt as offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh and was there for five seasons before leaving to go to the Colts and their new rookie quarterback Andrew Luck.
Arians also was head coach at Temple for five years.
Falcons expect injured Abraham to start: The Atlanta Falcons are making contingency plans in case defensive end John Abraham is unable to play at full capacity in Sunday's NFC title game against San Francisco.
Abraham, the NFL's active sacks leader, missed practice Wednesday with a sprained left ankle. The same injury forced him to leave last week's win over Seattle in the second quarter.
Abraham was initially hurt in the regular season finale loss to Tampa Bay, limping off the field with the help of trainers.
Coach Mike Smith says that he expects Abraham, a 13-year veteran, to start against the 49ers.
Eli Manning added to Pro Bowl: New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning will replace Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers on the NFC roster for the Pro Bowl.
Rodgers dropped out because of knee and ankle issues, so Manning joins Atlanta's Matt Ryan - unless the Falcons make the Super Bowl - and New Orleans' Drew Brees as NFC quarterbacks.
This will be Manning's second Pro Bowl; he played in the game in Honolulu following the 2008 season. He also made the NFC squad last season, but the Giants won the NFC championship and then the Super Bowl.
NFL PLAYOFFS
Wild-card round
Jan. 5
Houston 19, Cincinnati 13
Green Bay 24, Minnesota 10
Jan. 6
Baltimore 24, Indianapolis 9
Seattle 24, Washington 14
Divisional round
Jan. 12
Baltimore 38, Denver 35, 2OT
San Francisco 45, Green Bay 31
Jan. 13
Atlanta 30, Seattle 28
New England 41, Houston 28
Conference Championships
Sunday
NFC: San Francisco at Atlanta, 2 p.m. (KOKI-5/23, KYAL-97.1)
AFC: Baltimore at New England, 5:30 p.m. (KOTV-6, KYAL-1550)
Super Bowl
Feb. 3
At New Orleans
AFC champ vs. NFC champ, 5 p.m. (KOTV-6, KYAL-97.1)
Associated Images:
Trestman
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